This was my lovely chat with Wendy about confidence and techology
me:
Hi
11:
37 AM so I remember yesterday that you were talking about what you had put into your tumblr on confidence. I wanted to use this chat for my tumblr. Can you elaborate a little on what you put in?
11:
39 AM r u still there?
14 minutes
wtraugotfarkas:
What I was really talking about was the idea of empowering our students with tools they are comfortable with and using these tools to help them understand the skills we are trying to teach them. In this way they build confidence in their ability to function out of their comfort zones.
35 minutes
me:
so do think that the tool's we've learned here at the workshop will help do that?
12:
31 PM From what I've learned so far from the tools that I've used here is that the project needed a certain motivation, etc writing from your own experiences. If the tool is introduced alone, the student will probably not feel as motivated.
wtraugotfarkas:
I think to a limited extent they will. Some of the issues I'm concerned about will be hardware availability both in and out of school and adapting the curriculum to make use of the technology. For example, my first unit this year will be personal narratives. I see my students using hypertextopia to brainstorm, then moving to voice thread to actually create the story. But if they cannot upload their photos or videos, then I'm not sure if it will work.
What about you? How do you see yourself using these tools?
me:
I see, and then at that point the motivation will be replaced with frustration.
wtraugotfarkas:
Yes, that's usually what happens and I give up because I get no support.
me:
I see myself teaching these tools to staff, but many aren't as computer savy, so that's when I need to give them a motivation through maybe showing them the projects i've created.
plus I thought of creating worksheets for them to follow so they can be more at ease at what theyre doing
wtraugotfarkas:
I agree - I think handouts make all of us feel more secure. Plus I know that when I get home I'm not going to remember half of what we did or how we did it. I spent a lot of time this week writing down instructions such as, then click this, then drag that, look for the text in blue, etc. But I'm still not sure how it will all work in the classroom. Adding to the frustration is the thought that I'll get my students all excited about this and I won't be able to follow through.
me:
writing down instructions is good, but what I learned about technology is continuing to play with the programs so that eventually you'd be used to their functions. Next thing you know you wouldn't be needing the instructions you wrote down anymore...hence...you become more confident with what you're doing.
12:
45 PM ;)
wtraugotfarkas:
Yes, this is true too, but I'm often afraid to begin clicking on stuff for fear I'll lose what I have. The nice thing about many of these programs, like Google.docs is that it is automatically saved every 10 seconds. Something like tumblr is a little less user friendly because the tabs are not as self explanatory. But you're right - I think the more I use them the more comfortable I will be and our students have absolutely no fear.
