Reflection section 4

Where do you need to use of technology in education? Probably in everywhere but the language teaching is one of the most necessary area where the technology should be used. When I start to learn English as a second language, the only material I can define as a technologic one is a radio that is used for listening activities by my teacher. Although it looks insufficient, my English teacher was using the radio very effectively to make our ears train to English. We were listening some reading text that were in our books as well and trying to match words, filling the gaps in the text or trying to repeat what we were hearing from the radio. It was fun and educatory activity. All those activities were being done according to a certain system, I guess, which is the ASSURE model. My teacher was doing all the necessary procedures that should be done in the system. He was good at utilizing the technology even though he had insufficient equipment. However, I am not sure he was aware of existing such system.:)

Utilizing Technology in the classrooms

Technology is a necessary part of the 21st century and it penetrates everywhere. It has a wide area of penetration which pushes people to use technology in their social life. It is for sure that technology has to be used in education as well. Then, as prospective teachers, how do we utilize technology to classrooms? There are lots of easy ways to do it. For example, the teachers can use email in a language class to communicate with students from different countries, so that the students can have a chance to meet different people and their cultures. Moreover, the teachers can assign projects that lead students to use software like PowerPoint that develop their computer literacies. Fortunately, we are not in the age that technology crawls, if the teachers are not capable of using trend apps or software, there are different websites that teach how to use those kind of programs and so on. This variety will help us to communicate with our students more easily than the past without thinking the notion of time and place.

Ted-ed being a teacher in 21st century

How hard can it be a teacher in 21st century? The answer can be varied depends on which perspective you look to the question. In my opinion, there should not be any problem for prospective teachers who are born in 21^st century. Because most of those teacher have been educated according to the demands that might be needed by students of 21^st century. It is for sure that unexpected situations will be but the teachers will have an ace in the hole in order to deal with those problems. The ease of reaching information will make it easier to handle possible problems that prospective teachers might meet during a course period.

Reflection / Assure Model

    The schools I was educated had a basic principle depending on memorization from the perspective of teaching. I do not remember any psychological approach that may trigger learning or teaching process. Teaching process generally was being performed by a teacher who was not keen on what she was doing. Here is the picture, a teacher comes to class and starts with greetings, right after that she checks her students’ homework and starts lecturing. At the end of the lesson, if there is a question, it is answered by the teacher and she assigns our homework then leaves. That is all. I know it looks odd, but it is what it is. Unfortunately, most of the state schools in Turkey are stuck in this dilemma. As prospective teachers at METU, we can change it, can’t we? Assure model? There was no such things in my school.