I found today's lesson about TPACK very interesting. I think that it is important to understand the content and pedagogy of your lesson before you add the technology component. With that being said, as Nicole stated in her blog, it is important to make sure that technology isn't the lesson or is absent, if it can benefit your students. I want to be a teacher that tries to innovate technology in her classroom instead of integrating it. Like Matt and Punja talked about today, I feel that technology changes everything, especially today.
I enjoyed using BookFlix today in the classroom. It's ironic because for one of my linked lessons during student teaching, I was going to read A Chick Grows Up by Pam Zollman using the Elmo to the entire class. Well, on the day of that lesson, the Elmo broke, so I decided to use BookFlix to read this book to the class. One thing I didn't notice about BookFlix is that there is an 'Explore the Web' tab for this book. By exploring the web today in class, I found a lot of websites that could have been amazing extensions for my linked lessons. This just goes to show that teachers always need to be learning about technology in today's society so that we can better ourselves as teachers and enhance the learning of our students.
I am excited to see how our Rosie's Walk pictures and books are going to turn out as well as our Eye Spy book. I am excited to learn about more ways to implement technology in literacy so that I can teach my students how to create their own picture books for particular skills throughout the year.
I agree, we must understand the content and pedagogy before adding technology. Although, when we did the activity today in class and Dr. Schmidt had us choose the technology first, it seemed to almost be easier. I'm not sure what way I'd do it in the classroom because if you think about it we first know what technology we have available and often would plan around that. Either way, I know I will plan my lesson differently when thinking about technology.
ReplyDeleteYes, we have to know the content and pedagogy before adding technology so that the lesson doesn't become all about the technology. I hadn't worked much with BookFlix before and I didn't realize all of the opportunities that were available on it either. It would definitely be a beneficial tool in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that teachers need to continue learning about the technology that is available to them. If we don't know how to use the technology then we won't be able to use it in our classroom.
BookFlix is such an amazing website, it's unfortunate that it's so expensive and a lot of schools cannot use it because of this fact. I was in one preschool classroom that had a smart board and the teacher could use it for "Point to the _______" questions. It was so awesome to see, and I really want to be able to try that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about learning the technology. How many times have you been in a class where the teacher didn't know how to use the technology that they were using in their lesson? That was always so frustrating to me when you are sitting in class wasting 10 minutes while the professor tries to get the sound to work.
Thanks for sharing your use of Book Flix - that is great! Did the school have the subscription or did you use ours? That's all about having a plan B - if something doesn't work - what next? Always be ready.
ReplyDeleteBy the end of class you will probably be tired of hearing TPACK - but I do think it helps keep technology in mind when planning a lesson.