The Progressive Teacher Vol 04 Issue 03

More documents

Recommendations

Info

classroom technology TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM The story so far…There was a time (and in many places other than the metros, it still is) when technology in the classroom of a school meant either having a room equipped with audio visual devices, usually a tape recorder and a VCR or advertising your school as a smart class equipped school with some classrooms fitted with projectors connected to a new generation writing board called the smart board. It all started with using these facilities in regular periodic classes showing children educational content. –Renu Vashishta Those were the days when teachers were to be coaxed and sometimes forced to make use of the topic wise available electronic academic content at least for a mandatory number of hours. The content sometimes not up to mark but not easily recognizably so, did serve the purpose of a break from monotonous class schedules for both students and teachers. Teachers were mostly stuck with the idea of anything to do with the computers being an automatic referral to the computer teacher! Real beneficiaries of the set up were the top level students with the gap between their content clarity and mastery of a topic being bridged. A GOOD START NO DOUBT! WHAT NOW? Today the ability to use technology is not under a scanner at all! Use of smart phones, social media and fondness for making home videos and picture collages have very easily taken care of that hurdle! Most good schools today are in a position to use technology as an instructional tool rather than just a subject of instruction. However, complete seamless integration is still a far cry. Need of the hour therefore, is to introduce technology seamlessly into our school lessons and school work by teachers for both themselves and students. Teachers must comfortably shift from digital to traditional and vice versa as and when required. Students must employ technology daily in the classroom using a variety of tools to complete Renu Vashishta an educator - technically on a sabbatical - is actually working, researching, blogging, interacting meaningfully with children of all ages. She began her career as a primary school teacher, rising very fast to become a teacher of mathematics teaching senior classes. A winner of a gold medal for preparing the best teaching aid, she has worked as a Head of primary and preprimary schools and curriculum co-ordinator for a chain of primary schools too. Her experience of 21 years, other than teaching mathematics includes working with the very young as well as young children, accommodating and adopting the latest in education, planning and formulating curriculum and devising innovative lesson plans and assignments, writing content for books as well as e-learning, editing school magazines and managing and organising academic events /programmes. She has recently finished her MOOC from MIT(US) on LAUNCHING INNOVATION IN SCHOOLS http://www.questionsforthedriven.com/#!vashishta-educators/ann6t http://tutelageviewpoint.wordpress.com www.myrendezvouswithhomemaking.wordpress.com www.facebook/tuelagefun 56 The Progressive Teacher Jul/Aug 2017
assignments and create projects that show a deep understanding of content. Technology has to now be just a tool to make the real teaching –learning process go on smoothly, to enable superior learning to take place. SOME OF THE WAYS OF TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION IN A SCHOOL CLASSROOM • Teacher specific tools • Online learning and blended classrooms • Project-based activities • Game-based learning • Learning with mobile devices • Instructional tools like interactive whiteboards and student response systems • Web-based projects, exploration, and research • Student-created media • Collaborative online tools like wiki or google docs • Using social media to engage students • Flipped classrooms Most of the above are in use in most schools of the metros and in a scattered manner in other cities of India. However, for the potential to be explored and used fully a lot more needs to be done. The reason is obvious; for the teaching learning process to be of optimal quality the soul – the teacher has to be on the technology path from within herself/himself. That alone will bring about seamless integration of technology for optimal success in the teaching-learning process. SOME REASONS FOR TEACHER RESISTANCE TO THE USAGE: • It is hard to affect change in the way one teaches, especially given that many educators work confidently with familiar and proven methods. • Already working hard, teachers may understandably be wary of anything with the potential of making their jobs more complicated. • Using technology or to be more specific even only electronic academic content requires meticulous planning and time even if it is for lower classes. The added time might prove to be a deterrent for some. What might help: • Including teachers in the decision making processes to evaluate the extent of