It all started when Dr.Bilal Al
Kaderi asked us, the students of the Education Management and Technology
course, to describe a technology-based lecture; looking deeper into the used
technology and how it influenced the teacher’s strategies in teaching his
class. Being the student, I had no choice but to find a teacher and observe his
lecture. To be honest, to me, technology was not a new brand and I wasn't surprised with the tools used, but I was amazed to see that after some
teachers’ accuse of technology as a management problem, as previously mentioned
in a conference entitled LAU/Levant
Continuing Professional Development: Using
Technology in Schools, presented by Maya El Zoghby (Zoghby, 2013) , this teacher made
me believe that technology wasn't but totally the contrary. In fact, the
teacher used technology to save time, trouble, and effort. Also, he integrated
technology in his listening class to foster critical thinking and problem
solving, creativity and innovation, and communication and collaboration,
agreeing with Lynne and Barbara’s (2009) idea in Leading 21st
Century Schools: Harnessing Technology for Engagement and Achievement.
Finally, the teacher declared to bring technology into play to target his
objective; a meaningful and engaging practice of listening, and thus, going
hand in hand with the 21st Century Content Area Standards mentioned
in Lynne and Barbara’s (2009) book.
The listening session started long
before the teacher reached his ‘Grade Nine’ classroom. Prior to coming to class,
the English teacher prepared the material at home; he used a podcast to easily
download an online video he surfed, entitled “Self Confidence” (with
Nick Vujicic as its author), which goes hand in hand with the theme discussed.
Also, the teacher prepared a Microsoft Word paper with questions about the
downloaded video; the questions varied, from direct to indirect, and tackled
the learning objectives of Bloom’s Taxonomy: knowledge,
comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creativity (Eggen,
P., & Kauchak, D. 2006). Not only did the
enthusiastic teacher spend his time at home preparing for the listening
session, but also, he transferred his preparation to school; where he had to
use the printer to print the saved listening activity he had on his USB, also,
where he had to access a laptop and connect the LCD Projector and the speakers
to it, all this and the actual listening session has never started yet. As a
reader you might be pondering how come this teacher declared that he integrates
technology to save time and effort and he has been working on a simple listening
activity for days, before he reached the class. Well, exactly as he stated it,
“Technology plays a trick; it takes some time, effort, and even, some trouble outside
the class where there is plenty of time, many chances are offered to prepare,
and the only trouble you will encounter is access; while using hardware,
software, and programs. However, the time, effort, and trouble are paid-off and
compensated from the very moment you reach the class; a setting where: time is
limited, every second makes a difference, countdown starts to reach an end,
effort becomes stressful, and trouble, if born, paves its way to block
collaboration, positive relations, interaction, and above all, learning”.
The bell for the listening session rang; the teacher entered with
one hand carrying the pack of printed papers and the other pulling the movable
table with the laptop, the LCD, and the speakers connected; all what was left
was a plug-in for the lesson to start. Here, the teacher proved to validate the
idea that for technology to be effective it should be prepared, tried, and set
ready to use a head of time, before its authentic implementation (Scott, 2013) . After his warm
greetings, he instructed the students to the lesson, stating clearly the
specific steps to be followed throughout the session, codifying with the idea
that giving instruction leads to mentally setting the students for the go (Dixie, 2003) . The teacher worked
on an organized plan. First he did a warm up of the Self-Confidence theme.
Then, he plugged in the tools and played the six-minute video. The students
watched the video. It was clearly noticed that they were attentive; I believe
that the favor goes back to technology’s fancy presentation of audiovisuals and
to the intriguing teacher’s choice of authentic content that related to their
life as teenagers. After that, the teacher distributed the papers for the students
to take a general idea of what to carefully look for while watching and
listening, then he took them back. The students were left with a second chance
to watch and listen to the video, but this time they were assigned the task to
take notes trying to adhere answers to what is presented in the activity. As
soon as the teenagers finished watching the video, the teacher distributed the
papers again and gave them twenty minutes to write down answers to the eleven
questions. Passing by, looking at the students’ way of implementing, I could
tell that most of their faces revealed affection and reflected motivation. Time
was up; the students had to pass their papers from back to front. The teacher
asked for some oral expressions and reflections, here some noise as a ‘let-out’
of enthusiasm and self-expression aroused, but this was a normal consequence
that the teacher and I expected and accepted; after all, the topic related to
their lives and touched their affective needs and inner shouts. As a curious
observer, I went looking for something to criticize. However, I didn’t find but
a very well-going and organized flow of a listening lesson that I believe never
to forget; it was very organized, everything was under control, and all the
students were actively involved and they were sharing. The bell rang and the
listening session was over; the students went to recess with mindful desires of
food, fun, and adventure, the teacher went to return the technology tools to
their places, and I went home pondering with amazement. I couldn’t believe how
idealistic was that listening session and how did this effective teacher use
technology meaningfully to manage his classroom; making his students all the
time busy interacting with technology to accomplish their task, leaving them
with no single opportunity to lose interest or even misbehave.
Finally, it is
true that the teacher spent some time and effort preparing for the lesson
through an integration of technology; however he made me trust that inside that
class, technology made his teaching strategies more motivating, effective, and
engaging. Also, I was made to believe that his use of technology was appealing
to the students, their needs, what is required (the desired results and
objectives), and their desires. All this leading to a saving of time, trouble, and effort, absolutely agreeing
with what was mentioned in the book Integrating Technology in Nursing Education: Tools for the Knowledge Era by Kathleen
Mastrian, Dee McGonigle, Wendy L. Mahan, Brett Bixler, that stated, “These smart applications help you (the teacher and
students) approach a variety of resources, saving time and effort.” (Mastrian, McGonigle, Mahan, & Bixler, 2010)
References
Dixie, G. (2003). Managing Your
Classroom. Great Britain: British Library Cataloguing.
Eggen, P., & Kauchak, D. 2006. Strategies
and Models for Teachers: Teaching Content and Thinking Skills.
Fifth Edition. Pearson Education, Inc.
Mastrian, K., McGonigle, D., Mahan, W. L., & Bixler, B. (2010, March
16). Integrating Technology in Nursing Education: Tools for the Knowledge
Era. Retrieved from Google: http://books.google.com.lb/books?id=rhIPAtCW_4cC&pg=PA278&dq=technology+saves+time+and+effort+in+education&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZzhdUamlOeeM0wW6-YG4BQ&ved=0CFIQ6wEwBg#v=onepage&q=technology%20saves%20time%20and%20effort%20in%20education&f=false
Schrum, L.
& Levin B. B. 2009. Leading 21st Century Schools:
Harnessing Technology for Engagement and Achievement. Corwin.
Scott, C. J. (2013, March 18). Cengage Learning. Retrieved from Try
Technology Tools to Enhance Your Teaching Styles:
http://blog.cengage.com/?top_blog=try-technology-tools-to-enhance-your-teaching-style
Zoghby, M. E. (2013). Using Technology in Schools.
LAU/Levant. Lebanon.
No comments:
Post a Comment