Having Mac alum talk to us today about their schools and their experiences with technology was an interesting experience. It's so different hearing about people's actual experiences with technology in context as opposed to listening to professors lecture about it. When we sit in class and hear lectures it's so easy to brush them off. Hearing people talk about it is so...real. I feel like I learned so much about teaching with technology in the hour and a half with guest speakers--I didn't think I would be this interested.
One of the speakers was a history teacher, so it was interesting to hear her perspectives on technology. She said that in contrast to many of her colleagues, she lets students use their cell phones during class to look things up. Interestingly enough, she said that doing so takes some pressure off of her--she doesn't need to know everything because students aren't relying on getting all the information/questions answered by her. I really liked this reference because this is something I'm nervous about. With technology I will feel more comfortable admitting that I don't know something. Plus, my students will gain a sense of agency when they can look up facts and teach things to ME.
This speaker also mentioned that she likes to incorporate technology into her lessons in the form of research. She mentioned how she demonstrated the shortcomings of wikipedia by editing a page (with something she made up) and using it in class. I love this idea! After doing this she said she showed students how easy it was to edit pages in wikipedia. I think this would really drive the point home. I have always thought of teaching students to distinguish between reliable and non-reliable sources as a straightforward, boring (albeit necessary) requirement as a history teacher, but today's discussion displayed to me that I can make these traditionally boring things innovative and engaging.
I also really liked how she discussed the way that history education needs to change. I agree with her that the standard lecture, exam, paper format is not conducive to higher order thinking or high leverage practice. On a similar note, I enjoyed hearing this speaker discuss the value she places (or doesn't place) on the learning of dates. During our discussion she said that she wanted to help her students learn the chronology involved in history, rather than forcing rote memorization of dates. I couldn't agree with this more. Someone in our class questioned this, but I definitely side with the guest speaker. History is not about memorizing a list of dates. History is about learning about cause and effect, consequences of actions, and making connections between history and current events. I think in terms of history, students should learn about developing critical thinking skills, rather than rote memorization. What good is remembering a date if you don't know the implications of that date or what it means in context?
Basically....I really liked this teacher's philosophy on teaching history and on incorporating technology into her curriculum. Today was empowering :)
