“Technology is only a teaching and
learning tool. Learning is enhanced only if pedagogy takes first place and technology
second”
(Premkumar & Coupal, 2008, p. 149).
Since
moving into my classroom position in September 2013, I have used technology
every day. This mostly manifests itself in the form of child laptops, an FM system, and a SMARTBoard.
Although I wouldn’t consider myself extremely knowledgeable about technology, I
have learned a great deal about SMARTboards and iPads since college.
My
curiosity about clickers in the classroom started
in college when
I had to use
one for a class my sophomore year. I was a little disappointed paying for something
we only used a few times, but I enjoyed the concept of immediate feedback given
a large population of students. When I moved into my classroom, the previous teacher
had wrote a letter to the district explaining why she wanted a SMARTboard and how
she would use it and teach others about it. Her SMARTboard package also came with
a classroom set of clickers. I was excited to find the clickers and use them with
my students; however, the demands of a first year classroom teacher took my focus
away from learning more about the technical setup and implementation of the clickers.
Clickers in an elementary school classroom?
http://bit.ly/1jGAjhy
*Some rights reserved*
*Bitly-Website to shorten links*
The
article I reviewed was found in a 2008 edition of the “Medical Teacher”. It’s by
Kalyani Premkumar and Cyril Coupal out of Saskatoon, Canada and is titled, Rules of engagement- 12 tips for successful use of “clickers” in the classroom. The main premise of
the article is that student response systems such as SMART clickers can be effective
IF used properly. That overall the clickers can improve engagement, motivation,
and retention of new information (p. 147). The article also speaks about
students’ attention span and how it starts to wane after only 20 minutes and how
a student response system (SRS) is a great way for keeping engagement, especially
given a core lesson that can take over an hour to teach.
-Break the lesson up-
I see attention
coming and going constantly in my fourth grade classroom full of movers and shakers.
So far I have used many different strategies, mostly grouping and questioning strategies, to keep
students engaged. I also use the location of my body in proximity to the children
to keep students focused on the task at hand. This might include walking around
the room while teaching or standing next to a particularly talkative child. During
math in particular I use manipultives displayed on the SMARTboard
to teach concepts and I also use hand-help student white boards to take formative assessments of each student’s knowledge.
However, a white board has its limits. The wondering eyes of confused students often
gives them answers they don’t really understand or makes them panic because so many
other students clearly found the answer more easily. It also slightly embarrasses
the shy children when they hold up their board only to realize they didn’t understand
the problem as well as they thought they did. By using a SRS as another teaching
tool, I would be building embarrassment free formative assessment, and each
student would actively participate without the stress or anxiety of possibly
getting the answer wrong in front of his or her peers. An article I reviewed in
Education Week summed up my above thoughts on clickers
exactly. The fourth grade teacher in the article stated, “I love the idea of this
system because it uses interactive technology to promote a risk-free environment
for all students to participate in learning” (Manzo, 2009). I like the idea of students
taking risks without them feeling like there are social consequences attached,
especially in older graders where students are very socially aware.
http://bit.ly/1eJBBbp
As
with all new technology, it is important to discuss not only the benefits, but also
the possible complications. I believe a big need that should to be addressed
with many different types of technology is the desire for proper professional development.
Under the heading, “Robust PD is Vital”, a Scholastic article on clickers goes into the importance of proper professional development
and tech support (Derringer, 2011). I know personally, much of my knowledge with
the SMARTboard comes from student teaching (working with teachers who were comfortable
with the technology) and self-discovery. However, sometimes self-discovery is
hard to come by given the number of hours in a day and a particular workload. Having
proper professional development provides you with a faster opportunity of learning
new technological tricks without the hours of self-discovery. I know after personally
trying to figure out the clickers for myself and getting frustrated with the hand
held devices, I put them away and haven’t looked at them since.
http://bit.ly/1qXycXJ
*Some rights reserved*
With that said,
the Scholastic article also makes another good point. Ian Beatty, the lead investigator
on a clicker study with high school science and math teachers states, “Despite the
critical role of professional development, a teacher’s success or failure ultimately
hinges on the individual’s underlying attitude and thought processes rather
than best practices or tech support” (Derringer, 2011). Given some PD, I feel I
am motivated enough to go from there. Therefore, I will leave you with a few thoughts:
1. I’m not sure of the effectiveness of clickers at different age levels, but after using them myself in my college courses and completing some reading on the subject, I’m
willing to try them in my own classroom and report back. 2. How can I try them out if I can't figure out how to turn them on? Well, I am already seeking out
the IT people in my district who put on technology workshops during April vacation
and have asked for specific instruction into the SMART clicker. 3. I have also linked a video showing the implementation of SRS in classrooms and attached a video below showing
the increasingly curious enquiries into the effectiveness and implementation of
clickers in today’s learners. Enjoy!
http://bit.ly/1qCb02R
1. Demonstrate the understanding of how technologies can effectively promote student learning.
7. Demonstrate an understanding of the use of adaptive technologies and other digital resources to personalize and differentiate learning activities for every student.
8. Evaluate, adapt and reflect upon emerging tools and trends by participating in local and global learning communities and by reviewing current research and professional literature.
*I used this online reference helper.
http:www.scholastic.com/browse/articles.jsp?id=3755843
feedback. Digital Directions. Retrieved April 13, 2014, from
http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2009/06/17/04feedback.h02.html
of "clickers" in the classroom. Medical Teacher, 30 (2), 146-149.
doi:10.1080/0/01421590801965111.
Hello-I found your blog post rather interesting. I use clickers in my classroom on a weekly basis. I use them most often for chapter reviews in a game-like manner. I found it extremely informative how you mentioned breaking up the time in between questions. This is something I am going to try in my next introduction lesson.
ReplyDeleteAs stated above, I do only use the clickers in a review manner. Though the students always want to see "what grade they could have received"-I find it to be a bit distracting to count it as a formal assessment. The beauty of the clickers though is the "secret" of the students not knowing who chose what. Of course the teacher may access this information, but I feel the anonymity of the clickers gives the children more confidence in their responses.
Neat! Let me know if you have any helpful tips. I spoke with the IT person and I am meeting with her over break to learn the set up and such. I want to use them for review, but I would also like to use them as a check in point during lessons to gage student understanding.
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