C4T 1

Post 1

Russ Goerend, who teaches 6th graders Language Arts, wrote on his blog Learning is Life about how computer teachers at his school are switching roles to "Technology Facilitators." Initially delighted by the idea, he gave it some thought and had a change of heart, explaining why it would be better to have both Technology Facilitators and computing classes. What he means by technology facilitators is they help their colleagues become proficient at computing and able to keep learning and applying it as time passes and technology advances.

I agreed with him, that it would be great if they, and schools in general, had both computing classes and Facilitators. I mentioned that at my high school, we'd had only a typing class and business technology class (which taught how to make a resume and use Microsoft Office, but nothing else), and how learning more about actual computing would have been much more useful. That those who were interested in a technology-based career would have a base to start from and those unsure of what they wanted could try it out.


Post 2

In his post before that, Goerend talks about asking questions to get his students to think. He posed the question, "When did you first realize your family loved you?" to them, but none of them seemed to know what to think or how to answer. He talked to them about questions that require you to think about your answers versus those that have factual answers you can spit out without much thought. He's saying that teachers ask too many recall questions, although he knows this isn't exactly a revelation, and says, "My students’ struggles today are as much my fault as anyone else’s."

I thought it was a very interesting question, though, and that students might have an easier time answering such a question if it were phrased differently. I said that, if asked, I wouldn't know how to answer either. There are all kinds of variables when it comes to a question like that--maybe that moment hasn't come, or they can't remember it. It's very subjective. But I really liked that he was getting his students to think about themselves in a way they probably haven't before.