I have been in my student teaching placement for about 6 weeks now, and my mentor teacher includes the use of technology in nearly every lesson. We are always using laptops and going to the computer lab to work on projects and reports. As many of you know, getting 30 Ninth graders to move to the computer lab, turn on the computer, and then actually get to work can take up to half of a 50 minute class period. However, my placement school has block scheduling, and I have observed that this structure facilitates the use of technology.
Our block schedule allots 90 minutes for each class, which can be a lot of instruction time (especially in English and History classes), but I think this amount of time enables students to sit down with technology and really take the time to get involved. It promotes using technology such as blogs and podcasts because the students have the time to familiarize themselves with what they are working on and to ask the teacher questions in class.
This is not to say that using technology only works in blocks schedules, but it does seem to be more efficient for the teacher and students.
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4 comments:
I think you make a good point here courtney. Technological education isn't often hard to grasp, it's just a multi-faceted notion that requires a significant amount of time to download, per se. I look foward to hearing how you're able to utlize technology next semester after you take over you classes.
I'll echo Jon's comment to say that the time/logistics factor is key, Courtney, and block scheduling can be wonderfully "user friendly" in this connection. There is something very nice about having a longer space in which you have the luxury of some "settling in" time, eh?
It might be interesting to see what the sentiments are with regard to block scheduling at CHS. Does your mentor like it? Is it fairly popular?
I agree, Courtney. John Glenn has 58 minute classes, and I have had some difficulty using technology when teaching. I used streaming videos in my lesson last week, and the amount of time it to switch from online to powerpoint to online to editing the powerpoint to minimizing the screen to use the board etc etc etc took WAY TOO LONG! I found myself flustered trying to impress my students with technology in such a short time period.
I'm very envious of your block scheduling. I had that when I was in high school, and you're right, the teacher can do so much more!
Courtney,
Scheduling and technology was an issue that I discussed in my field internship at the Language Resource Center. The facilitators spoke about using Skype as a way to have students communicate using a foreign language and interact educationally. However, they also mentioned that within the 55 minute class session, it may or may not work depending on if there are technological problems with the website and connections. I guess that's the risk a teacher must take to incorporate technology into a class--the fear that something may throw a monkey wrench into planning, therefore wasting a bulk of the class time.
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