On our first day in EDUC 504: Teaching With Technology, we entered the classroom and observed a prompt displayed on the projector screen at the front --
The Assignment:
Draw a picture of your ideal classroom with attention to how technology fits in with its design.
My Offering:
My Rationale:
Projector Setup with Large Table at Front:
Firstly, my board handwriting is abominable. I think and hope that it'll get better with practice, but I'd like to be able to post instructions, assignments, tasks, etc. via projector for the benefit of anyone who has to read it. Additionally, I'd like to take into consideration those students whose vision isn't great by using large, bold typefaces. I remember a day in middle school when I'd either forgotten my glasses or couldn't find them, and my ability to keep pace with class was threatened severely. I understand that there are students who need glasses but don't have them, or who have expired prescriptions; I intend to make the visual components of my instruction accessible to all students.
Secondly, I would like the flexibility to display YouTube clips, TED talks, and film scenes at any time and for any reason. I recall my high-school teachers' complaints about not being able to show certain films on certain days because of the logistical issues of getting a TV into the classroom. The appeal of a multimedia-ready classroom is too great to ignore.
Thirdly, I want to equip my students with the various tools of online research. When I don't know about something, I look it up on Wikipedia. Even when I think I do know about something, I look it up on Wikipedia. When I want to know more than Wikipedia can offer, I use other venues of knowledge-sharing. The ability to use the internet to find and digest information is, I think, one of the trademarks of a lifelong student, and I feel unbelievably lucky to live in an age where learning about almost anything takes less than five seconds.
A note about the large table: It's important to me that I never refer to this or think of this as "my table" -- it belongs to the class as a community, and is at the use of whoever requires it. My personal space will be a standard desk at the back of the room. I do not intend to post up at the large table at any other time than when the projector setup is in use; the students' attention will be as much on each other as it is on the teacher. My new mantra: "There is no front."
Computers:
I originally had a couple of terminals at the front of the room but then realized that their users' privacy might be compromised by their proximity to the few student desks at the upper left of the diagram. I crossed them out and moved them behind the students, on the wall opposite the projector screen.
Teacher Desk (lower right):
During whole-class discussions, I intend to sit in a student desk in a position that is very specifically not at the front of the room, and in a position that doesn't call attention to itself. Again: the students' attention should be on each other. My goal is to make them forget I'm there. (Cf. "A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary." -Thomas Carruthers)
General Layout of Student Desks:
Again, there is no front. I went back and forth on the idea of arranging the desks in a single row in a U-shape (without the projector setup, the ideal setup would simply be a circle). The necessity for small-group work, though, pushed me over to a two-row U-shape setup. When partner work is required, the students can either work with the person directly in front of them or next to them; when groups of four are required, the students can arrange themselves without a lot of furniture rearrangement. When a half-on-half debate is required, the arrangement can be split down the middle. I think there's great flexibility to the double-row U formation. I also briefly considered clusters of groups of 4-6 students, but my problem with this setup has always been that some students need to turn themselves around entirely to listen to the teacher, watch films, and observe the class as a whole. I think layouts with clusters have great merit (better than the classical platoon-like layout), but personally, as a student, I've never appreciated them as much as those like the above.
The overarching principles of community and simplicity drove the above design. It is a work in progress, though, and I'll continue to update it as is necessary.
Firstly, my board handwriting is abominable. I think and hope that it'll get better with practice, but I'd like to be able to post instructions, assignments, tasks, etc. via projector for the benefit of anyone who has to read it. Additionally, I'd like to take into consideration those students whose vision isn't great by using large, bold typefaces. I remember a day in middle school when I'd either forgotten my glasses or couldn't find them, and my ability to keep pace with class was threatened severely. I understand that there are students who need glasses but don't have them, or who have expired prescriptions; I intend to make the visual components of my instruction accessible to all students.
Secondly, I would like the flexibility to display YouTube clips, TED talks, and film scenes at any time and for any reason. I recall my high-school teachers' complaints about not being able to show certain films on certain days because of the logistical issues of getting a TV into the classroom. The appeal of a multimedia-ready classroom is too great to ignore.
Thirdly, I want to equip my students with the various tools of online research. When I don't know about something, I look it up on Wikipedia. Even when I think I do know about something, I look it up on Wikipedia. When I want to know more than Wikipedia can offer, I use other venues of knowledge-sharing. The ability to use the internet to find and digest information is, I think, one of the trademarks of a lifelong student, and I feel unbelievably lucky to live in an age where learning about almost anything takes less than five seconds.
A note about the large table: It's important to me that I never refer to this or think of this as "my table" -- it belongs to the class as a community, and is at the use of whoever requires it. My personal space will be a standard desk at the back of the room. I do not intend to post up at the large table at any other time than when the projector setup is in use; the students' attention will be as much on each other as it is on the teacher. My new mantra: "There is no front."
Computers:
I originally had a couple of terminals at the front of the room but then realized that their users' privacy might be compromised by their proximity to the few student desks at the upper left of the diagram. I crossed them out and moved them behind the students, on the wall opposite the projector screen.
