Flowers are red

If you have four extra minutes to spare, I suggest you watch the following animated video, which has an incredibly deep, rich and challenging message: http://youtu.be/qeJJOjb7fj4

How often do we confuse our students like those teachers did in this video? Although the uniqueness of each teacher's methods and instructions are part of what makes our education system and a child's education incredibly rich, it can also cause confusion for our students. There is hope that through communication via technology (I find the fact that teachers bounce ideas off of each other through blogs, etc. encouraging), we will be able to come to some sort of standard on what we require of our students, especially when it comes to technology use in the classroom.

I experienced technology in the classroom in a new way this past Tuesday at my practicum. My supervising teacher allowed me to teach a lesson on topic/introductory sentences to the 29 grade 4 students and once they had finished their work he told them to clear their desks and listened as he read the second chapter of a book to them. After the shuffling of papers and binders faded, he sat at the front of the class and pulled out his iPhone. Instead of reading from a paper book, he read off of his phone (via iBooks, I'm assuming). To be honest, it took me by surprise.

The students start their day at our public school with 20 minutes of silent reading, and this must be out of a paper book. No electronics are allowed to be seen and no Pokémon or hockey cards are allowed to be "read" during this time. Are the teachers words and his contradicting actions confusing the students? In the grand scheme of things, I can't see which method of reading to be an issue as long as the kids are still reading, but in their developing minds they may pose the question of when it is appropriate to use technology in learning.

I realize that this post contains some sporadic thoughts and I could come up with multiple excuses for that, number one the fact that so much work has been taking its toll on me, but no matter how tired we may become as teachers, our students require us to be at our best every day and to put aside what we may be feeling or thinking and engage with them 100%. Technology shouldn't be used as a cop-out for these times, but using technology must enhance the learning goals in the classroom.