The Progressive Teacher Vol 04 Issue 03

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
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