Despite the title of this blog post, I am definitely a supporter of the use of Smart Boards and technology such as smart boards in the classroom. However, this is more of a response as to the proper use of technology in the classroom as it relates to the ineptitute of teachers.
Last week I stood up infront of the class to give a talk on the basic use of Smart Boards. I thought I'd have 15-20 minutes to present, but was mistaken and instead had only 5. My 5 minute presentation went, in my mind, quite terribly.
From this seeming failure, I have come to wonder about how I will use technology in my classroom. I am worried about not fully keeping up to date with current tech and therefore not being able to effectively use technology as a teaching tool in my classroom.
I believe that my student's perception of me as a teacher and authoritative, knowledgable figure, will rely on my own ability to display and convey my knowledge effectively to the class. Therefore, if I am unable to properly impliment the use of technology in my classroom, I feel that the student's will regard me with less respect - and see me not as an authority on the subject.
In my past, I've experienced the feeling of teaching a subject that I wasn't an expert on and I was caught making mistakes by students. I believe it caused the students to lose some trust in me as their teacher.
I am not completely sure how to deal with this problem, other than becoming an expert on every subject that I attempt to teach.
And therefore, as newer and newer technologies, such as SMART boards become educational mainstays, I feel aprehensive about keeping up with these technologies, knowing that the students themselves may have a greater knowledge than my own.
Ryan,
ReplyDeleteGosh, I must say that I can relate to your sentiments felt after your SMARTBoard presentation as I too felt the same way today after I finished my presentation. I had practiced my presentation at home while using my Dell computer and had my "script" of what I wanted to present and say in my head. Normally I have cue cards made up; however, since my presentation was of an interactive sort on the SMARTBoard I felt that it would be best to do it without any cue cards.
However, what I did not anticipate was the struggles I would have in using a Mac computer via the SMARTBoard. I have had very little experience with Mac computers, but after watching others use it via the SMARTBoard I figured, how hard can it be? Well, I definitely got flustered and lost all my words while presentating as I couldn't get past the fact that it wasn't running as smoothly as I had practiced. Moreover, thoughts of what others would think started to creep in my mind as I clearly didn't seem to be conveying a knowledgeable stance.
Then again, I believe that technology in itself can be an influence, either positive or negative, on others' opinions of ourselves and vice-versa. However, as I mentioned in my blog entitled "Things aren't always what they seem..." it's important to know the "why" behind peoples' actions and behaviours. Something that as teachers we can teach our students so that hopefully their view on us isn't clouded by the distractions that technology can sometimes emit.
Kelsey