Dave Neal, Week Three, Chapter Eleven Reflection

Three ideas or learnings that are of interest to me:

1. When I began teaching, I was definately a 'direct-instruction' type of teacher. I feel that this is because I was fresh out of college, which is predominently based on direct-instruction. That is how I learned for so long...so that is how I taught. Over the years, I have learned that this is not effective for me. My classroom is now definately student-centered, inquiry-based, indirect instruction. I definately related to this section of chapter eleven.
2. Labs and hands-on activities are essential for teaching technology, just as the authors mentioned. In this day and age...in my opinion, there is hardly room to teach technology without it being 'hands-on'. Fortunately, computers and tech-labs are available to nearly every school in America.
3. I feel that the introduction/motivation part of a lesson on technology (or any subject matter) is extremely important. The key that I find useful when introducing a topic to a class to to discuss why this is an important lesson and how they will apply this knowledge to their lives. Once students can really see the use of the knowledge that they will gain, they are more apt to put effort and time into the learning process.

Two new ideas for integrating technology for student learning:

1. Grouping: Students could be grouped together to create a science lab write-up. The group would jointly create a purpose, then individually go into the computer lab to independently research the topic. Once the students have independently gathered research, they could regroup to form a hypothesis and continue with the experiment, analysis, and conclusion.
2. If I were to teach multiple classes of the same subject, I would like to experiment with teaching a particular topic regarding technology in two different styles to see the effectiveness. One class I would like to teach in a direct-instruction method, and the other in a student-centered model. I would like to look at this as an experiment to see which method is more effective in teaching technology.

One main concern about integrating technology after reading this chapter:

1. I do not integrate technology into my classroom as much as I would like to. This is partially due to access and the level of technology available to me. As I do beging to integrate more technology, I am wondering how to maintain a student-centered, inquiry based method without losing my children in the complexities of technology. I can see how a teacher-centered approach may be more helpful when teaching technology. I am curious to know your thoughts.