Week 6’s DISCUSSION POST by Scott W Tinney
Infusing Technology and Fostering 21st Century Skills to Continue Developing My Dynamic, Active, and Student-Centered Classroom
At the end of their sophomore year, the students at my Buffalo, NY Public School’s Technical High School get to choose to major in 1 of the available 4 Engineering and Technology based Majors. At the beginning of last year, I developed and wrote the curriculum for the Computer Technology Major. Students who are enrolled as Computer Technology Majors spend a total of 540 classroom hours during their Junior and Senior years, and they graduate from the program with a comprehensive and proficient aptitude to excel in any IT-related setting and environment. Personally, I teach 3 double classes every day, 2 classes of 11th graders and 1 class of 12th graders. In addition, I co-manage the school Web Site which is a resource for students and faculty, and Teachers use it for basically any administrative function from logging Attendance to filing Discipline Reports.
I have a great deal of freedom and autonomy in my Computer Technology Major’s classroom. I employ many 21st Century type Skills in my room. I collaborate with each one of my classes to design, plan, and create their own classroom-based Intranet Portal, specific to each class that is our primary work area. I have my own server, allowing us to work on any aspect of Computer Technology from programming to database administration. I present every lesson or concept in 1 way, but I post the same lesson in at least 4 other different mediums, so hopefully I parallel each student’s preferred learning style. I promote and enjoy a lot of student involvement and participation, as I think it generates more learning and actually I learn a lot more to. For my Networking Unit, I hung clear PVC pipe from the ceiling above the workstations, and we make and run color-coded communications wires through the piping system. In addition, I have available extra PVC available on the side so we can change the topography or type of Network rather easily, and actually “see” what is happening in each particular Network. My primary goal is to cover any and all computer-related topics with my students; the key is teaching a topic in a way that relates to any classroom or professional environment and avoids being too specific regarding a specific brand or type. Basically, when you enter a job or classroom in college, it will have its own unique setup, network configuration, security, database, storage, and customized software and hardware that are environment specific. My philosophy is that if you teach the standards and/or basics of a software program’s structure or a database’s table relationships, we can walk into a new, unfamiliar environment and then quickly and confidently acclimate ourselves to it.
Now, although I employ a lot of technologies and 21st Century Skills in my classroom, I definitely shy away from some of the social networking ones. One reason is that I am currently a non-tenured Teacher. The fact is that I know that there is no real security on Facebook for example, and I can’t afford to have my students post blogs when a certain element of blogging is unfiltered, It only takes 1 parent that is becomes offended by a posting on a blog I sponsored, to send my reputation and job into jeopardy. I don’t want to ponder all the possible “What If’s” that might happen, as seemingly every day brings more new examples of abuses or misuse of some type of social media device. One final note, integrating technologies into the classroom can create a very dynamic, exciting classroom, but it takes a great deal more effort and time to re-produce a PP lesson into a web-based learning activity. Also, leading 24 students through a computer based activity where every student stays on task and is on the same page, I’ve found really takes some practice,
One specifically 21st Century learning activity which I currently employ is a weekly activity that has my students post comments on discussion boards related to current events associated with anything-technology. This fosters reflection, which is very important, especially in International Studies and also allows them to use a networking tool for educational purposes. They are aware of the guidelines which they need to adhere to, that the discussion board is for current event purposes only, and are aware that I monitor the discussion board and make frequent comments as well.
A new type of activity which I would like to try with my students is having them create podcasts. I have had some students create them on their own before, however, I would like to introduce the technology to those not familiar with it and have it be a mandatory requirement for them. I actually would like to tie the pod cast in with what I currently already do with the current events. As current events are a very important part of history classes and through the use of the discussion board, we do talk about them online, but not always in class, I think having the students introduce the current event via the pod cast to the class for a grade, would be an excellent way to share current events. The students could then post the links to their pod cast on the discussion board and make comments on them as they currently do. In terms of transforming the classroom, I believe if I had students share a pod cast a day, which is approximately three minutes in length, it would be time efficient and adequately cover current events, coupled with the discussion board. It is very hard to find the time to get all of the curriculum in and current events, so I am quite excited to put this idea to practice and think it creates the efficiency which 21st Century skills promotes.
REFERENCES
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). (Motion Picture). “Skills for the 21st century.” Thornburgh, D.
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