Evaluating a technology concepts lesson Essay

The learning environment observed was one that had the use of computers in mind. The classroom size was big enough to seat around twenty or so students that had a student:computer ratio of 1:1. The computers were arranged in such a way that two rows of computers were back to back so that students would be facing each other. There were four rows in all with the teacher seated on the end of one row. This arrangement allowed easy student to student interaction and at the same time easy teacher to student interaction since the teacher was situated where she had a full view of all the students. An overhead projector was also set up beside the teacher with the screen facing her and the students, allowing a real time view of what the teacher was doing on her own computer making it for her to explain the tasks she gave to her students. This made it easy for students to easily check their work against the teacher’s without having to disrupt the class. 1-b: Many education activities could be observed in the class. The given task was to identify from the given paragraphs the main ideas and the supporting details to the main ideas. The students were then tasked to use the computers to put their ideas down and make sure they edited their work. Thus, the most important parts of the whole activity were brainstorming, graphic organizing, and word processing. In the brainstorming activity, the students had sharing in ideas in small group discussions that the teacher utilized to give the students time talk about their ideas. These helped the students in identifying the main ideas and supporting details. They then summarized their discussions. These small group discussions help the students learn better since they are able to check whether their ideas have merit or not. In a way, they are doing checks and balances. The graphic organizing and word processing then bring them to the realm of technology where they can put their ideas and their work to life. They can actually view the work they came up with by typing these in, editing it, and checking whether the spelling and grammar are all correct. 1-c: Effective teaching is always seen when a teacher begins the lesson with a short statement of goals, presents the material in small steps with clear instructions and explanation, and provide a high level of practice for all the students. An effective teacher also checks for student understanding and guide the students through the exercise. The teacher also provides a venue for feedback to see whether the lesson was understood and know what areas can be improved (Rosenshine & Stevens, 1986). Keeping that in mind, my observation was that the teacher did exactly what is expected of an effective teacher. She stated the goals of the lesson and delivered the instructions of the lesson step-by-step. She also gave examples of what she meant and used the computer and overhead projector to show the students what she meant. She provided the students a venue to discuss their ideas and thereby giving them a high level of practice within the lesson. Not only that, by letting the students do their work with the use of the computer, she provided another venue for real life situations wherein writing is done on computers including editing and revising. At the end of the lesson, she asked one student to read to the class his writing output and gave feedback by acknowledging that the student was able to do his work correctly since the student had a main idea and some supporting details in his work. 2-a: The students were very much engaged with the task and the vehicle of technology used to deliver the lesson. They seemed comfortable with the use of the technology and I attribute this to the teacher’s step-by-step delivery of the lesson. Her style of going through the task by showing the students what she meant made it easy for the students to follow and most likely gave them the courage to do the task. 3-a: The instructional purpose of the lesson was to simulate real life writing wherein writers make use of the computer to write, edit, and revise their work. Her additional goals included a better knowledge of the use of graphic organizers after the lesson. Her choice of technology was the best choice in terms of simulating real life situations. Not only that, it gave her students an introduction to the use of a computer in writing. This is important since this knowledge is very important not only in real life situations but also in schooling. Evidently, most assignments nowadays are expected to be handed in typewritten, in a certain format, and in a certain font. Her choice then was the best choice in driving home the lesson that students should learn to use the computer in doing the task of summarizing an essay an identifying the main ideas with supporting details included. 4-a: The effectiveness of the lesson delivery is seen in how a student is able to achieve then endpoint of the lesson. The use of technology then is a vehicle towards that endpoint. Now, if a teacher is able to effectively deliver the lesson, the endpoint can easily be achieved. This was clearly seen in the video. The teacher was able to use the computer technology in arriving at the endpoint of having a professionally made summary containing the main ideas and supporting details of her given essay at the start of the class. In the same vein, she was able to improve the students’ abilities in the use of the graphic organizer and word processor. Also, since the ratio of student:computer was 1:1, it gave the students a certain satisfaction that the work they did was actually work made by their own hands. They could say that it was a product of their own hard work and be proud and they were proud of their achievement. 4-b: I was trying to analyze how best an English lesson could be incorporated with the use of technology and tried to reflect how I could maximize not only the use of technology but also maximize the endpoints that is always best when teaching English—meaning I would not only want that my students know how to use a graphic organizer and word processor, I want them to learn how to brainstorm, share ideas, work on their own to arrive at the correct answers, and still achieve metacognitive learning by letting the students themselves arrive at reflection on whether the lesson did improve their knowledge and by how much. This is the kind of endpoint I would want in every lesson I have. Thus, this is why my evaluation of this evaluation came about from this viewpoint and why it mattered much to me that the students were able to get the best of the world of English writing and technology. 5-a:One alternative or additional form of technology that could have been useful was the use of audios. Students could be given separate paragraphs or essays that they had to listen to individually or in small groups. This would also test their listening skills as well as their comprehension skills. This alternative would make use of what is known as the VAK attack or Visual, Auditory, and Kinetic learning. This can increase learning since more senses are used. 5-b: My choice of recommendation relies in my belief that multisensorial learning is a good way to increase their chances of remembering the lesson. It also give a wider range of engagement in terms of capturing students’ attention since some students are visual, some auditory, and others kinetic. When a teacher tries to deliver a lesson that makes use multiple senses, it increases the chances of more students retaining the lesson. 6-a:My initial reaction to the use of technology in the observed classroom was one of approval. I find that the use of modern day technology should be used more often in the classroom setting since I believe that learning should reflect situations in real life. It would not be beneficial for a student to be kept ignorant of the use of technology when in school since once they are out of the campus they face a different situation. The use of modern day technology is very evident in every corner of our lives. A good example would be the use of ATMs which needs at least a very basic knowledge of keyboard use or touchscreen interface knowledge. It may be difficult to accept especially if the teacher belongs to an older generation that did not incorporate as much technology but I believe that it should be part and parcel of most lessons today. 6-b: As I expressed in my thinking process of this evaluation, I really considered how technology can be maximized in teaching as much to a student without giving them an information overload. My personal view has always been a multisensorial approach to learning helps. The professional implication of this is that I always try to incorporate a multisensorial approach to my teaching style. REFERENCES Rosenshine, B. , & Stevens, R. (1986). Teaching functions. In M. C. Whittrock (Ed. ), Handbook of research on teaching (3rd ed. , pp. 376-391). New York: Macmillan.