So as I talked about in my previous post, my first year of teaching began with my wondering what exactly I should be teaching my pre-k students, and luckily I had a colleague who pointed me in the direction of the Common Core State Standards. Well my next question then was, well, how exactly am I supposed to teach them? I mean, I know that we all have the visual in our mind of the teacher standing in front of the chalkboard (ok, or whiteboard...I am dating myself here) with her hair in a bun, lecturing to a classroom full of well-behaved students taking notes on lined papers. Well, but nowadays, does anybody actually use lined paper anymore? Ok, yes, maybe a little, but we all know what is fast and furiously taking over in the classroom...technology! So how was I supposed to use technology to teach and help my prekindergarten students to achieve kindergarten readiness and if I did use technology, did that mean I would have a classroom of tiny antisocial droids? Also, how could I use technology to help make sure my students were going to be ready to meet the Common Core State Standards next year in Kindergarten?
Before I tell you how I have answered these questions, I think it is pertinent for me to tell you...technology in the classroom really used to freak me out. There, I said it. I admitted it. I am a little bit like your grandmother. I miss notebooks and pens and scribbling notes furiously as a teacher speaks in front of the room. However, I knew that when I got my first teaching job, I would need to become quite comfortable with technology in the classroom. After all, our students are going to be using technology A LOT throughout their academic careers, let alone once they get into the workplace! It's just that I feared that using technology in the classroom meant less group discussions, less communication, and a movement toward a lack of classroom community.
Well it turns out that the more I research and learn, the more I realize I am not alone in my concerns, but the good news is that studies are showing the opposite to be true. It seems that students might actually be talking MORE in classrooms where technology, such as iPads, are placed. Believe it or not, iPads and the like may actually be helping to build classroom community. One study showed that students talked more about the classroom content because they were so excited about using the iPads that they were sharing ideas about the best ways to use the iPads, thus talking about and learning the classroom content being studied on the iPads at the same time. One teacher in a study featured in a NCTE journal called "iPads as Placed Resources: Forging Community in Online and Offline Spaces," told a story about a day that she came back from lunch break to find her students had rearranged their desks into small groups and were studying together with their iPads. Even the shy, reserved students who she had worried about socially were participating. It was a revelation to her to see how the technology was bringing the students together. And that wasn't all. Barriers were being broken down between her and the students as well. The teacher felt that the students were feeling less of a hierarchy gap between them and her as they taught her different ways to use the iPad. (Because yes, they knew things she did not know because they had been playing with their parents' iPads, iPhones, etc. since they could basically sit up!)
Technology is not only helping students and teachers to come together in a classroom community, but it is also helping students by giving them new ways to learn. In a NCTE journal article called "Our Favorite Picturebook Apps," the authors discuss various applications that can be downloaded to help students improve their literacy skills and excitement for reading. So we as new teachers can actually use technology to aid in lessons, discussions, etc. We can act as guides to help the students learn to learn with technology!
In addition to this, technology such as iPad placement in the classroom is offering more and more chances for students to experience content cross-over. And, BINGO, this is where technology in the classroom even helps us to embrace the Common Core Standards! The Common Core Standards ask us as teachers to build content crossover into the classroom. In other words, gone are the days of opening a Social Studies book, closing it, opening a Spelling book, closing it, etc. Now, we can be teaching a science unit to our students, and when Billy asks a question, we can use a search engine to research the answer together as a class, which has the possibility to build literacy or any other skill at the same time!
So, as it turns out I answered "HOW do I teach them?" quite often by saying, "with the help of technology!"
Sources
Roswell, J., Saudeli, M., Scott, R., & Bishop, A. "iPads as Placed Resources: Forging Community in Online and Offline Spaces" National Council for Teachers of English Journal, Language Arts. May 2013.
McNair, J., Bailey, A., Day, D., & Moller, K. "Our Favorite Picturebook Apps" National Council for Teachers of English Journal, Language Arts. May 2013.
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