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| image:http://www.flickr.com/photos/audringje/2770893972/ |
Read t
his blog post by Jen Wagner on the Tech & Learning website. She is coming at this as a person that teaches teachers rather than a classroom teacher teaching students...but the same premise holds true. I believe this is what naturally happens when we put the focus on the tool vs. on the student learning. Make sure you read the comments people left...there is some good stuff to chew on there (particularly the one from Michele Weiss-Glaza...I'm guessing many of you felt the same way when you walked into this class). Remember, most often, the learning comes in the commentary...when people share their thoughts...agree...disagree...see a new perspective, etc.
What are your thoughts?
How have you seen this Oooooo-Ahhhh phenomenon play out in your school?
What is one “tool” that you see getting lost in the Oooo-Ahhh and how are you using it (or how would you like to use it) within your classroom (or school) as an Ahhh-Haaa?
6 comments:
I deal with the Oooooo-Ahhhhh verses Ahhhh-Haaaaa every year when I decide to do a Powerpoint with my studnets. Even after making the students RESEARCH and WRITE what they need for their presentations there are always several students that will spend days on animations,etc. and not have the complete required information. I need to do a better job of checking and reviewing their research before allowing them on the computer but it becomes a challenge when they are not ready to be on the computers and our computer time is limited. It becomes more work on me writing passes,etc. and instead I "give in" and accept that they will not get a very good grade. However, every year (after contemplating on doing this powerpoint) I always find many Ahhh-Haaaa moments with the students and realize the project has its benefits. The reason I think the Powerpoint brings about Ahhh-haaa moments is because they are individulized and each student has to research and present on their own. They know they have to understand the material in order to present it. Plus they have to take complicated science research and pick the parts they understand and "shorten" that information to present. This task alone is a challenge for most 7th graders.
I agree with Lori, I have had students spend all their time drawing a picture for a project then doing none of the math that was required to go with it. For me hyperlinking is one tool I have come to use quite regularly. Students don't always see a connection to the math content and the real world, I am able almost daily to show them at the beginning of each lesson. In geometry I also am able to hyperlink to Geometers Sketch Pad quickly to draw an example and show why something is true about a particular figure, it makes my lessons more interesting.
I see a lot of the OOOO/AAAAH element in the terms of positive peer pressure. I see staff members seeing great things being done in their neighbors class and then they want to do them also. I think more and more teachers are jumping onto what is going on around them. The changes may not be going as fast as we would like, but they are happening.
I do see that sometimes people get caught up in the look of something and not the content. A blog or prezi can look really cool, but say very litt.e
One particular English project that my students enjoy involves connecting with the author of their out-of-class book. After reading the novel, my students post their thoughts about the reading to the author's website. Eighth graders are thrilled when their author responds to their comments, often times, posting their letters on their websites. Like Lori, my students have made some really creative PowerPoint presentations. Students created a movie version of their novel. They researched various locations to use as the setting of their movie, and they researched actors to play the characters and then downloaded pictures (citing their sources). However, when demonstrating their theme (which was tied into using popular music to which we did not have a license to use) became an issue, the projects lost their luster, and so I stopped offering it as an option.
This has been a theme throughout the whole class. The object of learning educational technology is not so we teachers can cram as many "cool" tools into our lessons as possible. Most of the ideas were quite cool, but do they meet specific needs in our curriculum? If not, there's no reason to use them. I must admit, when I first started this class, I thought, "Ooh, how can I use this in my classroom" for nearly every new, tricky technique we were introduced to. I've since calmed down, thankfully!
for the most part the whole class has been an eye opener! my chalage has been to find the coorect technology to meet the needs of my activities, some of the tools can be used some not so much. At the present the blog seems like a good tool for me to get started and I will build from there. Lots of Ooh's and Ahh's the best ones are the ones that meet the need of my class and enhance the learning of my students, also anything that makes me more efficecnt and a better teacher!
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