When we think about students, we are all hopeful that they will do great in everything they do, however, we all know that there will be mistakes made along the way to their success. When we think of teachers, we would all like to believe that they hold all the answers, but just like everyone else they are human and will need to ask for help once and a while. Technology in the classroom is no exception. This is something new that is becoming more widely used but the problem is, there is always new technology coming out and it can be hard to keep up with it when there is still all the other regular tasks that must be completed in the classroom. This is why it is so important for teachers to be accepting of the trial and error that will come with exploring new technology, but we must learn from these failures in order to find success; trying a new app just to find that it has nothing to do with the lesson that you prepared or clicking the wrong button while preparing for presentation or finding a new feature that makes the information you are presenting more interesting for the audience. For a tech savvy teacher to be successful in the classroom they must be willing to fail and accept those failures as a way of learning how to do something right.
The art and craft of teaching with technology
Jordyn, you make such an excellent point. If teachers cannot even try themselves, then why are they asking their students to do so? It makes teachers seem hypocritical and proves to the students that it is better to stick to what you know rather than venture into the unknown. If famous scientists, speakers, and philanthropists, stuck to what they knew, then we would not have these famous discoveries and words of wisdom. With technology specifically, there is a lot of room for error and mistakes, but like you said, it is what you do with it that separates you from a good teacher into a great one. How a teacher responds to a technology mishap is what the students will remember. If a teacher completely gives up with the technology and says something like “I hate technology”, it will show the students that the teacher is giving up. Rather a teacher could say, “technology can be tricky sometimes, but let’s see if we can figure it out together as a class”. Here the teacher is able to take this mishap and turn it into a learning experience. The teacher is leaning on this community of learners rather than depending on his or her own limited technological background for the knowledge.
Jordyn, your post really caught my eye! First it was the adorable baby picture, and then I read your statement. Yours stood out to me because it was something you would never expect to read. The idea of “teacher” and “fail” being in the same sentence is daunting because no teacher ever wants this word to be near their title. It is a constant fear I personally have as a teacher and I worry that I would not be good enough. However, you were able to turn this into a positive experience. Through our teaching career, we will do things in which we fail. Whether it was the wrong way to discipline a student, or a mistake we made when using a piece of technology. Like you said, we are human and we make mistakes. Rather than see these mistakes as the end of the world, it is better to see them as places of growth and learning as a teacher. I think what separates a teacher from a tech savvy teacher is how they respond to using technology. A teacher may say “I hate technology” when something isn’t working but a tech savvy teacher would say “technology is tricky, but does anyone have any ideas on how we could solve this problem together”. Here the tech savvy teacher is able to unite the class and solve this problem rather than reinforce to the students of the failure he or she made.
I think the idea of teachers not knowing everything is a super important thought to keep with us as we all start teaching in our own classrooms, especially the first few years. Technology can be an awesome way that students help teach us in new ways because although we think we know enough, kids explore technology everyday and find new ways to learn through it. This can be an awesome way to connect with students and show them that a classroom is a two way street when it comes to learning.
I think video game designers have nailed the motivational quality of failure. In a game a failure just inspires you to try get it right.
Jordyn,
I really liked what you said about acceptance. As future teachers, we really do need to accept that we will not always know everything, and need to be taught as we go too. I totally agree. Thank you for sharing your thoughts
Jordyn, this is a great post. 🙂 I agree that we are often thinking so much about our students’ mistakes and how to help them learn from them, that we often forget that we are also learning from our own mistakes. Thank you for sharing this post!
This is an excellent point that I feel is overlooked waaaaay to often. Failure can be the best (if not harshest) teacher that we’ll ever have, and if you’re never failing then chances are you’re either not trying anything new or you’re just missing your failures altogether. While it can be very tempting to avoid reflection on your past failures, figuring out what went wrong and what went right can make you a better teacher than if you had not failed at all.