Chapter 13: Toolbox
I am working to be waaayyy more brief this week--sorry about last week's length.Ohler has said a bunch of this before, but not all of it. He does have to walk the line of not recommending, of not recommending too much old stuff since as soon as the book went to print, some technology is considered old. However, I do appreciate an idea that he has expressed before, the new stuff is NOT necessary.
It might have been nice to have a couple of lists rather than paragraphs, one for the very basic toolbox, and one for a bit more. But that is just me wishing for brevity, as he does provide that information.
Good advice he offered:
1. start with what you have, and check into what you really do have as you may not know it
2. give yourself a search time budget (I am not sure if this is actually budgeting money to pay yourself for searching, or if it is budgeting time to do the searching. In either case, he is right, it is time consuming, and one should plan for that.
3. "My Motto: one eye focused on today's classroom, the other looking down the road." I love this one, as it is true on so many levels (not just on the level of watching for technology, but on big ideas being learned, and types of human beings we are teaching our children to be. (Stop there Deb, be brief.)
4. The discussion on microphones was enlightening, I like the wireless type with which I might be able to record 2 people, and the idea of a flat conference mike. "AUDIO IS KING." If I had good audio, and bad video, I could probably put other pictures to it and find use for it.
For the rest of the stuff in the chapter, I am not really imagining doing DST in a classroom with kids, as I teach teachers about math, and I have other fish to fry. So, it didn't seem to apply as much to my situation. But I am considering adding a video component of teachers talking to other teachers about lesson plans they have created--which might be a bit of a story about how to create a tension in the lesson that kids can work through.
Hi Deb,
ReplyDeleteI liked the advice of start with what you have too. I know I have things on my computer that I do not know what they are...I liked the time budget too. I think he was talking about amount of time. It would be good to set aside only so much time otherwise it is easy to spend a lot of time!
I like your idea of having teachers talking about lesson plans and including creating tension in a lesson... That could be interesting.
Yes, one of the reassuring things about him discussing "old" technology is the idea that if they could do it way back then w/that old stuff, we certainly can do it now w/our super stuff! And the idea of starting with what you have is perfect - even if it ends up not being "enough" or right, the process of learning it is giving us new vocabulary and understandings. I would not have known what I was looking for or what it meant (vocabulary of this subject) if I hadn't just started using it. And what if I went out to buy an audio program when Garage Band is sitting there on my computer? The experience being gained is very valuable to making me a better consumer if I do decide that I need something more or different.
ReplyDeleteSee my note to your comment on JW's blog.
I agree on the wishing for lists. It would have been nice for him to condense it that way, like he does with the other diagrams. That way, one could use it sort of like a checklist. Camera? Check. Scanner? Check. Ugly green paint? Check.
ReplyDeleteAs for not using it as much with Math teachers, I don't completely agree with you. Perhaps it is the fact that I see language in everything (which is why I'm terrible at math), but many math things can be worked out linguistically. For example, what if you were to do a workshop for teachers on how to teach students to create short videos explaining word problems? What about real-life math applications, like going into a store and having to figure out sale prices or tax, or both? All of those could be done with DST-esque videos, and would most likely help kids like me, who are much more left-brain inclined.
"...start with what you have, and check into what you really do have as you may not know it..."
ReplyDeleteThis above note is so so true. Know how to use what you have, first.