How will I help my students learn in my classroom (Pedagogy #5)

I think in my ideal classroom I would like to apply a bit of mindfulness but how to teach young minds that could be a challenge. Of course mindfulness means to be more aware of what you are doing this very moment. Mindfulness can help you acquire a more peaceful state of mind and in so doing help you handle stressful situations better. I would also like to improve my student’s social interactions with each other and also their academic performance I would most likely apply Vygotsky’s constructivism theory which will help with learning by allowing students to interact with each other and create rapport. I will be teaching natural and life sciences I want this to be an interactive process and not to be teacher centred. So occasionally I will flip the classroom around and let my students teach me what they have learned, hopefully this will also help boost my students confidence not only in my given subject but, also in themselves. I think I would also like one dream day classroom where students share their dreams, aspirations or something interesting that is happening in their lives. The main idea is that I would like my students to keep on dreaming and not get bogged down by mundane theory. As Albert Einstein said: “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” I can see how this can help my students.

Another consideration would be how to use educational resources effectively. I think letting my students keep in touch with each other as well as keeping the parents up to date can be a great tool. Would most likely use something like a WhatsApp group but, I will of course get the parents input first. Some parents might consider the WhatsApp group an annoyance. Using twitter would be the next best option it’s a bit less intrusive. Social interactions will be very important for my class and the way I intent to teach. Giving the quiet, shy student a voice will be very important to me as well. Not all students have the same background and helping everyone and not just a selected, elite group will be very important to me. A reward based system in my classroom would also be important don’t want my students to be corrected in a negative way but would like to give positive feedback. Some parents don’t have time at home for their kids and putting out fires is the only kind of attention that these kids get at home. So in conclusion applying the golden rule in my classroom do unto others as you would have done unto you. 

Digital Pedagogy #4 (Let the kids be in charge)

I found the video fascinating since the kids were put in charge of their own education. I was wondering if this was not promoting more independent thinking as well as work ethics. The students seemed more enthusiastic about their school subjects and one of the students exclaimed also how ambitious the tasks were that they came up with for researching, things like infinity, reading books like Stephen Hawking’s, how maths could be applied to a game of poker and doing research on global warming by inspecting nitric oxide fixation in soil. The one student exclaimed how the subject became more personal to her because of her own personal endeavours because, she wanted to know more.

All of this might be pointing towards how schools might be implementing education in the future. If this were to work it might make teachers more of a go to than an authoritarian figure. The teachers will be assisting the learners in their education by guiding them through the learning process. The learners need to be given the opportunity to think for themselves and probe their own learning. The learners will benefit more through questioning and finding things out for themselves instead of the teacher giving all the information word for word to them. Students taking charge of their own education seems like an excellent idea and might be pointing towards where the future is heading. How this will impact society as a whole we can just speculate but the Independent Project is pointing towards how this might be possible. In the article of Hamilton 2014, he points out that the teacher student relationship needs to be disrupted and sees it as an oppressive system. Where the student is seen as an empty vault where the teacher can make his deposits of knowledge but of course this is false since the student has plenty to teach and the teacher also has plenty to learn.

Lastly how can we use technology to improve learning, communication amongst students using digital technologies will go a long way to improve this. Now different terminologies are used to provide distinctions on how we can do this effectively, functional access (the ability to use), critical access (the ability to choose to use), and experiential access (the ability to use in a personal context). If all the latter abilities can be used successfully it would point towards using the digital pedagogies in a very successful manner enhancing the communication of students and consequently also their learning.

How the digital would be used in my classroom

I believe the classroom digital pedagogy is probably the clearest example of how to use digital pedagogy in the classroom. Our lecturer uses twitter to give us interesting tit bits of news or to inform us of new assignments we have to do. The assignments we have to do are basically blogs about our insights based on the assignment he gave us, it is then peer reviewed and this enhances socialising and interaction amongst students regarding the subject area. Also the Reminder app students can download onto their phones could be of great help, I imagine in my classroom. This way I can remind my students of homework they need to do or as the one teacher shared, sending them inspiring messages. Sometimes you just need to hear a positive voice that lifts you up.

