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Graduating from teacher to facilitator in the technology-rich classroom
Carol Webb talks about how constructivism
and technology changed her role from teacher to facilitator in her seventh-grade classroom.
By Carol M. Webb
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inch me! I
think I'm hallucinating! I told the teacher in the next classroom. My seventh
grade English language arts students had just refused free time. Instead of
celebrating the publication of our twice-monthly school magazine, they rushed to
their computers to begin articles for the next issue. Reminding myself to
remember this "Kodak Moment," I began circulating, questioning, encouraging,
facilitating. The new issue germinated in a classroom of eager voices and rushing
bodies. Chaos? Far from it! This was what I had planned for, worked for, hoped
for. Using technology, my students were charging ahead, planning their own
projects, asking their own questions, and checking with me for validation. Over
time, my role in the classroom has evolved. Constructivism and technology have
changed my role from expert to facilitator. |
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Carol Webb, English language arts teacher
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ow did this
graduation from teacher to facilitator happen? How did I become comfortable in a
classroom full of talking, physically active students making their own decisions
about what to research, what to write, how and when to use technology? Nancie
Atwell's In the Middle: Writing, Reading, and Learning with Adolescents (1987)
started my journey. Gradually, my colleagues and I followed Atwell's suggestion
that teachers "come out from behind their own big desks to write with, observe,
and learn from young writers." In my adaptation of the reading/writing workshop
model, I became comfortable with my role as guide while my students chose their
own writing topics and genre, selected their own reading material, and did
individualized research.
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ithout even
knowing the term, I was becoming a constructivist. This philosophy of learning
rests on the premise that "by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own
understanding of the world we live in" (Constructivism, 1998). Learning, seen as
a search for meaning, must begin with student-centered issues. The learning
process focuses on primary concepts, allowing the learner to comprehend the whole
rather than just memorizing isolated parts/facts. Educators must understand how
students use mental models to perceive the world and also how students make
assumptions that support those models. Assessment, to provide students with
information about their progress, must become part of the learning process
(Constructivism, 1998). With these principles embedded in my curriculum, I helped
students move toward the goal of becoming independent readers and writers.
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"I do not teach technology as a
separate subject but use it as a tool to solve problems and create products (Dede
and Sprague, 1999)."
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y transition from teacher
to facilitator advanced when I added technology to my classroom. I no longer have
to be in control all the time, but have given some of the control to the students
and technology (Dede and Sprague, 1999). Since the medium for my curriculum is an
authentic, student-centered activity, publication of the school magazine,
students decide what articles they would like to write and what format their
information will take. I facilitate this process by balancing the overall content
of the magazine and suggesting resources, but selecting topics of interest to our
readers is definitely a job for the students. Brooks and Brooks, in their
publication In search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms
(as cited in Chiu, 1995), state that constructivist teachers allow student
responses to drive lessons, shift instructional strategies, and alter content.
For example, recently I helped my students discover how to make articles more
readable and visually appealing by using their word processing computers to break
large masses of print into spaced paragraphs. I do not teach technology as a
separate subject but use it as a tool to solve problems and create products (Dede
and Sprague, 1999).
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s a
constructivist facilitator, how am I helping my students construct their own
meaning? Caine and Caine state in their publication Making connections: Teaching
and the human brain (as cited in Benning, 1992) that the search for meaning is
innate. Meaning is personal, unique, and based on each learner's individual
experiences. Students learn by "fitting new information together with what they
already know" (Benning, 1992). I am helping my students construct new meaning
about writing by getting them actively involved in authentic publication. When a
student with the "personal model" that writing is a boring English assignment
sees the whole school read his or her magazine article, he or she fits this new
experience into the old model and constructs the new meaning that writing is a
powerful form of communication.
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"After the experience of composing on a computer, students construct the new
meaning that writing and revising can be done quickly and efficiently on a
computer."
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ikewise, my students are
constructing new meaning about technology. As a facilitator, I provide a
classroom filled with computers, no desks, and a large, carpeted open space. Most
students had the previous model that writing is done at a desk with paper and
pen. After the experience of composing on a computer, students construct the new
meaning that writing and revising can be done quickly and efficiently on a
computer. Many of them also form the first-time "model" that technology is a
useful tool.
As a circulating computer lab facilitator, I have
built feedback loops directly into the learning process. This ongoing and
cumulative assessment of the word processing/writing process provides students
with frequent and accurate feedback and structures learning experiences around
their individual needs (Instructional Technology, 1998). I have also facilitated
the larger feedback loop of students' articles being read by the student body.
This authentic assessment supplies students with real-world challenges which
require them to apply their skills and knowledge (Authentic Assessment, 1998).
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ears ago
when I was a new teacher, my students sat in orderly rows, seldom moved, and
listened to me from the first bell until the last. How did they stand it? Those
students would never have refused free time. Luckily, after implementing
technological tools and the theories of constructivism, I have graduated from a
lecturing expert to an encouraging facilitator guiding students to create their
own new meanings.
View
references.
Read Carol's Online
Research Diary
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