I love getting the opportunity to talk with former SMACers. Here at the end of summer term, I still feel more confused than competent. Hearing alumni confidently talking about their schools and teaching practice helps boost my confidence a bit. By the end of this program I will know what I'm doing. Maybe.
Is it weird that I was really excited by Wallwisher? I love that I didn't have to log in or anything, which makes it immediately seem like a great tool to use for student feedback or questions. What a painless way to conduct a formative assessment! Just tell students to leave virtual sticky notes with questions or concepts they still don't understand after the day's lesson. They can leave comments anonymously if they are embarrassed about not understanding something. After researching gifted students and fear of failure, being able to anonymously ask questions seems like an important aspect of a safe classroom environment. I guess the old-school way would be to have a box in the front of the room where students can put questions, but that's slightly less private.
I was glad that TeacherJ and TeacherK took the time for shameless plugs of their classes, because I was still searching for a cognate! I had been signed up for the Turkish Odyssey course, but the world languages methods course was moved to Friday mornings. :/ But then TeacherK's course sounded cool and useful, so now I'm signing up for that and I'm not bummed anymore.
I wonder if anyone else with a "dumb" phone has been scared away from getting a smart phone because of today's discussion. I don't want to be constantly checking my phone! When I'm in the car, my phone is in my purse. When I'm in class, my phone is in my backpack. I recognize that I am not a multitasker by any means; I can look at my screensaver and pay attention, but that is about it. I wonder how many students think that they are getting all the information only because they have not compared what they're doing to the experience of being focused on the lesson and nothing else.
I agree with many of my classmates' worries about technology, but I still consider myself to be optimistic about technology in the classroom. I want to use technology in teaching according to this rule: Will it help be do what I wanted to do better/faster/in a more meaningful way? If yes, use it! If not, leave it. My students will be held to a slightly different standard: If it makes them enthusiastic and it doesn't detract from demonstrating what they've learned, I will give them creative freedom with their assignments. Maybe this will somehow fail spectacularly in practice, but for now I'm feeling good about my plans.
Speaking of teaching with technology, I have some correspondence courses to finish before school starts up again!
-B.
I am excited that you will be coming over to NQ this fall. You will be an awesome addition to the class. I have had all but one of our students in class at least once before, and it's a pretty stellar, curious group!
ReplyDeleteNot crazy at all that you liked Wallwisher. Glad you are thinking about it for formative assessment! (I am crazy about formative assessment and would eliminate summative assessment if I were Queen).
See you after your relaxing month off!
Wow, I agree with so much of what you said in this post. Number one, Wallwisher is definitely amazing! Sounds like a great way to get student feedback throughout the semester without having to take 10 minutes to answer a bunch of questions. It took me less than a minute to type up and post my response!
ReplyDeleteNumber two, I have been avoiding getting a smartphone for the past year because I just don't want that distraction to be an option. Unfortunately, Verizon forces its customers to get data plans now, which is super annoying. So I guess I'm stuck with my current dumbphone until it eventually dies.
Wallwisher is a great tool, both for the ease of use as well as the immediacy and impact of gathering responses. When our colleague Liz Kolb comes to visit, we'll look at tools like Poll Everywhere, which can do more nuanced, instant data gathering using cell phones...but also via a web interface!
ReplyDelete"Is it weird that I was really excited by Wallwisher? "
ReplyDeleteNot weird... unless I am weird, too! I love WallWisher!!! The virtual translation of sticky notes... a collective display of thought. I can think of many possibilities in the classroom context, such as transparent student feedback tools, with less risk than applications such as Twitter.
Okay, maybe I am weird. I accept! Have a Happy August.
~Mindy
Oh Brianne, I wish I had the self-knowledge that you do and could admit to myself that I'm not good at multi-tasking. I know that I miss information in class because I look at facebook, craigslist, etc., but I just can't help it.
ReplyDeleteAs far as wallwisher goes, I'm still working on figuring that out (to be fair I haven't spent much time on it yet), but I'll let you know how weird I think you are once I decide how cool it really is :).
I totally hear you about not wanting a smart phone because it's one less thing you have to worry about being addicted to! I think I felt the same about Twitter, really...I already constantly check my email and FB--so there's a part of me that has been dubious about things like Twitter or smart phones and their usefulness, but another part of me that is convinced they *are* interesting and absorbing and that's just going to be one more thing that sucks up my time and attention! Which I don't really want or need right now!
ReplyDeleteBreanne, excellent observation about Wallwisher. I wrote my Wallwisher question for Jeff and Kristin, posted it, but didn’t stop to think about it’s potential in our own classrooms like you have. I especially appreciated your point about it giving students who aren’t usually vocal, or active, or “embarrassed to fail” in class an opportunity to say something. Plus considering the fact that we usually tend to be more thoughtful and careful in expression when we write something down, the succinct form of the post-it note could be really useful towards gaining insight about our students learning. Thanks for pointing this out to me, now all I have to do is use it about twenty or thirty times so that I can remember how useful and effective it is!
ReplyDeletePS I too am floating in the cognate course abyss and wondering if I will ever latch on to something that fits our schedule and is approved by the powers that be.
Your point about Wallwisher and how it provides a safe place to anonymously post questions is a very good one and one I hadn't thought of before. I also researched gifted students, and I think it would be a good tool to use not only for them, but for any class with students who are a bit more shy.
ReplyDeleteI think your questions about smart/dumb phones are interesting. I used to be a commited "dumb phone" person, but then my parents told me I was getting a smart phone whether I wanted one or not (I guess it came with a new plan we got or something). So I became a forced convert...I guess it was kind of like the Spanish Inquisition of phones. While I definitely feel like the phone is super convenient and I can do a lot more stuff on the go, my phone makes me really mad sometimes because it's constantly wanting my attention. There's definitely something to be said for unplugging or limiting the amount of time technology can grab ahold of us. I kind of hate how my phone beeps with every email, text, and tweet, and how I've been conditioned to immediately snatch it up and look at it. However, I don't think I'm as bad as some of our classmates who can't put the phone down in class or while driving. Anyway, I do think there's some validity in saying that multitasking can lead to a student missing all the information.