I've been thinking a lot lately about the ups and downs of learning to integrate technology into teaching and learning. My fluffy instincts and short life experience tell me there's a huge, exhilarating learning curve when you discover a new tool or website and you find all these new things to do with it. Then your belly drops through the floor when you get to the top and see how far down it is - and how much there is left to learn!
I had a peek recently at Marisa Constantinides' blog and conveniently for me she's just been thinking about something similar when she trains teachers. It sounds like huge 'tech dumps' of information don't really help, and lead to some teachers labelling technology with that 'I'll get to that when I have some spare time' sticker. Spare time? When you find a teacher who has spare time, come see me and I'll eat my fluff.
Anyway, her thought was to get little bits of tech in throughout the course activities and then reflect on what had been used and why, which seemed to work. Kind of like hiding the vegetables in a pasta sauce, then going 'hey kids, you just ate broccoli! How tasty was that?'.
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| http://blog.jeromeparadis.com/ |
And for students? Keep it simple, relevant and regular. A diary in English is such as useful thing (I love my blog for reflecting on stuff) and it can be as simple as updating your status in English once a day on Facebook or Twitter. Those who want more can explore audio diaries (Audioboo), video diaries (check privacy settings whatever you recommend) or even a blog like this if they really love writing.
The important thing? Like any skill, a little everyday, as part of your routine, is much easier to maintain than huge one-off tasks, and will keep that learning curve moving gently upwards, without the big drop-off at the end! And when it feels too hard? "Life is a rollercoaster, you just gotta ride it!" (thanks Ronan) - strap yourself in, throw your arms up and enjoy the ride!
