Watching Technology in Action

In completing our pre-service teaching, I have completed observation in a middle school 7th grade classroom. In this setting, I observed the teacher use technology in a way that provided a more actively engaged class. I witnessed games played on the Smartboard and the making of Key Note presentations.

The games that they played on the Smartboard allowed the students to interact with material they were reviewing. The students really seemed to be interested because they got to go up to the board and answer questions individually. Nearly every student was completely engaged. I think especially in a middle school, this was a good way to get the students involved and having fun. She offered rewards for the winning team, and I think at this age rewards still really seemed to have worked. It gave them incentive to participate, and once they did, they were enjoying themselves.

In addition, I also helped the teacher give the students aid while making these Key Note presentations in the computer lab. Now, many of the students were unfamiliar with how to make these presentations, which made it more time-consuming. While all of the students seemed to be engaged with the activity, I am not sure they really delved into the content (which were the different types of government and world leaders) as much as they were worried about completing the task at hand. I also think the teacher was feeling the same way. She did not require the students to cite any information and many of the students just copy and pasted from Wikipedia. This made me think about the challenges and obligations I will have as a teacher. One one hand, we want these students to learn how to use these kinds of presentations, and we also have to make sure we do not waste time in the interest of fulfilling standards. However, we also need to make sure that we are instructing them correctly on how to go about doing research. I realize they were only middle-schoolers, and as they advance in their schooling they will have much more practice in doing it correctly. I do think though as a teacher, it will be my responsibility to show them the correct manner to use technology appropriately, even in the interest of time.