Ensayo para un curso en linea sobre educación.
What do I
teach? Biology, chemistry, english as
second language
What do I
learn? Use of technology, about teaching and japanese.
How has my
thinking has extended in each?
Language:
by learning another language myself, I can see and experiences some of the situations
my students are in. For example, I always tell them they need to practice and
study outside class, at least a couple hours a week, but I have realized that I
don´t do it. I mean, I know I should and I want to but I keep pushing the time
forward “as soon as I finish this, as soon as I finish that”. I think is easy
to believe students are lazy or not interested in the class/subject, but I´ve started
to think that they also have a lot of things to do and a different scale of
values. They may be doing the same “I’ll study as soon as I finish my tv
series/ as soon as I complete this level or kill this boss” (in a video game).
Of course I do not regard tv watching or video game playing as important, but
they do; with more and more families made of single working mothers, or both
parents working, growing up kids spend a
lot of time in front of the tv, or console. And because now it´s dangerous to let
them out, they don´t /can´t go out and play, so they stay inside, in front of a
screen. They end up passing more time in front of some gadget or another, that
with their friends or family. They bond to their games or tv series. I don´t
like it, but that´s the world we live in. So they end up not studying enough
because they keep pushing it up into the future, same as I do. I think my
activities are more important that theirs, but of course they don´t think that
way, because they have no experience of being a working adult. They know only
the life they have lived.
I used to
think cellphones and similar gadgets were the enemy, because students are easily
distracted by chatting, checking their Facebook, playing video games, listening
to music or watching videos instead of paying attention. The solution in
schools is usually to forbid the things in class. But with time I´ve come to
the realization that this technology is not going away, on the contrary it will
increase its presence in every aspect of our lives. I cannot compete with the attractiveness
of, say, “plants vs zombies” – and I know because I play the game too. We are
charged with “motivating” the students and keeping them interesting. I feel
it´s an impossible task. And here is where students Independence come in play:
students MUST learn to be responsible of their own learning, because it´s
becoming increasingly difficult for us teachers to take that responsibility: I
am responsible for my teaching, but I cannot be responsible for the students
learning, especially if they choose to play video games in class; they have to
start thinking about their learning and their thinking, about how they choose
what to do.
So, now I
think this technology has to be used in class and students have to be taught
how to use it for learning, not only for socializing and playing. Nowadays,
memorizing isn´t really important – any information you need is out there in
the cloud, waiting for you to pluck it out. But, and this is a big but, a lot
more information you don´t need, and that´s not even true it´s also waiting for
you in the cloud, lurking, waiting to eat your brain, infectious memes that are
100% parasitic. And that´s my challenge: how to use the cell phone in class,
how to use the ipad, how to use videos in youtube, blogs, podcasts, etc. etc.
How to teach students to tell apart true information from useless mind garbage;
the trustworthy from the quacks. And
it´s not peanuts: nowadays an internet site has more presence in the mind of
teenagers that the word of any teacher.
I can explain until I drop that “urine therapy” isn´t medicine and they
cite a web page like it´s the word of god. It´s an ordeal
because the current school system in my Mexico still puts the responsibility
squarely in the shoulders of teachers, not on students – and I don´t teach
elementary school, I´m teaching high school and college. It´s a challenge
because even if I give the students a video game to play in class – like a very
good one I found for water management – with 30 to 50 students in a class, I
can hardly check that everybody is playing the “approved” game instead of
something else. Not to mention the internet connection is flimsy at best. And
this at a high-end, expensive private school. Public ones don´t even have
internet. And I think there must be other ways to use the technology in class;
I keep straining my brain thinking how to, and how to convince students that
“yahoo answers” are about as trustworthy as their 5 year old sister (and it
isn´t that I have anything against 5 years old little sisters, but you wouldn´t
take their word on urine therapy, would you?).
