Tuesday, December 9, 2008

What happens in Stat class...

On a quick evaluation of myself and the activity we did today (Rolling Down the River), I am really impressed with myself and my students. Here's a quick rundown of what an observer would see upon entering my classroom:

SILENCE - small conversations between 2-3 students related to topic
21 kids with a worksheet, calculator, and laptop on their desk
Kids switching from calculator, to sheet, to laptop
Teacher at front of room on laptop typing

The "old school" conclusion that would be made: This teacher is lazy. He's probably checking his e-mail or entering grades.

What's actually happening: Kids are on laptops entering data that they have obtained. This data is unique to each student. The teacher is organizing the data as it comes in to be displayed on the Promethean board, so that students are not only making conclusions and observations about their own or their class data, they are making conclusions about every Stat student's data. Teacher is also blogging about what is happening in his class.

But where's the learning that's taking place? The teacher is not standing in front of the room and lecturing to them?!?!?!?!? Technology is amazing - it keeps me from lecturing to you.

Give yourselves a pat on the back for being producers of your own learning instead of consumers of mine. You guys rock! So do I.

1 comment:

mysocksdontmatch said...

"You guys rock! So do I."
haha