Sunday, March 24, 2013
Reflecting On All Those Technologies
I was surprised by many of the technologies that the people in my group chose. It never occurred to me the amount of variety that existed in the word “technology.” When I first read about this interactivity, I thought to myself: “How the heck am I going to find 10 technologies? How can each member think up 10? Surely our answers will eventually converge with one another?” I felt a lot of doubts that I would find ones that would not be taken already; I was surprised at how much technology is in the world today. It was a collaborative process, this project of ours, and we communicated effectively. All of us were able to find various kinds of technology, both unique and generic. A lot of the technologies people chose are ones that completely slipped my mind. Goodreads was one that I slapped my forehead on because that’s a website that I use a lot to find out reviews on specific books that I have heard about. Audiobooks, for me at least, are in those sections of the library that I almost never pass by (I don’t think I’ve ever used one, so why hang around them?). It never occurred to me that just because I don’t use audiobooks, other people don’t use them as well. These are invaluable to learning disabled students and readers who find it easier to listen in rather than read. Many of these technologies have benefited me in classes like READ-411, where our teacher shows us Youtube videos of important material for class. Video games, the technology I listed down, are coming in handy when I go to tutor my target dependent reader because the kid plays a lot of them. And I am able to tap into his prior knowledge of the video games, having played many myself, to aid in the tutoring. This project was an eye-opener and I enjoyed reading other people’s suggestions for helpful technologies both in and out of the classroom.
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Thank you for mentioning GoodReads! I looked it up before I even finished the sentence. Audiobooks are another wonderful technology, and I don't think they should be limited to disabled students. I think that they enrich the reading experience for all English students. In my READ 411 class, I read a poem by Sierra Demulder with my tuttee, then I showed him her performance on YouTube; my tuttee told me that it brought the poem to life. Audiobooks and YouTube videos of poetry readings are simple technologies that we can integrate into the classroom, and they should be used a lot more.
ReplyDeleteI was going to write videogames in my group's spreadsheet, but I hesitated. I am going to be posting about videogames sometime this week, and I would love for you to elaborate on your ideas and comment on mine. If we tap into gamers' prior knowledge of their games, would that be considered using technology? Perhaps we can get them to write critiques on forums -- my brother is a member of www.smashboards.com. Thank you for actually suggesting this.
I entirely agree that 10 technologies seemed crazy at first, and I was sure that there was going to be an extreme amount of over lap. I was completely impressed by the amount of technologies that our group came up with as well! I think we all worked amazingly together and this is a project that I will absolutely keep in order to find ideas for technological use within my classroom as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the idea of taping into prior knowledge of a video game! I think that it could be very useful if executed in the correct way! Great find!
Great post! I'm pretty sure we all had the same exact thought/question- "How are we each supposed to come up with ten technologies? I was never really aware of how much there was out there! Fascinating, right?
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you in regards to activating a student's prior knowledge by engaging them in what they love to do. For you and your target dependent reader, video games come into play. I think nowadays, especially since we know what kind of technologies and technological tools are out there, we are able to use any one of them to tap into our students' interests, engage them in their education and motivate them to strive by using these various technologies.