Due to my limited experience, I haven't fully formed all of my own personal beliefs about teaching in a Catholic school. Every teacher has a different approach, and I observe teachers utilizing both Industrial-Age and New Science thinking daily. Lecturing to the students is a continuous Industrial-Age practice, which all teachers at my school (both Natives and Immigrants) use. It's important to me that I recognize the differences in each of my students. Even though lecturing to a class doesn't specifically cater to different learning styles, I think it's important that all students realize that listening is a skill worth cultivating. I am a firm believer in always trying to integrate technology into my lesson plans. Most of my beliefs on learning in a Catholic school are derived from my own personal experiences of attending Catholic schools K-12. Throughout my education, I feel I went through a learning transformation, experiencing the shift from Industrial-Age to New Science thinking. I can recall many of the Industrial-Age assumptions on learning being practiced in my early education. The idea of 'smart kids and dumb kids' was one of those assumptions that held true for many of my teachers. When we were divided into academic groups (smart, average, or below average), there was not a lot of room to avoid being categorized or classified. As the technology/dot com era exploded, New Science thinking was integrated quickly into my education. I went from playing Oregon Trail to learning various Microsoft applications within a short time frame. However, a few my teachers refused to accept this New Science thinking for themselves, which as a student we categorized these teachers as 'boring!' Students today embrace technology with a passion and eagerness and I feel it's important as a 21st century educator to implement New Science thinking in all subject areas.
I would consider myself a Digital Native. I am always open to learning different shortcuts, features, or applications that can speed up my process in creating new and engaging lesson plans. We are fortunate to have a SmartBoard in every classroom in our school. While I am still learning everything the SmartBoard has to offer, for me, it's the best resource in creating a stimulating, interactive way to teach the curriculum. With our SmartBoard, I've been able to create lessons like (pre-algebra) Jeporady games and interactive cross-word puzzles for Vocabulary. It's been a great tool to get the kids excited about learning, rather than just sitting there listening to me talk. I am trying to incorporate both the Industrial-Age and New Science thinking by using our SmartBoard as I lecture. I want to create an environment where my students want to ask questions and engage in group discussion while having a clear idea of what is being taught.
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It is interesting to note that you feel you have not fully developed your own personal beliefs of teaching in a Catholic school. When I finished reading your blog, I got a pretty good idea of your beliefs and how you are working to educate your students. The most powerful influence we can have in our work is what motivates us personally. Most times this motivation comes from what we have had experience doing and what we enjoyed. I really enjoyed your describing how you personally felt teachers who were not up to speed with the current learning technology were classified as boring. This should be a constant reminder for all of us to stay current and engage our students where they are and bring them along to where we want them to be.
ReplyDeleteI found your definition of being a Digital Native enlightening. You said, "I am always open to learning different shortcuts, features, or applications that can speed up my process in creating new and engaging lesson plans." As I mentioned in class, I find a major difference between immigrants and natives is the way in which they want to learn as well as the content they seek to learn. You say you want to learn shortcuts and speed up the process in creating lesson plans. You want to jump in and are focused on process. Many immigrants want to be taken step-by-step and tend to focus on course content rather than instructional delivery. I think one of the biggest challenges can be encouraging those who see professional development as aquiring more content knowledge in their subject area to focus on methodology, especially as it relates to student learning with new technologies.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are doing a lot of great things with the smart board. We are just starting out with them at our school but only three grades have them so far. Pre-Algebra jeopardy and interactive crosswords sound awesome. I thought that was interesting though that you still felt that you were combining both Industrial age teaching and New Science thinking rather than describing it as purely New science thinking.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gary in that your definition of a digital native is interesting. We seem close in age and I have fond memories of Oregon trail at an early age and soon after having computers be somewhat of a necessity for school projects by junior high. Strangely though I don't know that I have considered myself a digital native. Your definition made me rethink that though. "Learning shortcuts, features or applications that can speed up the process and create engaging lesson plans." Our school has done a number apple in-services and your definition reminded me of something our instructor once said. She said at some point when using computers the computer begins to work for you rather than you work for it. Your definition embodies this idea. Natives use computers to their own advantage and figure out how a computer is going to make things in the long run easier for them. Immigrants labor over the help menu asking the computer how they are supposed to do different tasks. Letting the computer be the task master instead of the opposite. To be honest sometimes I feel like an immigrant and sometimes I feel like a native... :)