use and what to use helps to a certain extent. • Though the planning and execution of how new technology will be integrated are important, at the end of the day, what matters most when selecting technology is its ease of use. • There can be no substitute for the time spent on planning. Planning has to be done with the right amount of time spent on it. This is where a Head can help. Regular integration of time slots for academic content planning right down to the micro level within the school time schedule itself is a big help. Technology is here to stay and students today are coming to class with more and more technical know-how whether a teacher likes it or not. There are many educators, less familiar and less comfortable with technology than their students, struggling to seamlessly integrate a growing Levels of technology integration list of technology tools into their regular curriculum. So it is high time we educators came out of our comfortable stupor, stemming out of a superiority claimed due to experience. Let us decide whether we want to reach the top of the pyramid of technology integration or not! From the publisher’s desk... Resolving conflicts in classrooms Unity in diversity is the concept that best fits India and it is very important in the classroom as well. Children come from different religions, castes and beliefs and it is common to have disagreements between children studying, playing or just interacting with each other. Some conflicts can be rudimentary, but few can lead to serious problems in classrooms. Teachers have a greater role to play in such circumstances, because he/she should act as a role model and help to resolve the issues. It is the responsibility of the teacher to help students deal with conflicts in a mutually respectable way; and it is a skill that teachers can perfect with time. First of all, teachers need to work on good student-teacher relationship; watch the way students interact with each other and try to connect with them so that students can trust them. Trust is a major factor in resolving conflicts. Gain that trust and do not reprimand the students in the presence of their class-mates. Take them to another place, where you can talk to them in private. Try to listen to their point of view, before giving your opinion. Get to the core of the conflict. Once you know the situation, you can cite examples of similar conflicts and resolutions, possibly from their own experiences or from others. If things get out of hand, press the pause button. Ask them to take a deep breath. It will certainly calm them down a bit and reduce their stress. If you think it is more complicated that what you thought, you can call other people who are better able to deal with such situations. It could be a colleague or fellow teacher. Try to involve people who are better known to those students. Once the conflict is resolved, there needs to be a follow up. Check in with each student individually to know if the matter has been resolved completely. Give them time; they might resolve it on their own. If you feel there is still need to resolve it further, try it again. This will develop their social skills and help them better deal with Sonal Khurana sonal@progressiveteacher.in conflicts in their lives. Teachers can also learn a lot from these differences; resolving them amicably will strengthen their conflict management skills, which are very important for being a good teacher. Dealing with children is an art and those who excel in it, excel in the field of teaching. Jul/Aug 2017 www.progressiveteacher.in 57
Page 3 and 4:
Editorial July/August, 2017 Vol. 04
Page 5 and 6: Editorial 03 New Trends in Educatio
Page 7 and 8: In the future, problems will become
Page 9 and 10: atmosphere that allows for free thi
Page 12 and 13: counselling Why Schools Need Career
Page 14 and 15: ethics -Jeny Rapheal Proliferation
Page 16 and 17: motivation -Dr Shayama Chona In spi
Page 18: classroom management -Payal Adhikar
Page 21 and 22: skills programme aims for. The Stud
Page 23 and 24: Pullout PLANNER Jul/Aug 2017 www.pr
Page 25 and 26: Class VI: geography Motions of the
Page 27 and 28: Class VI: history What Books and Bu
Page 29 and 30: Class VII: mathematics Algebraic Ex
Page 31 and 32: Class VII: mathematics Exponents an
Page 33 and 34: Class VIII: history The Changing Wo
Page 35 and 36: Class VIII: geography Industry Tick
Page 37 and 38: 4 cm Class X: mathematics Circles T
Page 39 and 40: Class X: mathematics Areas Related
Page 41 and 42: classroom display pullout Jul/Aug 2
Page 43 and 44: new trends ‘Facing the Challenges
Page 46 and 47: new trends New Trends in Education
Page 48 and 49: value education -Geeta Gujral Theod
Page 50 and 51: new trends New Educational Trends:
Page 52 and 53: BIOLOGY EXPLORING THE SUBJECT BIOLO
Page 54 and 55: career in history -Meera Bhuvanesh
Page 58: New trends NEW TRENDS IN ART EDUCAT
Page 61 and 62: learning Learned or Smart In trying
show all

The Progressive Teacher Vol 04 Issue 03

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?