One example of a self-fulfilling prophecy that came to mind
for me was when I played volleyball in middle school. One of the players on our
team was always told by the coach that she was the best player on our team. Our
coach praised her more than any other player and spent time practicing with her
privately outside of regular practice times in addition to spending lots of
regular practice time with her. As a result all of the extra time and attention
that player was given ended up making her the best player on our team.
My video lesson this
week was really interesting. I loved teaching the lesson and I felt that it
went fairly smoothly until I started using the technology that accompanied it.
My site school uses a device called an ActiveBoard that allows the lesson to be
interactive and run through the computer onto the screen at the front of the
room. This device is great when it is working right, but can be a real hassle
when it isn’t functioning properly. About halfway through my lesson there was a
glitch with the device that caused it to stop working correctly. I was able to
correct the issue, but it was definitely a learning experience! I know that
things like that will probably happen again but I was relieved that I was able to
keep teaching through it with minimal disruption. Technology really wasn’t my
friend this week at all! I was really looking forward to viewing and critiquing
my video, but I was really disappointed to find that the first half had been
erased. I knew that there was a camera change mid-video due to a camera issue, but
during the changeover something went wrong and the first half of my lesson was
lost.
Even with all of the issues I experienced I really felt like I learned a lot
this week. I think I learned even more than I would have learned if everything
had gone perfectly. I hope that you all had a better experience than I did this
week or at least learned some valuable lessons.
We have all been there with technology issues. The classroom that I am in has a Smart Board and it sounds similar to the Active Board that you use. I have only used it a few times, but it has been pretty neat. Anyway, even glitches in technology can be a teaching opportunity. Students may be using similar devices throughout school and beyond. Being able to troubleshoot when something goes wrong is a valuable tool for any student. I would make sure that the students know what you are doing to fix a problem so they can learn, and will often participate in the problem solving. My school has a dedicated tech support team that is 2 seniors that know more about computers than any of the teachers or staff. I'm sure we have all seen how the younger generation excells at technology beyond what any of us older people can imagine.
ReplyDeleteDenea,
ReplyDeleteCan you think of any examples of self-fulfilling prophecies in terms of your student teaching? I'd love to hear one!
As for technology, I would echo Joel's comments. It's always unpredictable, so have a backup plan!
Just a reminder, to ensure full credit, be sure to cite the weekly readings in your blog posts just as you are required to do in your other initial forum posts!
-Dr. Murfield