Music Educator

Category: EdTech (Page 2 of 2)

Week 3 Reflection

This is a reflection on the idea of technology in the classroom. Hearing Jesse Miller talk about technology and the internet has made me reconsider my value of technology in the classroom setting. Miller mentioned that when he worked in some communities, some students did not have internet at home. Some students stayed in their car after school to use the school wifi to complete assignments. As a teacher, it’s important to realize that although we are are living in a time where technology and the internet are becoming so integrated in society, some students still may not have 24/7 access to it. This is puts those students at a disadvantage.  This means as school teachers, we have to think critically about our expectations with technology and the internet as part of our curriculum.

Another topic that Jesse brought up that was interesting to me was the idea of technology as an empowering tool for a student. Jesse mentioned a story about a female student who used her device as a tool for preserving evidence against her teacher who was committing very inappropriate behavior. After hearing this, I realize that students now have a very powerful tool that they can use to protect themselves and their classmates against bad teachers. Phones are a powerful tool for students; students now have the ability to video record/ audio record a teachers behavior and share it to the internet in an instance.

Reflection #2

This is a reflection on my experience with EDCI 336 so far. Initially, I thought this class was going to be a no brainer for me. I grew up with technology and have had my fair share of computer problems. To my surprise, I find that I am getting lost in the material in EDCI 336. Each platform presented in this course (twitter, mattermost, wordpress etc.) is new to me and I find it hard figuring out how to navigate through each platform. Fortunately, I have just had my first pod session and my pod members have shined light on many of my issues.  We are all at different stages with the material and have figured out solutions to different problems we are facing. We have shared our different solutions with each other which has helped tremendously.  The pod is a brilliant thing in this course, it allows us to work together and make things that seem impossible, possible.

Reflection

This is a personal reflection on the film “Most Likely to Exceed” (Greg Whiteley). This film dives into the culture of a nonconventional high school in the United States. Initially, I loved what the school was trying to achieve. It broke the norms of high school education in hopes of providing students with a more authentic experience of learning that is more related to the real world setting.

The film brings up the fact that the test system in the conventional school system is unrealistic since people in the real world do not sit in desks and solve problems to showcase their skills in a job. Usually there is an end product that shows the persons capabilities. For example, a carpenter creates a house, a painter creates a piece of art, a composer creates a song etc. After realizing this, instead of having students do the usual pen and paper tests, the school puts on a showcase fair at the end of the year where the general public comes and views the products/creations of the students. I believe this great in comparison to looking at a few numbered grades which are supposed to represent a students skill/knowledge.

The main problem with this school, is the fact that some of these high school students need to get into universities to work their desired occupation (ei. doctor, lawyer etc.). Unfortunately, although working towards these final products involve students learning a variety of different skills and acquiring knowledge, they do not cover the necessary volume of knowledge to pass examinations to make it into some universities. As a result, some students were frustrated and did not appreciate the education the unconventional school gave them.

To conclude my reflection, I believe what this unconventional education system is doing is overall a great thing. The school employs an authentic teaching system that creates an authentic learning experience for the students. Unfortunately, the education system at post secondary level requires a different set of expectations. Since this is the case, I believe this new unconventional system of education needs to consider what the student wants from education and not only what adults want for the student (ie: parent/guardian, teacher).

 

 

Newer posts »

© 2024 Derek Valenciano

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