Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Reflective Blogging Assignment #2



A teacher can find balance during the transition of traditional knowledge-based content standards to more process-oriented skills by including more information related to knowledge that students already have. Re-introducing material that has been covered previously will help keep the information fresh and allow students that did not fully grasp it the first time; have a second chance. It is also imperative that Teachers receive all of the necessary training to effectively deliver information along with adjusting class time and organization.  
I will begin by saying standardized testing does not always guarantee a true picture of how smart an individual is or how much information they have obtained. Evaluating teachers on testing is preposterous to me. I feel this way because in most cases teachers do not have the time needed to ensure that extra attention is given to those students that may not understand or grasp the information immediately. The average classroom has at least thirty students. Larger classroom size makes teaching difficult. Some key factors that help improve the success of inquiry-based lessons are stimulation's of a student’s curiosity, making an inquiry easily accessible and visible, formation of questions, the manner in which the information is presented, and last but not least the use of technology.
What role can technology play in assisting with the factors previously mentioned? Technology can stimulate a student’s curiosity several ways. One example would be keeping learning fun by creating something new and researching different topics. The computer and the internet are very important as they can be used as an aid in researching. Technology can make an inquiry easily accessible and visible by sharing some projects or methods they have used. PowerPoint is one of the most well-known programs that help with delivery of research while making it look interesting. The formation of questions and development of topics are also very important. Students that are allowed to choose their own topics are generally more interested. It is also important to note that the formation of questions will determine how well the inquiry turns out. Navigating online can teach a student about the internet and how to choose reliable sources.  Online inquiry allows an individual to research a topic in depth.  Technology and inquiry work hand in hand to extend the nature of children’s reading and writing processes into multimedia composition and comprehension. ( Owens, 2002) Technology should serve as a teaching aid, not a replacement.


Roxanne Farwick Owens, Jennifer L. Hester and William H. Teale (April, 2002) Where Do You Want to Go Today? Inquiry-Based Learning and Technology Integration The Reading Teacher , Vol. 55, No. 7, Owning Technology pp. 616-625 retrieved from  http://www.jstor.org/stable/20205108

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