Teacher Desk (lower right):
During whole-class discussions, I intend to sit in a student desk in a position that is very specifically not at the front of the room, and in a position that doesn't call attention to itself. Again: the students' attention should be on each other. My goal is to make them forget I'm there. (Cf. "A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary." -Thomas Carruthers)
General Layout of Student Desks:
Again, there is no front. I went back and forth on the idea of arranging the desks in a single row in a U-shape (without the projector setup, the ideal setup would simply be a circle). The necessity for small-group work, though, pushed me over to a two-row U-shape setup. When partner work is required, the students can either work with the person directly in front of them or next to them; when groups of four are required, the students can arrange themselves without a lot of furniture rearrangement. When a half-on-half debate is required, the arrangement can be split down the middle. I think there's great flexibility to the double-row U formation. I also briefly considered clusters of groups of 4-6 students, but my problem with this setup has always been that some students need to turn themselves around entirely to listen to the teacher, watch films, and observe the class as a whole. I think layouts with clusters have great merit (better than the classical platoon-like layout), but personally, as a student, I've never appreciated them as much as those like the above.
The overarching principles of community and simplicity drove the above design. It is a work in progress, though, and I'll continue to update it as is necessary.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAhh sorry I deleted my comment.
ReplyDeleteI loved your reasoning behind your classroom design! As a fellow four-eyed person who had trouble seeing sometimes, I really second your point about large fonts and legible writing made possible by projectors.
You mention your goals in your classroom design were community and simplicity. Do you think technology would support both those principles? Or might it complicate things (having to integrate technology in English class is new to me!) and decrease community?
How would showing the kids that you are looking up information you are unsure of affect their perception of your authority?
Thanks for this interesting post! And great play on words in your blog title :)
Hey Miss Dinh! Thanks for your comments. To answer your questions: I think technology could support the principles of community and simplicity, provided that it would be used in a limited and user-friendly capacity. I have no intention of making anything more difficult for students by way of using tech, and I wouldn't be able to justify the use of tech if it significantly cut into time spent with face-to-face interaction. I do think that tech can go a long way towards connecting students with the world outside of the classroom, and I think that would be its primary use in my courses.
ReplyDeleteAs for showing the kids that I'm looking up information that I'm unsure of: I don't think that students should have the perception of their teachers as all-knowing, all-powerful authorities on anything. This would undercut the students' development as learners and authorities-in-progress on the subject. Rather, I would want to model for them how one goes about a) realizing that he or she doesn't know something, and b) being pro-active and creative in finding an answer. So, to answer your question more directly: I intend to establish my authority not on the basis of what and how much I know, but rather on the basis of how well I can help my students ask powerful questions and learn how to learn. I feel that we shouldn't be training students in how to have knowledge; we should be training them in how to be continuously gaining it and interacting with it.
How do you think that modeling the process of looking up information would affect students' perceptions of the teacher's authority? I'm interested to know where you're coming from with your question.
Thanks again for such a thoughtful response!
Matt,
ReplyDeleteYour though to reach all students by making your content visual to everyone was an aspect I enjoyed and didn't really think about when I was constructing my drawing. In fact, the more I read your response the more I realized how little I covered when drawing up my ideal classroom. The well structured outline you gave for the reasoning behind each decision you made gave me several ideas on what I would like to incorporate to my classroom. I enjoy looking at how everyone else interpreted the assignment and how they applied it to their own unique class set up. I think this class will give us a tremendous opportunity to not only enhance our teaching with technology, but collaborate with others in the class as well.
I agree with what you said about technology being a fascinating part of this age we find ourselves in. As is true with many awesomely powerful ideas/things, there comes an equally great responsibility. That, I believe, is going to be the key to success of using technology in education: carefully choosing how technology fits into the cracks of our template as an instructor.
Sorry for the late response to your response to my response to your post but to answer:
ReplyDeleteI asked you how your students view of your authority would change because I was thinking that Googling the answer to a question that comes up in class could be analogous to looking up a term in the glossary of a textbook. Students might think that you should already know it since it appears in the lesson. But, I REALLY like your answer: that teachers are experts in interacting with knowledge, not the subject itself per se. I'm actually quite put off by know-it-all teachers and respect the ones who are transparent when they don't know something. I guess the only time I would question the teacher is if he/she looked up something that he/she really should know!
Matt, as I look back at your posting and the exchange that it sparked I am very pleased to see that your response to this "simple" task, and the way that you describe your reaction, sparked such a rich conversation. Topics inculde the role of the teacher, and questions of what a teacher should know and seek to model, along with the matter of how best to arrange the physical space so as to make it conducive for the kind of work you want your students to do, and that you want to do yourself. For my part, I was intrigued by your choice to place your desk in such a way as to establish a different focal point. I appreciate your thinking about this, and I encourage you to make this something that you observe as you visit other classrooms this year.
ReplyDelete