"I'm sure you're all just talking because you 'get it' and we can do homework, right?"
Um, no. Usually. I just thought that what I had to say took precedence over what you were saying. (Of course, kidding.)
But as I gave a quick presentation to my fellow Accelerated Chemistry students on using Google Drive, I received blank stares, and little attention. I feel your pain, now.
I quickly (well, I tried to) finished up, saying that you have to share the document with each other and Mr. B., work on it anywhere, even at the same time, and even share an entire folder. Still nothing. I faced an educator's nightmare: half of the students had already known exactly what I was talking about for over a year and some of them haven't heard of it. Ever. They were bored. Most of them, anyway. I smiled later realizing that this is my job, isn't it? To get technology to a point where it's sublime with everything they do. We geeks wish to run ourselves out of a job, make everything just work.
So, for the future:
I believe that it is necessary when teaching technology to only collect the students who need the information, I was wasting their time, and time's a valuable commodity.
Let's not waste your time.
Ah, yes, the teacher's conundrum. A great observation, Adam. There's a big push for teachers to differentiate (fancy term meaning meet each student where he/she is). Easier said than done, but certainly worth our efforts. And so, let it be the same for technology: and as equally challenging. As you've noticed in inservices and trainings, we run the whole gamut regarding levels of knowledge, yet we can't have 30 different presentation for 30 different students. This is the art of teaching, hardly an exact science, but somehow, we can't overlook those that still don't know just because half already know. This is Geek Discussion worthy because Fel definitely agrees "Let's not waste their time." (discussion starters: speak to only half the class? have those not in the know come down during resource?)
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