Less time at the front of the class, more one-on-one time

My wife and I have a running joke around our house. If either of us is trying to prove a point in an argument, and we don't really know what else to say, we always finish with, "I read it in an article." This week's reflection actually does come from something I read in an article. The article was from AOLnews and highlighted Hudson High School in New York that has incorporated laptops in lew of textbooks into their classrooms. The article was overwhelmingly positive, but a statement from proponents of tech integration stood out above all others, "teacher's spend less time at the front of the class and more time working with the students one-on-one."

For me, this sums up the whole purpose of tech integration. As we have discovered more and more useful tools for our classroom through this class, I have continued to ask the question, "what are we trying to accomplish?" I must admit, this question has resulted out of fear- fear thay I may be replaced. Much of what I do in the classroom that takes up so much time, but can now be done easily and more quickly with tech integration. I was worried as to what I would do with all the spare time, now that students can do much of the work at home or elsewhere in what would normally be done during class time. With this article, those worries have now subsided.

I realize now that the whole purpose of tech integration is to enable us to be better teachers, to free us up and allow us to spend more time amongst the students, and to allow the students to create. That last part is essential and exciting. This week I spent much of my time exploring things the students could create. One of the tools I came across was Museum Box. Museum Box enables students to create their own presentation with links to all sorts of medias centering around a specific person, place, or event. Museum Box is one of hundreds of presentation tools which can be used by students to learn and create their own unique work at the same time.\

An addition to exploring presentation tools in class this week, we also looked at Open Ed resources. These resources I believe will shape the face of education for the future. What Open Ed resources do is to provide Education sources used in the classroom to anyone who wants them. From powerpoints, to transcripts, to Itunes lectures, Open Ed resources enable people anywhere, anytime to be a part of a classroom. This is just another one of the thousand of time-saving resources that will not only improve education, but that will give us the opportunity to get out amongst our students. I can't think of a better, more meaningful answer to, "what are we trying to accomplish?"

The article on Hudson High:

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/09/hudson-high-teachers-computers-no-textbooks/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk3%7C20