The Best of Both Worlds?
by Matthew Joachim

 

New teachers always have a tremendous opportunity to finally put into practice the various strategies and techniques they have spent years internalizing and testing. Consequently, a plethora of possiblities can now be employed and explored in order to ascertain the best practices for learning and instruction.  

 

Having been in education for over 10 years, I've seen the best of both worlds with regards to technology in education.  Some classrooms were technologically advanced with the regular use of SmartBoards, mini laptops, etc. while others were completely devoid of even the basic overhead projector.  However, in both environments technology did not make or break the success of student learning.  Rather, its utilization by the teacher and employment among students were key to whether it made any difference at all.  Too often, YouTube videos and laptops would be used as time killers and babysitters for students, eliminating any sort of learning about either the content or technology.  Additionally, for many students classified as "low functioning," the new tools were used to provide distractions for them while teachers attempted to conduct lessons for the rest of the class.  We already have a major problem maintaining students' attention regardless of what motivations are used and sometimes technology only exacerbates the problem.

 

 

As a result, my experiences place me firmly in the camp of "casual observers" as described by our text (Maloy, Verock-O'Loughlin, Edwards & Woolf, 2011).  I am more than willing to consider new tools and innovations, but will only move to employ them once their educational value has been clearly demonstrated.  Additionally, if I should ever invent any new forms of digital learning, my first move would be to repeatedly test the new strategies, techniques or programs in order to ascertain their effectiveness with student thinking and learning.

 

In Coney Island, I am in the unique position of having classrooms lacking any sort of electronic or digital technology.  Honestly, it has been difficult re-adapting to such traditional modes of teaching after having had the benefit of SmartBoards, PowerPoints, online videos, etc. for so long.  Having taught in both types of classrooms, I will be the first to acknowledge that online notes, such as PowerPoint presentations, are vastly superior to those written in chalk on a blackboard.  The visual and interactive supplements, time saved and greater clarity are huge benefits for covering a lesson in 40 minutes.  As a result, when the new SmartBoards begin to arrive either at the end of the year or next year, I know that I will be a leader in adapting them for use and assisting other educators in learning to use them.  However, their purpose will still remain conveying new knowledge to the young, inquiring minds that inhabit the classrooms each day.

 

In the fast-paced, interconnected and digitized world of 2013, all this is done in order to preserve the proven methods of the past while integrating the promising ones of the future. This is how I plan to begin incorporating the best of both worlds into learning and instruction.