The other day a colleague, looking at my QR codes for my student video/vocab links said “I’m so glad that I’m retiring in 3 years so I don’t have to do any tech etc. in class!”. I was dumbfounded. It’s my 18th year of teaching and my prepping and updating has never kept me busier. My classroom is not a place of comfort for me ….it’s uncomfortable and that’s good. Why do I love my uncomfortable classroom?
My students are learning to ‘do for themselves’ - When students direct their learning – materials and resources need to come from a variety of sources. I am using Quizlet, Snagit, YouTube, QRcodes, my own Quicktime audio files etc. These take time to set up. It’s not comfortable for me – as each unit brings up new requirements but once done – they are there.
My students are not just learning in class - I am amazed to see how and when they access material. Review videos at 2am, vocabulary on their phone ..these are just two tech changes that require me to be up to date. Flipping my classroom is not a permanent venture for me – but I am using the idea at least once or twice per unit – this requires time for me to prep items for them to use.
Teaching has changed - My language MFL classroom is focused more and more on communicative interactive activities. Therefore, I no longer ‘stand and deliver’ content and what I used to do just doesn’t cut it any more. This means more hours revising to make sure that activities fit into this new style.
Risk is not comfortable. I am risking by trying new things and revamping old items. Doing this in front of, and with, my students in the classroom is not comfortable. But choosing to eschew ‘comfort’ in my classroom I am seeing growth and learning like I never have before. My students are more involved and responsible learners…and their language use is soaring.
Comfort? No thanks!
Bravo!
I too like to be outside my comfort zone.
Uncomfortable….hummmm…..I like to consider it as a lifelong learner or thinking outside the box on a daily basis….
I get what you’re saying – I would come at it from a different angle.
I like a challenge. I like seeing things from a different point of view. I get excited seeing how new technologies change the way we work with students, and engage with the world.
I like shaking up the routine, trying something new, getting my head wrapped around how things could work differently. I would call it hyper-stimulation rather than discomfort. I understand how traditional teachers that have held on to their often very successful techniques and processes would find rapidly evolving technology, and the changes it enables quite challenging. For me, hyper-stimulation is a joy, for others, it is overwhelming. Takes a village to raise a child – if we were all hyper-stimulated educators living on the edge, or predictable traditional educators, students wouldn’t have the exposure to the wide range of experiences and models of learning.
So let’s bush-whack our way out front and trust that the others will bring up the rear as we all forge ahead.
Teaching made simple:
1.) Tell them what you’re going to tell them.
2.) Tell them
3.) Tell them what you told them.
4.) Ask open ended questions and start a discussion forum.
Learning made simple:
1.) Wright it down
2.) Assign it to a finger/object
3.) Repeat out loud
4.) Review
This is great but I can understand your colleague to a certain extent. It seems that each week we’re told a new website or gadget or app is a “must have” for class and if we don’t use it we’re dinosaurs. Where do these things come from? Probably mostly from the PR and marketing departments of commercial ventures interested in making money. How useful are they? Well that’s up for debate.
The problem is that six months down the line all the work prepared for such-and-such a site needs to be redone for the next site. There’s far too much bandwagon hopping for my taste and I don’t think it’s necessarily driven by what is in the best interests of the students.
So yes, let’s embrace technology and all those apps… but not right away. Let’s make sure the work we’re doing in class is still going to be there in 12 months time and not just part of some long defunct website no one uses anymore.
You said it all!!! Risk is not comfortable. Neither is learning. Kudos for you for taking the high road. You are in the minority!
I experience this conversation every week. I am one of those people who will try every new thing at the drop of a hat. My students know they are the Test Pilot Guinea Pigs for everything I find on Twitter and blogs. They are amazed by the lengths I will go to fine tune a tool so it best meets their needs. If you wait six months, that learning opportunity is lost. It’s not always that the tool is the learning target, but the idea that there are multiple ways to reach students. There are several instances where I only used a site/app once or twice. Students were engaged and excited by the alternative way to demonstrate their knowledge.
Teaching is in the moment. It’s spontaneous. It’s a living entity. If the app or tool goes away, at least my students have seen that there is more to learning and education than the tried and true workbooks. We are boldly going where no one has gone before.