Reflection on Changes in Technology in School
School has changed a lot since I was a boy. I was surprised at the amount of technology being used in the year 9 drama classroom. IPhones and MacBooks are commonplace and computers seem to be becoming increasingly prevalent in the classroom. As a result, in addition to traditional dramatic exercise, the students’ phones and laptops became an extension of their performance as they used them to create music and sound effects. The paradox of this is that the phones became a crutch and what could have been a more existential exercise was downplayed. I am fearful that if used incorrectly, technology could become a barrier to the development of student creativity and expression.
Additionally, I noted that the students were quite distracted by their technological devices. I even observed some students playing video games on their laptops when they were meant to be doing their online logbooks. This is a real problem with technology use in the classroom. According to Fried (2008), although some research has shown that laptops can be a helpful aid in the classroom, it appears that “more and more faculty are banning laptops from their classrooms because of perceptions that they distract students and detract from learning,” and this certainly does seem to be the case (p. 906).
On the other hand, I did have a positive experience with technology when I was given the task of marking the year 9 written assignments. I used the computer program, Canvas, in order to do this, and in some ways it did make the job much easier. Grading, attendance, and behaviour can all be recorded through this program. The marks are immediately available to the students, and comments and other student information are instantly accessible to any teacher or department head with appropriate access.
Technology can be certainly be useful for instruction and computer programs such as Canvas can make internal record keeping quite simple and efficient. However, I feel that technology should not be too heavily relied upon in a performing arts classroom, and I will work on achieving a healthy balance between too much and too little technology in my future lessons.
Reflection on My First Lesson
After giving my first class with year 9 drama, I realized that I need to work on my classroom management skills. Many of the students were talking amongst themselves as I gave my instruction, and this made it difficult to accomplish what needed to be done within the given timeframe. Time management is one of my biggest concerns. It is the thread running through almost all aspects of teaching — organizing the day, organizing the classroom, deciding how long and how often to teach various subjects, recording student progress, and keeping timeconsuming behaviour problems to a minimum.
I definitely need to focus on keeping the class on task, and continually remind myself that time management is my concern, not the students’. Merrett & Wheldall found that “the vast majority of teachers believe classroom [behavior] management skills to be of major importance to them professionally” and many teachers believe they spend too much time “on matters of order and control” (p. 91). If I ensure that the students’ behaviour is kept under control, this would enable me to complete the lesson more efficiently. The need to set rules and maintain them was also made clear to me. In this, I believe consistency will be important. As Savage
(1999) states, “consistency is an especially important aspect of developing teacher credibility” (as cited in Felix, 2011, p.38). I will need to develop strategies in the future to help me with behavior management, such as starting the class in the same way every day and ensuring that every class period follows the same, predictable order of events. This will impress upon the students that the same expectations will be present in every class.
In the future, I will be more concise in what I say in class and only speak about things which are a specific requirement of the next step in the lesson, rather than overwhelming the students with how I am leading them to the destination or the point of the exercise. It is more effective to have a discussion at the end of class about what they have learned. Additionally, I feel that I spent too much time micro-managing the lesson, and that this was in fact a hindrance to the student learning experience. When supervising the students in group work, it is better to focus on just keeping them on track to complete the task assigned in their own way as opposed to controlling each step. By giving the students more independence rather than hovering over them every step of the way, they will actually have more time to actively work on the given task.
References
Felix, E. E. (2011). Modern Approach to Classroom Discipline and Management. Xlibris Corporation.
Fried, Carrie B. (2008). In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning. Computers & Education, 50(3), 906-914.
Merrett, F. & Wheldall, K. (1993). How Do Teachers Learn to Manage Classroom Behavior? A study of teachers’ opinions about their initial training with special reference to classroom behavior management. Eduational Studies, 19(1), 91-106.
