Sometimes I describe reading these chapters as "looking for the pony." In other words, I'm trying to find the sometimes buried gem of information that I can use in my classroom. I am sorry to say that for me, there was no pony in this chapter.
I tried, I really did, but this chapter seemed to be very wishy-washy and non-committal in tone in regard to utilizing technology in the classroom. Much of this was repetitive as well, echoing the first two chapters of this book. I was shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, to read that "teachers need to know how to teach" (p. 201). We do?!?!? Why was I never told this before?
Ahem...sorry about that. But I really could find nothing in this chapter that I can bring into my classroom. This chapter told me things that I already know: technology is constantly changing, people are afraid of change, technology is often "messy" and may not work well on the first try, not every teacher has the same materials with which to work. We all need to make choices about what to use in our classrooms in regard to technology. We all need to decide what works best for us in light of what is available to us. This chapter seemed to say, "Yes, you should use technology, but we really can't tell you what you should use or how you should use it. That's up to you."
The next chapter I am going to read is about math TPCK. I'm not a math person, but I hope that I will be able to find the pony in that chapter.
I want to clarify that it is not *science* that I dislike, it was how this chapter was written. The presentations by Rhonda and Jake were very good and very interesting. In fact, the presentations were better (in my opinion) than the chapter. There were many really good resources that were presented. These resources were what I thought was lacking in the chapter, but Rhonda and Jake more than made up for it. I really enjoyed the journey north website...some of those pictures were fantastic! I also think I would like to spend some time looking into case based teaching in English...but that will take some time.
ReplyDeleteJourney North incorporates Social Studies, Math, and Language Arts within the website.The pictures on this site can not be found in any textbooks. Unfortunately, I am having to rely on the website because the caterpillars are not surviving. We are not able to observe them through their life cycle. The video clips are a great resource that provides my students with the opportunity to view the entire metamorphosis of Monarchs.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kudo's Meg. I recently finished using http://www.geocities.com/physicsweblander/index.htm which was a case based teaching "webquest" about Static Magnetic Pain Therapy. I found it at http://www.webquest.org/index.php. Here are some English related resources from the same site - http://www.webquest.org/search/webquest_results3.php?curr=curreng&grade=grade912&Submit=Search+Matrix
ReplyDeleteGood Luck!