Good Evening Everyone,
The article I read this week was from the Blogger's beat in ISTE's current publication. It was two bloggers sharing their opinions about whether or not teachers are necessary nowadays with all the technological advances that are taking place. The premise was "some kids love school others hate it. Some teachers connect with every student, other can't."
As the first blogger wrote "a computerized test will not know why that student has not mastered that skill." The computer can give a good lesson plan for students that are not performing as well as "they should," but it misses the mark as to why a student is not performing. It could be that the student is having problems at home, has a low self esteem because of appearances, is not a native English speaker. The teacher will be able to assess the problems because she/he will personally know her/his students. If we rely too much on the computer to do the work for us "we lose the human connection that teachers provide."
On the flip side to this argument was another blogger that said "when it comes to learning, teachers are not for everyone." For this blogger she says that "school sapped her passion for learning." She continued by saying that "the reality for me is that I would have been much better off without teachers in my life weighing me down and wasting my time." Those are strong emotions and words. Obviously she did not enjoy school or even have a positive relationship with any of her teachers.
I believe that we need to find some happy medium between using technology and making it personal in a real world environment. If we rely too heavily on technology students can easily get sucked into a virtual reality. They still need to learn how to interact at a personal level. There is something to be said about human touch. Research has shown that infants without the warm loving touch of the mother do not thrive as well as babies that receive the warm and nurturance that they so desparately need. As older children and even adults we still need to know that we are loved and appreciated for who we are and not only for what we know.
See you all soon,
Sheila
Fingal, Diana. Are Teachers Even Necessary? Retrieved from ISTE's website Learning and Leading withTechnology March/April 2012 on March 23, 2012.
Hello Sheila,
ReplyDeleteThe title of this article also caught my eye and I was curious what it was about. I would have to say teachers are necessary and the first blogger made a good point about how a computer “misses the mark as to why a student is not performing”. Having that human connection I think is necessary. Learning involves more than just understanding a subject like science, students learn social skills and other things you can’t get from a computer. I agree with you that we do need to find some happy medium between technology (virtual environment) and reality (real world applications). I did agree with something the second blogger said and that was about teachers wasting your time. In some cases this is true and that is why it is important that teachers don’t just teach from the book, but teach in a way that is effective for all of the students. That is why I really like the idea of having a flipped classroom. Have the computer do the teaching and the teacher help with the application and understanding of the subject.
Hope you had a good break!
April
Hi Sheila,
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting article! I agree with you in the fact that we do need to find some sort of happy medium. Technology is obviously so important, especially in todays world, so I understand that it's a crucial skill to learn. However, the teacher student relationship is one that I will always be in favor of. Face to face communication and real life experiences will always be number one on my list. I don't want to see everyone in this world turn into robots, where nobody speaks to each other anymore and technology does all the work. I am already beginning to notice that generally speaking, people are more comfortable with texting than with actually having a phone conversation. I don't know if this is because people like the idea of hiding behind the scenes or what exactly the deal is. All I know is that it's much more likely for miscommunication to occur when this type of thing happens because one cannot infer the tone or mood of a text. You also brought up a good point that computers have no way of knowing a student on a personal level like the teacher does. The computer will simply grade your work, but it can't help a student with his or her problems, or give feedback on how to do better next time. I liked your point about infants needing a warm, loving touch from their mothers. I was a psychology major and it reminded me of a monkey experiment that I had learned about. The experiment put baby monkeys in a cage with 2 different artificial adult female monkeys. One monkey was made of wire, but provided food and water. The other monkey had cloth over its wires but did not provide food or water. Each baby monkey that was put into the cage ran straight to the clothed monkey because they felt more secure with the warm touch. It was a no brainer for them. They innately and instantly chose warmth and touch over food and water. I thought that was amazing! Just goes to show how important human touch really is! Thanks for your post!
-Madison Pelzel
Hi Sheila!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting article! I too agree that we all need human contact and need to utilize real time communication skills, both of which are achieved in the classroom. I understand the position of the second blogger, the fact that they had a negative in-school experience. Not every life experience involves butterflies and rainbows. Participating in a classroom allows students the opportunity to communicate with individuals that they otherwise would not be in contact with, much like what they will experience in life outside of the classroom. While I agree that a happy medium does need to be reached, as you suggested, I feel that the scale may not in fact be level. I think that technology is a great enhancer to a classroom, not an end all locale. If classrooms go all tech, I feel that it will only be a matter of time that the entirety of society follows suit. How sad a society will be that does not have the skills to communicate in the here and now, removed from cyberspace.
Thanks, Leigh Hammond