Technology in the Classroom

 By Drew Hayman, Bridgeway Academy Teacher

 

It is the advent of a new generation of technology where your TV can access the internet and the need for home staples like the home landline telephone are falling by the wayside. We in the education system are trying to prepare the students for this new age.  

The question with new technology becomes what is available to help the student get there? To begin with, it is the teachers at Bridgeway Academy as we are attempting to help those students prepare for the future, with a tool set that can help them continue to expand even after this current wave of technology passes and we advance to another level.

This year the school has started to develop a program where the students are using a mobile technology lab filled with iPads. This new technology at school has really opened up new avenues of learning by allowing our students to experience an immersive learning environment through apps. Each application specializes in its function and engages the students with interactive, hands on learning. Learning that prior to now would or could have been filled with only a text book. Exploratory learning functions at its best when given to a student that is engaged in their learning and interested in the concept that you are providing a structure for. The school has been using several different apps that range from dissections, to bridge creations and even making movies. The students have just started to experience iMovie an app designed by apple that allows them to create trailers for future feature films and even the full movie. The budding producers have created some exceptional pieces so far.  The students are also learning to make use of the iPads abilities to read text back to them and even record their voices as text so that it writes the words out for them.

Apps are small programs that can be downloaded for a nominal cost or in many cases free. Gone are the bills for suite programs of $400 or more.  I personally welcome the new era of .99 cent programs that may only do a limited function but usually perform that function very well. There are many programs offered and sometimes it is difficult to distinguish what is actually good or isn’t before you purchase it.  An excellent site to start the search is http://www.slideshare.net/gtoews/free-apps-list it lists out many different applications and the levels in which they are good for.  

The iPad and iPod technology are easily accessible to any person regardless of technology background. Using point, drag, and swipe technology the devices take a lot of the difficulty out of the equation of a PC and allow all users to quickly understand how to use the device and to easily enjoy the experience. If anyone is concerned about the potential difficulty of the items usage I challenge you to give it a try or even have your student teach you how to use it. The devices can be extremely safe as more and more functions are being created to help lock them down.  There are many tutorials and web sites available to help you learn to use your device to its fullest potential.  The best aspect of this technology is the absolute enthusiasm the students have shown for using it. To walk into a class and hear a student playing the piano or guitar and then realize that they are doing so on the iPad is truly incredible. 

Social Studies and Hands-On Learning

By Natalie Gilbert

Social Studies has always been a personal interest of mine, and I am always looking for new approaches to teach my students their units.  However, I am more than familiar with getting lost in the dates, names, and locations of certain units when I was a student myself, and want to ensure that that’s not all Social Studies becomes for my students, as well.

This subject can be taught in so many different ways, and by using so many different modalities, that it is often interesting to see what students can come up with themselves when given the opportunity. I personally enjoy doing a lot of hands-on work with my students in the classroom, as I feel that this helps them gain better insight into the information than a worksheet or page of information might.

That is not to say that some students do not learn best by reading and answering comprehension questions based on the material; I have students who would prefer this method, and I base their individual lessons around this style of learning. However, when we do hands-on learning in the classroom, I find that most students are willing to try an activity, before returning to their particular activity; the way that they learn best.

Last year, during a unit on the Great Depression, my students looked up the average size of a shanty that people were forced to move into after the Stock Market Crash. Once they found this information, they used tape to section off how big it would be, and in groups, had to figure out the layout of their particular shanty, and how they would live in it as a family unit. We also did something similar when they learned about fallout shelters during the Cold War. The students enjoyed being able to push all the chairs and desks out of the way, spread out on the floor, and in a way, live the information, instead of simply listening to it.

This year, my Grade 9's were learning mapping during our unit on Physical Geography, so we created a treasure hunt around the outside of the school. This was done to reinforce the material they had already been learning, and give them a hands-on approach to a subject that is difficult for some students to grasp. They went outside, created their own maps by counting paces, by creating their own legends, and by using the mapping skills they had learned in the classroom, outside of the classroom. The students were very excited to switch maps with each other once their good copies were done, and it was fantastic to see them working together, and helping each other find the “treasure” I had buried according to the directions on their maps.

I try to use hands-on learning in my teaching as much as possible. I feel that it not only helps to reinforce skills learned through discussion and writing work, but often helps to provide students with pertinent information that they may not have gotten otherwise. I also feel like this approach helps information remain with students longer, and helps illuminate certain scenarios they might have been difficult to fathom or understand otherwise. Dates and events in the past can be difficult to connect to, and I feel that the more hands-on you become with these subjects, the more you can create a connection to it. Social Studies can be a dynamic subject when approached in multiple ways, and I feel that a hands-on approach helps students understand that learning these topics don’t have to be boring or monotonous; they can be engaging, interesting, and entertaining when presented in interactive ways. 

Knowing My Students

Written by Mr. DeGrasse

As an educator it is important for me to get to know my students. What this means is going deeper than just finding out their favourite sport or who their best friend is. This means I need to get to know how to teach each student and get to know how each student learns.

Each student that walks into my classroom is different. They are not cookie cutters of each other, but instead are complex individuals. Each brings personal experiences, interests, strengths and areas of need. So why, as a teacher, would I present the material in my classroom to each student the same? Instead, I should strive to teach the material covered in class in a way that suits each student’s learning style. Forcing every student to learn one way will only cause anxiety, confusion, and frustration within the class. Some may say that in a class of 20 to 30 students it is next to impossible to individualize for each student. I say, however, that it is almost impossible for a student to succeed in school if you don’t individualize. I would compare it to making someone run the 100m with a leg cramp or play soccer using only their left foot. It could be done, but why limit their potential? At Bridgeway, because the class sizes are smaller and we have access to information about a student’s learning disability (LD), the job of individualization is made much easier.

The work in the classroom should be designed to enhance the student’s strengths while building up their skills in the areas of need. In each class I have a mosaic of students who may share learning styles or have their own unique learning style. My job as a math teacher is to present the material in a way that is interesting and in a manner that best suits each student’s LD. What may work for one student with a particular LD may not work for another. The key is finding a way to make the material “click” and allow them to understand what is being taught and know how to apply it.

There is not one approach to teach a particular topic to a student. I could teach them five different ways to accomplish the same task. What I’m looking for is that one way that allows them to truly understand what is being asked of them. Occasionally one of my methods may not work and a student may come up with their own system of doing something. Sometimes their technique may be a rephrasing of what I taught them, just in their own words. Other times they may come up with a method that makes sense to them but stumps me.  At times explanations aren’t enough and a student who learns better using visuals may need to see what I’m saying. I’ve used desks to make graphs and matrices, I’ve had students use technology to illustrate and record their findings, I’ve had to explain math by making references to television shows, and I’ve even had students act out algebraic questions. Whatever allows the students to understand the material is how they will learn and retain that information.