Field Experience Observation and Interview
Mr. P is a Social Studies teacher at
Manchester Memorial High School. He has worked in education for over 15 years.
In addition to his teaching certificates, Mr. P has
a Master’s in Integrated Technology. I have been a paraprofessional in his
World History classroom this year and have observed his daily use of technology
as an instrument to enhance his planned lessons. Mr.
P uses a large flat screen television at the front of the classroom as a
computer monitor, accessing internet tools to make living connections with
ancient history.
Mr. P has well established media library on
his computer. He has countless saved resources available to him for each
lesson. However, with internet access at his fingertips he is also able to find
an image or video clip that connects any student generated ideas that result
from the lesson.
Bringing History to Life
- · Through his television/computer combination, Mr. P has brought Otzi the Iceman – the oldest, naturally preserved mummy (3,300 B.C.E.) – back to life. The students were able to track Otzi’s explorations, the journey that led to his demise, and deduce information about the events that brought about his death including hand-to-hand combat, an arrow wound, and his last meal.
- · Mr. P has introduced his students to the ancient Mesopotamian style of writing - cuneiform. Cuneiform translates to mean ‘wedge shaped.’ This alphabet is one of the oldest on record and was written in clay through flecks with a reed. Here is how my name, HILLARY, would appear written in ancient cuneiform:
- · Mr. P has also introduced Khan Academy to his students. He uses the Arts and Humanities subject to find relevant history topics under his personal log-in information. These short videos and follow up questions serve as a review of key ideas for the unit quizzes.
Mr. P’s History with Technology
Although, I was able to identify
several ways in which Mr. P uses technology
in the classroom, through the interview assignment, I discovered several
different approaches Mr. P has taken to
technology integration in his years as an educator. Mr.
P was the first teacher at Memorial High School to develop and use PowerPoints
in class. He was also the first to create a classroom website. He was the first
to allow his students to complete online work and tests. However, he has since
abandoned these endeavors. As a high school teacher, it is common for your
assigned teacher subject to change year-to-year. Mr.
P would spend endless, unpaid hours creating these digital tools only to
be assigned an entirely different subject the following year, rendering his
preparation and established resources useless. Mr.
P feels his current use of technology through the internet benefits both
teacher and student best – time is not wasted, information is available and
relevant, and students are engaged.
Below,
please find the remainder of interview questions with Mr.
P’s responses.
1. How has technology
changed the way you teach?
|
Technology
has lessened paperwork, lessened the use of the copy machine, and modified
the traditional lecture format of many classes.
|
2. How do you select
technology to meet your learning goals?
|
I
select resources that are most affordable/cost effective, are most
user-friendly, and fit within the limits of the school.
|
3. How does technology
impact student engagement?
|
Technology
integration creates a higher quality of visual stimuli and auditory stimuli.
When we have increased access to technology at the student level it will
increase direct engagement of the students – but currently it is not at that
level.
|
4. What is the
greatest challenging of integrating technology into the classroom?
|
Cost
and access! Most costs need to be absorbed by the teacher which is
prohibitive, and access to the technology is limited. For myself, technology
is very one sided because not all students have equal access. The
more savvy students become with their own devices and the more authority a
class has to expect students have a device, the more involvement and access
students will have.
|
5. What does idea tech
integration look like?
|
Ideally,
technology should be integrated in a way that is the most efficient and
effective use of student and teacher time.
|
6. Reflecting on the
past three years, how has technology influenced your teaching – good, bad or
otherwise?
|
The downside
to technology has been students’ inability to be as involved in the use of
technology as they could be. The lack of access to this technology makes a one
sided classroom where what they ‘could’ be doing is always apparent. Yet,
what they actually are given to do is far short of that. Technology also
creates a dependency on the end of the teachers who find themselves unable to
teach a class if their internet access down. It also creates an additional
work load because the majority of planning and designing many teachers do
with technology is unpaid and outside of the school building. Many spend vast
amounts of hours implementing technology that may be underutilized or under
appreciated.
|
7. Any predictions on
how technology will change your teaching within the next three years?
|
I believe
the sloppiness of integrating technology with continue for the next few
years. Technology implemented in this school will be behind the times, too
little too late, cost too much, and by the time staff are trained, obsolete. In
a broader view of the future, technology should supplement teaching in the
same way it supplements day to day life…Technology should assist teaching in the same way it would any
other aspect of life. The use of technology, at lease for the next few years,
will be focused on testing and will not be useful for students. I believe
implementing technology for most teachers will create a burdensome amount of
unpaid work for them to do. After this hurdle, I would expect most of
the US will have schools which are fully technologically integrated.
|
Connections and Conclusion
During my observations and conversations with Mr. P I recognized his struggle to provide
relevant and worthwhile education to students while simultaneously not
reinventing the wheel or relying solely on technology. Mr.
P sees some teachers too focused on technology to the point that they
lose their teaching tools and whose lessons are stunted when their technology
fails. Early on in EDU 533, we discussed the role technology has in the
classroom. I answered that technology can be a valuable tool for enhancing
education but should not replace teaching.
It has been interesting examining technology integration from
the perspective of a high school teacher. Elementary teachers teach multiple
subjects throughout the day and may be more prepared to use technology in a
variety of ways as their lessons permit. High school teachers, teach the same
material four or five times each day, and therefore may lack the drive to
enhance or alter their lessons with the underlying goal of keeping their
classes on the same projection. I believe there is room for technology at each
grade level but that it does look different at each stage – based on ability, applicability,
access to individual devices, and expectations.
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96tzi
http://www.ancientscripts.com/cuneiform.html
http://www.paleoaliens.com/event/babylonian/index.html
https://www.khanacademy.org/youcanlearnanything
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