Technology is very helpful for teachers and makes their teaching way easier than before but to which extent??? I have tried once using technology, so I took my students to the computer lab to have our lesson presented on the computers, but all what I was hearing is students' whispers talking about the different skills and games they can apply using the computer, and they were really distracted. Maybe the lesson wasn't interesting for them, or that I didn't present it in a way that attracts them, or maybe the students were only interested in the games they play on computers and the internet.
That's why most the time I try to avoid using technology in the classroom so that I can keep the students engaged in the lesson and focusing without being distracted by the computers. I think that it is easier to use technology with elder students an not young ones because they can understand and listen to you much more than young students and they can understand the importance of using technology in learning.
I hope to change my view about technology and its uses in the classroom, or in other words I would like to teach high levels using technology to check if they are able to understand and work with me more than younger students.
What your students did is very natural and you as a teacher using technology for the first time you should expect this to happen. Most probably what happened is because your students are not prepared previously and trained on how they should use this technology in the classrooms; also you said that they are still young thus every thing they now about technology that it is used for playing and spending time as they usually use them at their homes. I think that even if you will use technology with elder students for the first time you will face the same problems but after they get used to use technology in their education it will be easier.
ReplyDeleteSince our students are not used to having technology implemented in classes, they assume that using the computer means "fun time" because that may be the only reason they use it themselves. So for the first few times those may be normal reactions until the students adapt to this new technique. Moreover, having students solve some activities would keep them preoccupied. Another point that would help would be if teachers of all subjects start integrating technology into their lessons.
ReplyDeleteDear Zainab, I am a teacher of grade 1 and 2 and I can't ever imagine explaining a lesson without using technology in my classroom. Maybe your fault was taking them to a lab to present your lesson, instead maybe you should have present using and LCD projector or using one computer screen if the LCD id not available. In such way your students wouldn't be distracted.
ReplyDeleteEveryday, i begin my period in my classes with a song or a short story on my Ipad. My students love that part very much, and they wait the English period to enjoy it. So it's not a matter of our students or of technology itself, it's a matter of how and when do we use technology in our classrooms!
Dear Zainab, since still we don't have technology in our classes such as smart boards and LCD projectors implemented in the classroom, students will enjoy it a lot. And what they enjoy the most is going outside the classroom, even if they go to the computer lab they will feel joy and happy because they went outside the classroom and feel like its fun time as joumana said. And what i want to highlight on is, its very important to know when and how to use technology so that we don't ever face such a problem with our students. Moreover its very essential to enhance the view of our students toward technology.
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