I use what the kids are talking about to guide how I present material. Interestingly this has caused me to change my execution almost every year for the last five years. I believe the best way to compel student learning is by using on a daily basis the means that students relate to the world. I have used students’ interests to guide my science exploration because middle school students are on the cusp of adventure. Getting to the heart of inquiry and hands-on learning requires students who are committed to the subject matter. Kids are always more excited when they use tools that seem current to them. The hallmark of science is hands-on methods and the proper execution of trial and error at the basic level. These two cornerstones of science are also the basic skills executed by digital natives every day. This is why I have forced myself to change my presentation. I must be as “up and coming” as my students. I can teach my students how to take their technological capabilities to the next level by tying in the subject content.
Processes of using technology are just as important as creating new opportunities as a result of technology. Most students I have worked with do not have a well-rounded grasp on using technology based tools. The difference today is that the tools needed to succeed cannot always be taught at home. Twenty years ago, students could learn basic accounting from their parents: balancing a checkbook, creating budgets, managing money. Today’s parents do not balance checkbooks; they look up their balance at any moment on a hand-held device. Are we still providing these students with the critical thinking needed to actually manage their money? If students are only taught the website to look up a number, do they understand the reasons, implications, and capabilities of having that specific number?
I use technology to help students gain life skills. These life skills include attention to details, interpreting the ‘big picture’, calculated curiosity, and problem solving. If students learn something about science and math while they are gaining these skills, great! However most of the basic understanding of math and science is now built into the technology students crave. I use technology to first get students engaged. I use technology because I must if I can call myself an educator. I use technology because it is the means of society, and ultimately education is meant to provide scaffolding to identify and solve problems in every spectrum of life. I profess to be a life-long learner. Based on the catapult of knowledge in the last ten years, I must ensure my students are committed to being life-long learners as well, for their own prosperity!
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Kelly, I like your thoughts about working with where students are. As a long time middle school teacher, I always had to work with where they could be with regards to attention, or class time, or time of year. Whatever. Long ago, I remember Tom Snyder commenting on how he developed his computer based learning products (which at that time were planned for the one computer in the classroom model). He realized that most middle school students learned more talking to each other than from listening to him, because he after all was an adult and not in their important social sphere. So his challenge was to get them to talk about what he wanted them to learn. Hence the computer was then used to present situations where they had to reach an agreement on a strategy. Each student had different information. Essentially this was an computer assisted jigsaw cooperative learning model. You sound like you are trying similar things.
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