Ronie’s page…

I’m very interested that out of the long list of literacture in Designing Learning for a Digital Generation there’s no articles regarding the interactive white board…

During my practicum I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be in a classroom with an interactive white board. At first I was so daunted by the fact that I’d need to learn the white board in order to be able to teach the class but got straight into learning how the software worked (I used Promethean’s amazing learning resources) and really enjoyed the challenge of learning to teach using this amazing technology. Lesson preparation took quite a while at first but got easier as I learned the technology. Merrett and Edwards agree that preparation became easier with practice.

Doing the research into interactive white boards I found some very positive and some negative view points. One such comment that caught my eye was from Blanton (2008) who says “If using the technology and designing tasks to show off that technology takes precedence over a pedagogical emphasis on enhancing student learning, then all you have is an expensive toy.” I found in prac that a lot of the time I was not focusing on “teaching” the students how to do mathematics, I was thinking about the “technology” and how I could make the technology work for me. My practicum teacher was also having the same difficulties learning how the interactive white board worked and forgot to get through the content required.

Scheweder has a list of resources I found very helpful when using the interactive white board that I would definately recommend looking at.

I believe that technology when used to complement teaching styles and strategies can make the lesson more motivating for students and help them enjoy mathematics more but you need to make sure that you are still teaching the content to the students and not just designing a pretty lesson.

Question for other prac teachers; Has anyone else had a similar situation and if so, how did you overcome it?

Photo from joedale.typepad.com

So I read the other day “Growing up in the Digital Age” and my learning buddy read “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” and after our discussion I have a few questions…

What defines a digital native or a digital immigrant??? Is it whether you belong to Generation X or Generation Y and where is the cut off… Some older people are very well versed using Blogs and computers while some teenagers have no idea how to use a computer so is it age or is it interest??? Tania in her comments mentions she’s in her 40s but classifies herself as a digital native according to Prensky’s definition! Chris also mentions that he’s classified as a digital immigrant according to his age but he’s heaps better at this blogging thing then me so does that make me a digital immigrant?!??!

Coming back to “Growing up in the Digital Age” – When it comes to computers and communication, I do agree that this generation of young people are loosing the ability to interact with each other face to face – I have 4 teenagers and 1 almost teenager at my house and there are all always on the computer, game boy, ipod, tv etc etc etc and would chose to never interact face to face… HOWEVER, they are all quite capable of doing so if all technology goes off and the family play a board game, billiards, cards or any other interactive activity… if kids aren’t having enough face to face with other people, don’t blame the technology, pull the plug and spend the time with them! It’s a choice, and most of the time the kid thinks no one wants to spend time with them so just sit in front of the screen… give them another option and they just might take it willingly!

After reading Chris’s post “So here we go” I really do have to jump on the bandwagon and ask why does everything have to be so humanities based????

As a science and mathematics student/teacher it seems as if every lecturer, tutor and administrative person is a humanities teacher (except of course our Teaching Methods Teachers)… I purposely chose to study Chemistry, Physics and Maths to get away from the History, English and Humanities subjects and I come back to uni and that’s all I hear about!!! It’s just a little frustrating for us non-english lovers…

I know it’s not just me who is a little sick of hearing about literacy in every single subject… but as Chris mentioned… some aspects of this university course are beyond our control

Hey hey…

I’m 25 years old and currently completing a Bachelor of Teaching in Secondary Education in Maths and Science at UTS… By the end of this year I should hopefully be able to chose between teaching Yr 12 Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and 7-10 Science…

I would really love to teach in an all boys school cos girls simply drive me nuts! Sorry to say it girls, but I think it would be a lot easier to teach in an all boys school… I went to school at an all girls school with all female teachers and really really missed some male perspectives and ideas… so now i thought i’d go to the opposite extreme and go to an all boys school… I did my first practicum at an almost all boys school and really enjoyed it… next prac is at a co-ed school so i’ll let you know if i’m still up for all boys or want to switch to the mixed classes idea…

Hope you enjoy my podcast “My dreams for education” – it’s a little loud in the room so if u wanna hear you need to listen up! Ronie’s Podcast

Till next time, 

Ronie

So I’ve been asking the question much like many of you… Why do we get taught all these things that we shouldn’t do when we’re teaching kids and then walk into the next subject and the lecturer or tutor does exactly what we’ve just been told NEVER to do…

Let’s just list a few scenarios… what NOT to do… and some possible solutions…

• “Let’s all go around the classroom and everyone can tell me what their name is and what KLA you are in… I’ll start… My name is *** and I’m your lecturer for this subject”… so here we’re waiting for the next question to be “who wants to go next” but instead we just start the lesson – how rude… SO as a teacher – don’t ask a question if you don’t want any answers…
• Teacher asks student a question… student answers question… teacher’s response “no, no, no… what if I don’t want to do that??? What if that’s not the best answer”… no “good response Johnny”, let’s just attack the student and jump right down their throat… next time I’m sure they’re going to want to answer one of your questions… SO as a teacher – just because a student disagrees with you, doesnt mean they are wrong… be a little more open minded…
• Tone in a class is very important… the first six words that come out of your mouth determines what happens next… so if you want to get students really annoyed with you, how about making those six words really negative and said in a really nasty, negative tone of voice… now that doesn’t sound like what a real teacher would do but it does sound like some tutors… SO as a teacher – be patient, be polite and use a gentle tone of voice because you have to see kids 4-5 times a week all year…
• Videos are a great tool as long as they are interesting, relevant and not being used just to get through 45min of a class… if you don’t want students talking the entire way through a video it may be an idea to watch the video prior to the class and ask “if I were a student in the class would I find this interesting” because things that teachers find interesting doesn’t always equal what students find interesting… SO as a teacher – taking the time to watch the video before the class saves a heap of time in the long run…
• How many times have we heard that as a teacher you need to talk loud enough, clear enough, and slow enough for students to hear… if you are in a really large room ensure that you are familiar with all the technical equipment that goes with that room so that you don’t confirm that you are technically inept – it’s a little embarrassing i should think… and in a small room – talk loud enough so that students can hear you not so that they could hear you even if they had ear plugs in! SO as a teacher – ask if kids can hear you and talk loud enough so that they need to listen up to hear…

This is just a few of MANY things that we should NEVER do in a classroom setting… please feel free to add to my list!!

So my question is… why do we have to put up with it if we’re not allowed to do it?