I believe another thing I would do is use online technologies and open online tests to keep my students up to date with their homework. I believe weekly reviews on their homework would do wonders for them consolidating their new found knowledge. Also I would have a digital notice board where my students can put up posters advertising what is going on in their life’s, party invitations or just leave inspirational quotes in this way allow them to have a voice outside the classroom.

So where to next, that would be up to my students. I will have to investigate how effective my digital strategies are in my students and in my particular career path. As far as I can envision and based on the many articles that I have read, it all points towards the digital landscape as the next best thing to break the new frontiers in the digital classroom. Time, practice and application is the only thing that would prove if this would indeed prove successful. The future looks bright with possibility, say hooray to the digital age!

Digital Pedagogy or a slave to it?

“Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. “A quote by Albert Einstein. As we all know we learn when we are interested in something and we want to know more about it. Now the question is how do we use the digital pedagogy in the classroom to ensure optimal success for our students? The article points to it by saying that the student should be central to our teaching and not technology. How can technology serve the student in facilitating learning and peek his interest in a subject. Now that we have powerful search engines such as google much of the authoritative power, where knowledge is concerned, is taken away from the teacher. Knowledge is a click of a button away.

We should do away with an old system that no longer serves the greater good for young minds in this day and age. It might have worked well before but, today we see that change everywhere is more apparent life has become more risky and uncertain. Giving standardised tests and hoping as a student that your teacher has prepared you well enough so that there is no surprises but, life is full of surprises. How does this prepare our students for life? Failure has gotten such a bad reputation in our society, it is like one of the most feared words in our dictionary. What if students stop trying? Should we not encourage kids when they fall down to get back up instead? “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. “Thomas Edison the inventor of the light bulb.

A students mind is like sponge but, we have to keep that spark alive in him to want to know more. How do we do this? Engage with your students, let them participate, question them and let them find the answer. You as a teacher merely serves as a guide, guiding the students through you questioning them. Let the students collaborate with each other and use technology to find the answer. A student far better retains the knowledge he discovered for himself than that what was given to him. This was not the way I was taught at school but, seeing how the lectures in this classroom has become such an effective engagement in learning, I am left to question most of the way I was taught. A quote from the movie called The Matrix, “Trinity: Neo… nobody has ever done this before. Neo: I know. That is why it’s going to work. “

Digital pedagogy unplugged

What are the reasons for digital pedagogy to become unplugged? Some of the main points that stand out for me from this article is that classrooms have become bogged down by using electronic equipment in uncreative ways, it in other words it has become more digital than pedagogical. Also another point to be made is that students seem to learn best when Q&A happens and person to person discussions occur. The article uses the term Edu-hacking and describes that is when unfamiliar and alien perspectives are introduced on representations of educational protocols. This article seems aimed in terms of Edu-hacking so that we view digital pedagogy in a whole new light.

It gives several examples of how digital pedagogy can become unplugged but still remain in the digital age. Some of the examples are by doing labor intensive work in order to understand how digital and analogue matching might work if you were to use a search engine.  Another example is the term “Teaching Naked”, whereby the author does not mean literally to teach naked but to see how can we not bore our class to death by showing them lots of power point slides and they just have to take it all in but, to actually involve the class through Q&A and person to person discussions. In another section the lecturer does not entirely separate the digital from non-digital in the course but, instead devotes a day to lecturing where the students all see the text they are working with for the first time. This brings about that haptic engagement with the subject that he argues is critical to learning.

I there a place for digital pedagogy? Of course by moving the digital of pedagogy to the periphery of the classroom namely the students using it together amongst students in creative ways to interact with the subject matter but, leaving the classroom unplugged one can than indeed see the place for digital pedagogy in today’s age.