A long while back, I took two years off as a sort of "sabbatical" from banking. One of those years I spent teaching Middle School Math. Fast forward to today. I have one year of actual teaching in the school system under my belt and I can tell you that teaching today does not look like teaching in the early 2000s. It definitely doesn't look like the 1970s. The county I've been substitute teaching for has fully embraced technology and each student is provided with a laptop. In some classes, the students are using technology for their school work almost exclusively.
I've observed a lot of interactive learning applications being assigned with knowledge checks at the end. This is true across grade levels. I can only hope that the technology helps reduce the time that the teacher works outside of the classroom. Working in the classroom requires a significant amount of stamina and patience. At the end of the day, teachers deserve to truly clock out. But, of course, that is not the case for them.
Most of the teachers I have subbed for provide clear plans for their classes. I cannot express how grateful I am for this. Some of the plans include directing students to complete certain assignments on their laptops. In those cases, my job is to make sure students are actually on task, which is not hard to do. I do it by walking around. Some teachers use the "share the student screen" technique. It allows teachers to check any student's screen while they are in their classroom. There are incentives for the students to complete their work, which can include game time on the computer.
One nice thing about computer learning is that students can complete their work at their own pace, without being intimidated when others have finished. The apps also provide bright, kinetic animation which presents information in several ways. It can help a visual learner grasp the concepts as well as an auditory learner. It also has practice features that help the hands-on learner.
Electronic presentations are simply "how it's done" now. This is true even in the field of adult learning as well. For corporate training, I can't help but think of the time that can be saved when there are good training packages that can reduce the individual trainer's prep time. When I was in the corporate world, I appreciated online training because it allowed me to schedule for myself. The information could be reviewed quickly, which I really appreciated.
Some people express worry that using colorful and interactive apps to teach our students will diminish their ability to learn the "old-fashioned" way. For as long as I can remember parents or concerned adults worried something important would be lost with each teaching innovation.
As a product of the '70s education system, I can tell you we were not hurt by such things as Sesame Street or "The New Math" or other such things that were new. When calculators were introduced in the classroom the concern was students would become dependent on them. --Heck, I'm dependent on them. The difference is that today a calculator is readily available on our phones.
For an accurate analysis of what educational tools work for today's students, I defer 100% to the teachers using them. I don't know which applications help our teachers and which add extra layers of work. My guess is there are some of each.
I hope that it is the teachers that are consulted for any new school curriculums. I hope that it's the teachers who decide which books (or applications) are best for each group of students. The reality is that their voice is probably rarely consulted. My guess is that teachers' needs (which is another way of saying student needs) are not the biggest consideration.
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