@TeachThought Day 28: The Technology/Curriculum Connection

Today's post centers around the issue of whether or not technology should drive curriculum. I hadn't read all 30 daily Teach Thought topics when I answered this question earlier in the month, on September 12th. The goal should be that curriculum should drive the technology usage in the classroom, not the other way around.

Teachers should use a variety of methods to teach the standards, skills and concepts necessary for students to learn in their subject area. Technology needs to be one way to help students learn--it can't be the only way. Technology is amazing and dynamic but needs to be harnessed and filtered through the content. My district is utilizing the SAMR method to integrate technology into teaching and I feel this is a reasonable way to start slow and ultimately transform my teaching.  


I am striving toward the Redefiniton phase but needed to work in the Substitution phase just this week so that I could see what an on-line discussion (my first) would look like. (The topic: after learning about the British Army and Continental Army's preparedness for the American Revolution, who was better prepared to win? These discussions went really well and motivated several less-motivated students!) I need to realize that as long as I make the content of the class my focus I can and should use technology (in the enhancement and transformation phases) to change my teaching.
#reflectiveteacher

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Historical Perspective and Peel the Fruit Thinking Routine

Image
Practicing historical perspective is an essential social studies skill. Historical perspective is being able to step into a historic situation and examine the motivations, biases, and beliefs of a person or group of people. Students have to revert to the beliefs of a group of people even if those beliefs completely contradict the views we have today. They must weigh decisions based on the situation of the time, not necessarily how situations are viewed today. The C3 Framework for Social Studies states that "Historical understanding requires recognizing this multiplicity of points of view in the past, which makes it important to seek out a range of sources on any historical question rather than simply use those that are easiest to find. It also requires recognizing that perspectives change over time, so that historical understanding requires developing a sense of empathy with people in the past whose perspectives might be very different from those of today." http://www.so
Read more

Industrial Revolution Haiku

Students have been learning about the Industrial Revolution in the mid1800s and how it changed life in New England. Today students processed their learning by creating haiku poems on the subject. They were challenged to think about and evaluate this topic within the structure of a haiku, a 3 line poem with 17 total syllables--5 in the 1st and 3rd lines and 7 in the second line. The poems have been impressive and some will be posted here soon.
Read more

Name That Executive Role!

Image
Students today learned about the many roles of the head of the Executive Branch, the President of the United States. I found several images of former Presidents in these roles--can you guess which is which? Post your answers below or email them to me. Choices: Commander-In-Chief Chief Executive Political Party Head Chief Diplomat 1.  President Eisenhower 2. President George HW Bush (on the right side of the picture) 3. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt  4. President Reagan meeting with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (this one's a bit of a giveaway!)
Read more