Saturday, April 28, 2012

Final Keystone: Interview with an ELA Teacher



The teacher I interviewed does not implement any of the new literacies discussed in this course.  She said that is it difficult to integrate technology in the classroom due to lack of resources as well as lack of student motivation.  When the students were given an essay assignment that had to be type, 9 out of 28 students did not have access to a computer and refused to stay after school to use the schools.  This is an on going problem in her classroom.  

I made a few suggestions to her to help change her instructional practices to include the use of technology and the Internet in her English classroom.  These suggestions included approaching the use of technology in a more exciting way that will make the students feel as if they are getting a reward.  For example, if the teachers allow students to work in pairs and create a blog to discuss the current book they are reading in class.  The teacher can explain to the students that blogging is just like Facebook in the fact that they will just write down what they think about the book or a character.  I think that if we give the students the importunity to express their opinions and ideas in a setting such as the blog rather than a classroom discussion, they may be more willing to participate.

The idea of professional development came up during my interview and she voiced many concerns about the time and money that it would take to implement the new technology into her classroom.  I explained that some of the tools available are as easy to learn after a short tutorial video that is free.  We discussed that it takes a lot for a teacher to adapt to a new teaching style but she is will to look more into new literacies and welcomes any information that I can provide.

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