To Cool for School? No Way!
By: Punya Mishra and Matthew Koehler
In this article Mishra and Koehler talk about what is considered to be technology. They state that some people may argue that pencils, clothes, and other common tools that are used in everyday life could be considered technology. Then some others may say that what is new in the technological world like iPods, and Wii are technology. Either way a teacher must know how to use these tools to their advantage. Mostly because websites like blogging is not set up for school/child use. The teacher needs to know how to rewrite, no; to re-purpose the available technology to create a fun but intense learning situation for his/her children. Most children these days are technological savey and are accustomed to the new and "improved" environment. These authors go on to explain some of Mishra's own college students thought and ideas of how some of the websites could be re-purpose to fit the needs of students. One of my favorite is the one about the DJ website. Children can download portions of the music and brake it down to describe fractions by using music. Music has been proven to improve math scores. It is pretty cool.
How can I use technology pedagogy in my classroom?
I could first make sure that I am up to date on most if not all the current technology. Second I can develop, edit, and revise a lesson plan using the latest website to create a current and fun way to teach my students. In the article they also talked about "Specialized search engines". This is a way for students can understand old English compared to the current English. Like Shakespeare. His work has inspired many great writers and has created many famous actors, but his work is like reading a foreign language. So the students can inter phrases of the work to find out how the wording is used in a phrase that is used today. Cool huh?
How can I become an expert teacher in technology?
This question looks to be simple but it is not. There is so much more that a teacher needs to do other than take classes. The teacher needs to practice the information that is given to them, they need to spend a good amount of time on an effective lesson plan before introducing the new curriculum, they need to make sure that all of the correct applications are set up and free of bugs, and they need need to make sure that it comes back into the classroom for discussion/analysis.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Mishra and Koehler's TPACK (Technological pedagogical and Content Knowledge) is actually more complex than they could say in this short article. TPACK represents a line of research on teachers' particular knowledge and skills about effective use of appropriate technology in their subject area. My personal take is that TPACK is more about pedagoty (how to teach well) than about technology (how to use technological tools), although we cannot separate them in the TPACK framework.
ReplyDelete