Dr. Hargrave posed a question this week about which theoretical frameworks should inform our work today and tomorrow and then asked if it should or shouldn't be reconstructionism. I think that some technology has already started to do some of the things that reconstructionism focuses upon such as: curriculum develops internationalism (Skype and work with other schools around the world and bringing people into the classroom), curriculum examines current social issues (I think that there could be more of this in our current education system and this piece is missing but some educators are moving in this direction, I think it should be taught even more), technology should be used to facilitate change (I think that we are seeing this happening because we are discussing things such as the digital divide, globalization, and equity vs. equality). I think that pieces of the reconstructionism theory are vitally important and should be used in our teaching of the students of tomorrow. The pieces I think are missing and we should put more of a focus upon are: emphasize social change, I think that it is very disheartening the things that are taking place within society and if we put more of an emphasis on who and what our society looks and feels like our next generations can turn things around and not have the horrific current event tragedies we are having today, and the focus upon questioning the status quo. I think that we teach students how things are now, not to think critically and go out and change the world, but we plug them with content and don't give them enough opportunity to find things in our world that they want to change. I am thinking of Angela Maiers specifically here with her quote "You are a genius and the world needs your contribution." I have that quote on my computer as the background so that my students see it everyday when they come into class on the projector. I would like to see the U.S. education system move into a mix of the constructivist philosophy with touches of the reconstructionism theory because of the critical thinking involved in both and get away from the plug content into our students and have them regurgitate it to us on standardized tests.
Another question that I pondered throughout this week was about my role in addressing unintended consequences of technology. When thinking about unintended consequences of technology, at first I only thought about the negatives such as: texting and driving, lack of focus, eye strains, obesity, etc. Then I began to think about the example that Dr. Hargave gave about boys having problem solving skills from gaming and I began to think about other unintended consequences that aren't necessarily negative such as students having access to the entire world via the internet, being able to share work with the world, and more individualized instruction for students. My role in tackling these unintended consequences as a current 6th grade teacher is to make sure that my students understand their digital footprint and the idea that what is online stays online, I think that this is a very difficult concept for students to understand because forever is so abstract. I also must take the time to show and model for students ways to be responsible online, not just with profiles on Twitter and Facebook, but in their lives with their cell phones, their games, their creations and sharing online, etc. I think that the main way to resolve uintended consequences of technology is to teach our students how to be responsible just as we have in every generation before, but not with technology, real life situations. The technology is embedded into our students lives just like driving a car, walking alone, buying groceries, etc. that we teach students how to do, the different that I see and that I will have more of a role within is because parents and families are unfamiliar with the technology and that's where I come in because it is my job to know about the technology that my students are using and model responsibility within those situations where their parents might not be as comfortable.
One piece of learning this week that I was surprise by was my connection to critical theory in the article by Steve Talbott, Global Village. Last week I was having a hard time connecting to critical theory because I am an optimist and I have a hard time picking out the discrepancies within a system, but I agreed with most of what Talbott discussed in the article. One part of a Global Village that I disagree with is that the opportunity to pass messages around might lead to an era of peace. I am speaking about this from my own knowledge and viewings of the world currently and from what I see happening in the world, being able to pass messages and communicate freely has not led to peace, but has caused more turmoil. Connecting to that turmoil is the growing dominance of American forms, which we are seeing in Afganistan and Iraq, which are causing more and more turmoil and not peace. Globalization is a topic that I look through the lens of critical theory when discussing and thinking about. I am skeptical about globalization and the global village but I want to open my students eyes up to the world that is out there and I think that it is critical to do this, especially for my students that hardly ever get to leave Leon, Iowa, but at the same time I don't feel that globalization is a solve-all solution to societal problems, nor will is solve our problems we deal with. Yes, are we more globalized with technology, I think it would be hard to argue against that fact, has it made it better for everyone, I have my doubts. "Bridging the gap between technology does not change social interaction," Talbott. I agree with this statement completely and I think it sums up what I stated above.
The last topic that I want to reflect upon for this course is that of distance education. I think it is interesting discussing and thinking about distance education because I very much enjoy online courses and I am thankful that I have the opportunity to have distance education, but when I think about it for my students I have a different opinion and I don't know if its because I think about all of my colleagues and peers that don't do well with distance education and are afraid of it or if I think that a more traditional face to face method is best for younger students, again I am thinking about elementary. When I think about high school students, I know that they could learn and handle distance education, its really all about the effectiveness of the instructor and the content. My fear is that distance education will become the norm for students and all the courses will be focused on piping students full of content, which is what we need to get away from currently. It will take a lot of change within teacher preparation programs in order to create teachers who understand how to teach at a distance and keep the rigor and relevance at its peak for students.
I would love to use a flipped classroom method of teaching in order to have more in class time for discussions, debates, etc. but I, myself need more training and instruction on how to implement flipped teaching and how to manage it. I think that is all goes back to what we, as educators, grew up with learning from and that influences how we teach, again connecting back to the theories and philosophies that we have as educators. Our students today that are in flipped classroom and distance learning situations could be great flipped classroom teachers and distance learning teachers because it is what they have experienced. The verdict is still out for me on distance education, but within the next 5, 10, 15 years I think that it will become more prevalent within our education system and more opportunities will be provided to students to participate in distance learning. I stated one fead above, another fear is how to we as a society handle that social interaction and keep that in our youth's lives when they sit at home and the teacher comes to them through a computer screen and they participate in Google Hangouts with their classmates, will we have major societal issues because of it, bringing us back full circle to the unintended consequences of technology.
No comments:
Post a Comment