So I was having a hard time to figure out what to write about but then I remembered yesterday when I was teaching I was working with this math teacher who I had when I was in jr. high. She was has an elmo, projector, computer, and smart board in her classroom. The thing she chose to use was the overhead. I don't understand having colored fingers when you don't have to use that anymore. Wouldn't it be so much easier to use the smart board to write the problems on then you wouldn't have to erase problems with your fingers all the time. It was just one thing I was thinking about while I was helping in her classroom yesterday.
I guess my question is do a lot of teachers get stuck in one way?
One thing I can think of why she would still use the overhead is that she probably knows exactly how it works and it's extremely easy to her. I think that sometimes teachers are afraid to try new things because they don't want it to complicate any of their routines. If it "works", why change it? is the mindset of many teachers. In the Smart Board workshop that was held yesterday in my room, we were learning just about how to set up the Smart Board/elmo/infocus/computer. How to plug it in, which cords to put where, how to callibrate it, etc. I think that some of the teachers in the workshop were a little leary of using it, simply because they had not had the experience using it themselves-they were just watching someone do it. Maybe some teachers doubt themselves that they can even get started using technology like a Smart Board. Just my thoughts...
ReplyDeleteMaybe you just hit a day when the teacher didn't use it. If you return, maybe ask her and see how she uses the board and why she chose to use the technology she did for the learning task students were doing. We don't have to be high-tech all the time, but we do need to design the best and most interactive lessons for our students that we can!
ReplyDeleteI don't really understand why she wouldn't use the elmo. I think Alyssa brought up a good point. It could be that she was just so used to using the overhead that she doesn't want to change. Hopefully that is not the case. I think it would be a good idea to ask her what technology she uses more often and why she chooses that over the other one.
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