Media as an ally not an enemy
When I was in school that had the very old traditional way
of teaching, you sat in class while staring at PowerPoint slides full of notes.
No technology was allowed, other than the PowerPoint presentation, all phones
had to be off or face down on the desk on silent. They thought that if they
allowed us to use our phones we would be on Instagram, facebook or twitter and
not engaging, not that we were engaging in the first place. That was the major
problem, the exclusion of technology under the assumption that we would not
engage, however, we would of as it would have been something different other
than staring at PowerPoint presentations.
As a natural science and life science teacher I think
feedback is important and thus in would set up a twitter account for the class
where they can post after every class what they learnt, how they felt, what
they liked and didn’t like. I would also use twitter to share videos and share
links to articles or exiting new developments that are happening, and they can
also use twitter to share these kinds of things. The way of teaching is
changing and we need to adapt to it, the students are always on social media,
excluding it from a classroom just makes them more tempted to be sneaky and use
it under the desk, which as a teacher would irritate more, so might as well
involve social media in an interactive way that the student will enjoy and
learn from.
The idea of blogs I originally hated, I thought this would
take me hours and I didn’t have time for it, but by the second blog it became
natural and the topics made me love doing it. As a natural science teacher or
life sciences teachers I would get them to blog about what they learnt and to
have group discussions. These blogs create a forum where you can comment, state
your opinion, see other peoples perspectives and open your mind to new ideas
which is a fun way of learning and getting important concepts across. I really
like the idea of having a reminder group, that is so awesome, where the teacher
can remind the students to bring things for practical’s, remind them about
homework, and have a countdown till tests. As a teacher I would definitely use
this because as a student I was always forgetting something somewhere along the
line
I would also get students to make podcasts and YouTube
videos on the different sections of work so every week a group can create a
video on what they learnt that week and then it can be shared with the class
and accessible for the class and the world if they really wanted to. I find
listening to peers and discussing with peers an easy and interactive way of
learning, students understand students and thus may be able to explain concepts
in a more simplified manner
Forums like twitter and blogs create the opportunity to ask
questions and have group discussions which to me is a fun way of learning and
it really sticks more than just reading off power point. Social media has a way
of connecting everyone and getting everyone involved. It should be used in
classrooms to help the students, if they are more engaged and curious about the
topic they wont be on facebook doing something else instead of their work
I also agree with you and think that social media is good and very relevant is today's society. But what about the parent? Surely there will be parents that will not allow you to let their child be on his phone or tablet all day, and while most children will be obedient and do the group work, there will be those learners that will just sit on facebook and YouTube for all the wrong reasons. So what suggestions to you have to deal with those problems?
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