Grade 4
Learning with Miss Wilcox
Why Teachnology
In this world we live in, technology has come a long way and is becoming more and more important to our lives and our education.
In my classroom I want to allow students the opportunity to learn how to use new technologies and to learn the general skills they need to operate any kind of technology.
-
Multiliteracies
-
Creativity
-
Inquiry
Multiliteracies
Technology has become a new language and has added new words and concepts to our everyday language. It is something that has become extremely popular and relevant over the last few years and is something that will continue to be a big part of our lives and our students’ lives. One of the reasons I use technology in the classroom is that it sets the children up with skills they will continue to use their whole lives. While the programs may change over the years, the skills and ways of working with different programs will remain the same. I believe in teaching my students lifelong skills. Technology can help me teach these skills while also becoming part of the lifelong skills they will need.
Mutiliteracy is a recent idea in the education world, which encompasses learning through many different methods and technologies. When we read, we don’t simply read the words on a page, but we comprehend and think about the writing. We discuss with others and research further for a better understanding. When we read on the Internet we do the same things but at a higher level. We aren’t just reading the words and comprehending anymore, but deciding which words to read in which articles and how to go about further research with links embedded in the article. This is a new way of reading and something all students need to know how to do. They need to understand how to research online and find appropriate articles and how to read them for the best comprehension and understanding. This is a lifelong skill and something I want to teach my students to be able to do, regardless of their age.
Encourages Creativity and Interest
There are many ICT programs and applications available to us in the classroom that encourage creativity in students.
Programs such as …
-
Book Creator - an app which allows students to create their own book on an iPad using their own photos or photos from the Internet.
-
Strip Designer - this app is used to create comic strips and comic books using photos from the Internet or your own. The comic strips can then be printed out or shared online with others.
-
GarageBand - an app made for iPads or Apple computers where you can create your own music with loops from the program or sound effects and melodies made with the use of virtual instruments. This application is a great one for creativity in musical kids and can be used in many different ways in the classroom.
-
Scribblenauts Remix - this is a game that uses the players creativity and ingenuitey to complete puzzles by creating objects that will help to finish the task. This one is also good for vocabularly words and extending students' creative writing skills.
will engage students in activities to expand their knowledge and interest in a topic.
Other programs such as blogs and social media can be used in an appropriate way to communicate with other students in Australia and around the world. This is a great way to share what they are learning with other students and learn from other students at the same time.
To find more activities and apps with reviews specifically for parents click here.
Engages Students in Inquiry and Research Projects
One of the ways I want to teach my students is through engaging activities and projects. Giving students the opportunity to ask questions, think deeply and research an answer collaboratively and individually is a great way to engage students in topics that interest them. I want to provide “classroom tasks that are worthy of students time and attention, relevant, connected to the world and organized around the ‘big ideas’ of a subject”. These activities will help engage student interest and get them involved in research activities and projects.
This idea of inquiry learning has been around as a theory for a while and I think it is a wonderful way to engage students and get them excited about researching and finding answers. To encourage their curiosity in how things work and why things happen the way they do is something I truly value and believe to be a lifelong skill.
Using technology to complete these projects with make the students learning so much deeper through online research. I believe that when we use technology the right way, we can find new answers to a problem and expand our ideas and knowledge by looking at other people’s discoveries that will further our own. The Internet is a wonderful resource for finding information and answers to questions the students come up with.
(For more information on inquiry learning, click here)
(Image taken from Wix free database