I agree with you that it must be really hard to teach in a 45 students group….

When I said that I enjoy discussing with my students their answers to exercises, I was talking of a class with a maximum of 25-27 students. In my country it’s not possible to have 45 students in a classroom, by law. Of course that it’s impossible to have a normal conversation with 45 people, students or not…

Maybe in your case I would use software for dividing the classroom in two parts: while the half of the students are doing exercises in their laps, you can discuss and debate with the other half what are the best ways to solve an exercise, etc.

Well, all the teachers in videos like this one.

I always feel like an apologist for ‘big data’ because I can see ways it could be so amazing without major advances technological, but there are so many things that terrify me about that video:

– Not one educational intervention shown is a reaction to anything but a colour code. Not one.
– Reading time with my child?!? Quick, schedule some television.
– 3/4 for counting to 100. Cool – BUT WHERE DID THEY GO WRONG? If a kid is struggling with something, I want every teacher of every subject to know and to be feeding back their experience.

Data is cool, powerful and amazing, but it should part of a varifocal lens through which educators view their work.

I wonder how many teachers, when frozen in time mid-lesson and placed in the brain deli slicer would be thinking “Jimmy has 89% of this task correct and Sally has only highlighted four sentences on this page.”

Well, all the teachers in videos like this one.

My current thinking is that machine grading is not yet useful unless you are pushing some sort of industrial-level mass teaching in a situation where meaningful student-teacher interaction is either impractical, impossible, or undesirable. Being a music teacher by trade gives me a good viewpoint of thinking “Would I let a computer judge this student performance? No, but it could record it for me to use later.”

If as Dan suggests, “only the teacher’s job is possible now”, perhaps we should look at making the machine more of an assistant: gathering the information a teacher does think about and presenting it in a way that makes their thought processes and decisions easier.

I don’t want marks & grades. I want my computer to saying “Jimmy’s previous work? sure – here you go buddy! Spot any problems we can tag and file with others? Oh hey, Sally has just asked for help – here is her screen and a timeline of what she has done. On the big screen? but of course.”

Well, maybe your district or school is either ignorant or apathetic to the fact that you CAN’T teach 45 kids in one class, even if they’re the best students in the world. Add to that skill levels that are too disparate, and you’ve got a certain-to-fail model of education that is forced on too many public schools.

You know what they’ll do when they put computers in your room, heather? They will cut even more teachers to buy the (and maintain) the equipment, and have more students.

Not that 45 kids in a lab work, either. I teach computer science also.

This, folks, is the tragic reality of American education. Our teachers and schools usually do the best we can. But until we fix all the surrounding problems with poverty, funding, etc, some students never get a fair chance.

This time for Maria I am strongly FOR using a computer that interacts with students. It is so difficult to work in a classroom teaching algebra with 45 students, where some still don’t understand basic multiplication, and some students are ready for more challenging work. It presses the teacher to help the students needs be met. But if we could have a computer that interacts with the students and focuses on their developmental level, it would be wonderful for each student because for a limited amount of time they could get their needs met.

I liked both of your comments. I was shocked to hear that there is software out there. That would fee up a lot of time. And Andrew I think you could use the software since it is recorded for the teacher and review each problem. Then you will understand the student and have time free to invest in imaginative lesson planning. I would love to use software such as Tim suggested.

Thanks,

Heather