Comments on: So Happy Together #5

By: Jim Peterson

Jim Peterson — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:09:09 +0000

Dan,
I have been thinking about this post a lot since I got a Wacom Wireless Graphire pen tablet for my Mac. I keep mulling it over in my mind. You talk at length about technology needing to increase the learning that students do otherwise it is without worth. I have been teaching for 15 years and little has immediately improved my classroom management skills like being able to write on my board from anywhere in the room. I love and appreciate how well your class is planned, and I am sure that you would think me lazy and ready for retirement because I cannot plan to the minute like you do. To keep myself intellectually honest I say I am more Socratic than you. No matter. The key thing is that when I put my Bluetooth tablet together with Skitch, for under $250 I can write on the board from anywhere in the room. I can hand the board over to a student and let them try to solve a problem. I can help one student while all the others are working, but help in a way that everyone is eavesdropping on my help. I see the heads look up and follow as what used to be one learners question turns into many learners answer. When I draw the triangle of learning for other teachers they leave and ask the principal for the money to do the same thing in their classrooms. I am sure that it is not for you because it is not enough planned, but for some other reader who is less likely, able, or used to planning it is a truly transforms the effectiveness of your teaching.

By: 06/03/08 Class Links at The Greatest Blog Ever

06/03/08 Class Links at The Greatest Blog Ever — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:23:07 +0000

[…] spheres of influence […]

By: dan

dan — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 05:58:36 +0000

“The risk is that many teachers here in Brazil tend to elaborate a so complete matherial in the PPT that don’t leave any space for their own considerations.”

Definitely. In my second year using Keynote in the classroom, I find myself deleting more than adding, removing notes & text, leaving diagrams. We talk more, I’ve found.

By: Luiz Monografias

Luiz Monografias — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:21:33 +0000

This triangulation method really works and is used in several brazilian universities with a large success.

As pointed by Dina, face contact proportionated by this technique is priceless, and improves learning relations, focusing not only on the technology but in the professor.

The risk is that many teachers here in Brazil tend to elaborate a so complete matherial in the PPT that don’t leave any space for their own considerations, assuming a submission role inside the classroom and loosing many of the advantages.

These teachers are called “retroprofessores” in Portuguese, something like “projecsor” in English

By: Mr. K.

Mr. K. — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:28:04 +0000

The declutter is a huge part of it.

It also removes a distraction between the students and the screen – when I move away from the front of the room, it’s straight up them and the screen with nothing else in between.

Add that it never gets bumped or jostled out of alignment, and my projections look way more pro than anything else at this school.

By: dan

dan — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:38:09 +0000

I kinda wonder sometimes how that’d change my layout, aside from de-cluttering it substantially.

By: Mr. K

Mr. K — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:11:01 +0000

Oh, and the couple $100 that spent on ceiling mounting my projector?

Totally worth it.

By: cyoungms

cyoungms — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:13:46 +0000

I love these diagrams. I am in the process of getting projectors in every classroom. This is an awesome way to keep the Digital Age learner engaged in the lesson.

By: Dina

Dina — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:39:37 +0000

Here’s what I love about this: tech use that does not decrease, but INCREASES physical face time with the teacher.

Don’t think I’m getting all Norman Rockwell about this. Empirically, physical interaction is an essential component of human connection– hence, learning. Of the disappearance of this via Web 2.0, only a few are admitting the massive implications.

By: RickScheibner.net | links for 2008-04-01

RickScheibner.net | links for 2008-04-01 — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:51:55 +0000

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