Throughout my time here at Rowan, I have taken various education, writing, and technology classes. While all of these classes have taught me various things about my future careers, there is one thing that they seem to be lacking. This one thing is the necessity for differentiating instruction when it comes to learning styles.
This past week, Professor Kopp asked us to watch a few videos of various lectures from individuals like, Jason Silva and Clay Shirky. When looking at the length of the videos, I knew that I was going to need to stay focused, and possibly take notes while watching these videos. However, I did not expect to have to pause the videos every couple of seconds to take notes, and hope that I was understanding the information. It was not until I found the "closed captioning" button, located on the bottom of the videos, that I really started to understand the material being presented. This button provided me with visual translations of the words that the men were speaking. You see, I am a very visual learner. By solely listening to the words these men were saying, the information was going in one ear, and out of the other. So the question that has been bugging me ever since is, "how do you incorporate technology in the classroom, while also keeping in mind that all of my students are going to have different learning styles?"
According to a study conducted by Vicky Rideout, teachers believe that the constant use of digital technology is affecting attention spans and the ability to succeed in challenging tasks. Rideout, in an unrelated study, already found that children and teenagers, age 8 to 18, spend twice as much time with screens as they do in school. How am I supposed to compete with this? How am I supposed to take into consideration that every student learns differently, so when I do introduce technology, each student is successful with it? How am I supposed to retain my students attention when all they want to do is play with the iPads, or the SmartBoard? I need answers!
Now, I know, "Rome wasn't built in one day," and the answers to these questions are going to come when I have real life experience with my students and the use of technology, but these questions haunt my dreams. Especially after finding out that, "out of 685 teachers surveyed in the Common Sense Media, 71% believe that technology is hurting attention span "a lot," 60% said it hindered students' ability to write and communicate face to face, and 50% believe that technology hurts critical thinking and the ability to do homework with success.
So, fellow teacher candidates, does anyone have any response to my questions. Or does anyone have any idea how to incorporate learning styles and technology into the classroom, simultaneously? I'll pay you in compliments and smiles. (:
According to a study conducted by Vicky Rideout, teachers believe that the constant use of digital technology is affecting attention spans and the ability to succeed in challenging tasks. Rideout, in an unrelated study, already found that children and teenagers, age 8 to 18, spend twice as much time with screens as they do in school. How am I supposed to compete with this? How am I supposed to take into consideration that every student learns differently, so when I do introduce technology, each student is successful with it? How am I supposed to retain my students attention when all they want to do is play with the iPads, or the SmartBoard? I need answers!
Now, I know, "Rome wasn't built in one day," and the answers to these questions are going to come when I have real life experience with my students and the use of technology, but these questions haunt my dreams. Especially after finding out that, "out of 685 teachers surveyed in the Common Sense Media, 71% believe that technology is hurting attention span "a lot," 60% said it hindered students' ability to write and communicate face to face, and 50% believe that technology hurts critical thinking and the ability to do homework with success.
So, fellow teacher candidates, does anyone have any response to my questions. Or does anyone have any idea how to incorporate learning styles and technology into the classroom, simultaneously? I'll pay you in compliments and smiles. (:
Pssttt.. read this article for more research on the topic of technology in the classroom.
Compliments | Smiles |