When I
was a student, I was always intrigued when my teacher used ICT in the
classroom. It was entertaining to see images and words move past the screen
(regardless of the subject) and I always paid attention whenever ICT was
involved. This was true for my homework as well, and I definitely put in more
effort when there was a chance for me to use the computer. In our present day,
a time that is a lot more tech-savvy than before, ICT in classrooms is no
longer just teaching from PowerPoint Slides or a way to entertain students; it
is a way of life and an important part of our curriculum. We are teaching in
“their world” now, as Melissa Comer puts it and we need to get with their time.
Comer’s article talks about the importance of an alternative form of assessment
and how the use of technology in classrooms can fulfill this need.
What
struck me most about the article was how Comer accessed students’ interests
before choosing an appropriate text for the class. We normally forget about
students’ interests and focus on the class profile and ability, the difficulty
level of the text and the length and appropriateness of the text to that
particular level. However, Comer points out the benefits of considering
students’ interests and I think it is something that we should consider as
teachers. I understand that it is difficult to do this in a Singapore context
and a “interest survey” might not be applicable to the text chosen but I think
we can do this for poetry? Perhaps getting the students interested in reading
poetry about their favourite topic can enhance learning and help them to retain
what they have learnt. The questions in the survey are well crafted to finding
out ore about the students and it also allows for teacher-student bonding since
students can recommend books to the teachers to read.
Students’
interests is crucial in their learning which brings me to my main point of
using technology in the classroom. The use of social media platforms such as
Twitter or Facebook can be very exciting and interesting for students. It
conextualizes their learning and it is no longer so remote from the world they
live in. While I feel the cyber-hunts are too easy for students in our current
day and age (they google almost everything anyway), the use of social media platforms
can be used as a tool for education and not just for fun or entertainment. Comer
suggests that “students today are accustomed to translating their every thought
and feeling into words”, which makes Twitter an ideal form of assessment. The
140-character limit forces them to be creative when tweeting since the focus is
on the content of the tweet and not the writing; they can use short forms or
abbreviations or even “internet lingo”. To build up on Comer’s idea of using
Twitter, I feel that it is a good way to check on students’ understanding on a
weekly basis. The tweets are short and easy to assess and the teacher can also
showcase the best tweets of the week to the class, giving the students ownership
and a sense of pride over their work. This ties in with what Comer was
suggesting about assessing for learning and not of learning. The tweets are
assessed weekly on a certain set of rubrics that is relevant to that assignment.
Each week, students can build upon what they’ve learnt instead of cramming
everything into their brains and regurgitating them in an exam. The Singapore Literature
curriculum needs to start moving away from summative assessment and have more
meaningful “authentic assessments” to improve not only students’ learning but
to help the teacher gain insight into their students. The use of ICT and
technology in a classroom can help to do just that. I strongly believe that it
is an area that more teachers should look into and incorporate into their
lessons.
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