On Dangerously Irrelevant, Scott McLeod posts a video on his blog by the Relay GSE look for video entitled A Culture of Support. McLeod posts a response to this video written by Carol Burris. Burris goes on to explain what is going on in the classroom and gives her opinion on the teaching methods used. She says that the "wiggling fingers" are possibly distracting to the student trying to answer the question, and the tone of the teachers voice does not help matters. It is believed that the classroom is run similar to a military academy, with the teacher playing the role of drill sergeant. She believes that students are not given enough time to formulate their questions and come up with an adequate answer.
My comments to the post were that the teacher did not have to have the tone of voice that she had. Her method of asking questions and rewording questions helped to allow the student to finally get the right answer though. I liked that even when the student was struggling with the question and got it wrong twice, she gave him another chance to get the answer right. The students all encouraged the other student by "wiggling their fingers",and the teacher did as well by allowing the student multiple opportunities to get the question right. I thought that some parents might not like this teaching method, but the fact that the class was well structured and the students knew what was expected of them might be of interest to parents. I believe that many parents would like that peer encouragement was a key part in the class, but would not like the tone of voice that the teacher used.
If you would like to read more about what Carol Burris has to say read Is 'filling the pail' any way to train teachers?
C4T #1 Comment #2
This week on Scott McLeod's blog Dangerously Irrelevant post entitled, No wonder nobody wants to come, he mentions a short bit by Ina Socol. In this she gives the mindset of some teachers who are, for lack of a better word, scared of technology. Some teachers who are wanting to stay with the method of pencil and paper, make the suggestion of why students should even come to school if it is all about technology. These teachers are fine having students sit at desks and take handwritten notes out of a big book. Socol makes the suggestion that teachers need to get away from just using pencil and paper. They need to begin embracing technology for the benefit of their students and make learning more exciting.
My response to this post was that I completely agreed with Socol. We need to use the tools that are available to us to benefit the students. Having students engaged and actually enjoying learning will help with absentee rates as well as disruptions in class. Having the mindset of "It worked for me, it will work for them to," puts your students at a disadvantage. Technology has changed so much over the years, and continues to change everyday. People have become accustomed to it and pretty much everyone uses some form of technology everyday. Denying students the use of technology in the classroom puts them further behind other students who are using technology in the classrooms. So, if technology is a beneficial aid, children are used to using it on a daily basis at home, and it will benefit your students in the future, then why wouldn't you use it?
You can read more on what Socol had to say at SpeEdChange.
No comments:
Post a Comment