A day in the life of a teacher who uses technology
Let’s take a quick look at the tech-tailored teacher that will be operating in the future (near future!)
It’s Monday morning, another day, and another fun week in the classroom with tech support.
Ms. Apple (Psst! That’s you!) Walk into her classroom, quickly turn on her laptop, and check out the daily news show and podcasts students will soon be watching. He then proceeds to check out the schools web community where there are some advertisements and where his students have been busy overnight finishing their online activities.
She answers some of your questions about an upcoming project and addresses some concerns from a parent about their son’s math grades. The mother is traveling on business in the southern United States, but has been keeping an eye on her son’s progress in the school’s password-protected virtual community.
A journal, a science quiz, and a French crossword puzzle were assigned as homework. Ms. Apple reviews brands and comments on activities quickly and efficiently without having to shuffle a page. She smiles when she notices that the students Spatial glossary has grown to over 100 words. The morning news show will feature the return of the space shuttle, so this may extract some additional space words. She reviews the latest entries and approves them for posting on the website.
When the school day begins, a student who loves working with technology walks in early to set up the classroom projector, digital whiteboard, and electronic tablet. Test student response systems and equipment to make sure they are ready for the day’s work. Meanwhile, the teacher uploads various digital lessons, Power Points, and websites that she will use during the school day.
Students enter and participate in the school opening exercises that are played on the schools’ multimedia system. The words of the national anthem run across the bottom of the screen as images of your country’s landscape and images of your history appear on the classroom monitor. After the hymn, a popular figure delivers an inspiring message recorded on the screen to give students a positive start to the day and lessons they will remember throughout their lives.
The class begins with a ten-minute synopsis of national and world events in a format appropriate for the students. After a short discussion and activities related to current events, students prepare to learn more about their world from people their age. The class connects via a video link with their digital penpals on the other side of the world and begins a student-moderated discussion that allows both classes to ask questions and gain a human perspective on their friends’ country by correspondence, which will help them in their next projects.
Once the online conference is complete, each student writes a formal letter to their pen pal and e-mails it from the school. Some students attach their animated short film that they created in computer class, while others submit their video skits that they made in drama class and uploaded them to their personal hard drives.
As noon approaches, the excitement begins to build as students prepare their questions for today’s special virtual guest; a real astronaut. Several other classes across the continent link into a video conference with the astronaut to hear about the training he underwent and the science he conducted while in space. Once they are inspired and informed by their new hero, they continue to work on their space websites that they have been developing for the past few weeks.
Some enthusiastic web design students decide to put their skills to the test and enter a youth web design contest sponsored by a multinational technology company. The students are so engrossed in the project that they spend their lunch break and weekends trying to win the grand prize.
After lunch, the teacher has students answer questions using their electronic student response systems to get instant feedback on the student’s understanding or misunderstanding of the previous day’s lesson. After a quick scan of the quiz results, the instructor loads a few pages from the previous day’s lesson to give students the necessary clarification they need.
Now that the teacher is confident that the class has a good understanding of yesterday’s lesson, he introduces the new topic using video, interactive software, the electronic whiteboard activities, and constantly monitors his understanding using the student response systems. Once the lesson is complete, students complete their assignments and a couple of students review the lesson again using a visual software program.
At the end of the day, the class decides to add to Wikipedia. They have been updating information on the history of their town. A student has brought an old history book that belongs to her grandmother that will help the class find new information for their input.
This is how the day and the year continues in this technology-supported classroom. Interactive lessons, professional online presentations, lectures, hands-on activities, and digital assessments are used in an engaging, efficient, and effective format. The only question that remains is … are you heading into this type of classroom?