Module 5 - New Technologies

(For some reason I had a very hard time posting this)

I am a team leader and produce many meetings throughout the school year.  I have observed great teachers and not so great teachers.  Many of the teachers are very caught up in going strictly by the book and in order that they do not take time out to do what is best for the students.  In the virtual classroom, we have endless possibilities to help students to reach their full potential through the use of technology.  We can use collaboration rooms and insert many programs into our classrooms.  I have heard of some great teachers in my school but yet they do not utilize the collaboration rooms for students to work together.  When I ask why they do not use them, they say they do not have time.  There is too much material to cover.  They would rather put a math problem on the board and have each student take a turn doing the work so they can see that the child understands the work.  When I tell them they can do the same thing in the collaboration rooms and cover more material and scaffold the learning so everyone can work on their own level, they quickly say no they are not changing because it is working for them.  I cannot seem to convince most teachers to change their lessons to fit what the child needs. Using Kellers  ARCS model could have given me a way to help motivate my team to be encouraged and successful at stepping out of their normal routine and trying something new.   I have also encouraged teachers to use and create videos with the children’s work.  It is quick and simple but requires a little extra work on the teacher’s part.  A few teachers have tried this but not many.  I included a short video of the children’s work on a project on volume. 

Reference

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of Learning for Instruction. Boston: Pearson Education.

Posted to http://kwagoner7105.blogspot.com/2013/08/module-5-new-technologies.html

Very nice post Karen.   I agree with you in that if I had known about ARCS I might have been able to convince my team to try some new technology in their classes.  With knowing what I do not, I certainly will try in the next couple weeks during our meetings. 

http://martinedtech.blogspot.com/

Gus,

I think that with doing training with step by step directions with teacher participation and having a final project to show in the end, helps to motivate teachers to utilize new technologies that they might be scared to try.  I like that their is support after the training also.

Lori