I have always been interested in technology. I remember writing simple programs on my Commodore Vic 20. After that, I moved onto the IBM XT computers, where my gaming life began with games such as Police Quest and Leisure Suit Larry. Then there was the introduction of the IBM 286, followed by the 386. This eventually led to Pentium series, where I experienced the beginnings of multimedia in computers. It was pretty cool to see video clips and edit photographs on the computer. Now, being the computer geek that I am, I have the king of all computers, the Intel Quad-Core X6700. To people who are not familiar with computer hardware, a computer has a processor much like a car has an engine. With a quad-core, it essentially means my computer has 4 engines. My wife is scratching her head wondering why I need 4 cores! Well, simple, it allows faster rendering of video while creating your own DVDs! I’m not sure if that impresses anyone but me.
As you can see, I am deep into technology. I constantly strive to learn about anything and everything that is related to technology. In fact, I taught myself how to build computers. Almost all of my friends own a “Sherman” custom computer. I carry this enthusiasm over to my teaching and the most memorable event that relates to technology was during my practicum. I was in a grade 5/6 split at Port Guichon Elementary in Ladner. My goal was to bring technology into the classroom. In my possession, I had one laptop and many ideas. Thankfully, the Delta School District had the foresight to equip their schools with LCD projectors. Therefore, I was able to hook up my laptop to the projector. This was important since it would have been difficult to have the students watch what I was doing from my laptop screen.
The idea I had was to do a computer-based Jeopardy game by using Microsoft Powerpoint. All the elements were there, including the theme song, the sound effects and the “daily double”. All that was missing was Alex Trebeck. I mainly used this for reviews of lessons that we had done during the week. The class was separated into 3 equal teams. For each question, every group had one representative that could raise their hands and attempt to answer the question. This prevented shouting matches and mass confusion.
The students took to the game enthusiastically. The competition element engaged even the most skeptical of students. Not one student was off-task during the Jeopardy game. A simple review consisting of questions and answers pertaining to material covered now became a fun activity. The entire Jeopardy board was on displayed on the big screen in front of the class. Just like the TV show, the answer would pop up, with accompanying sound effect, when students choose a subject and dollar amount. It now became a visual activity, which seemed to engage students who normally were not. To further enhance the learning experience, I added audio and video answers as well. No longer were the students merely doing a boring worksheet! In fact, this was the highlight at the end of every unit for the class.
I took this Jeopardy approach to review with other classes I have been in, including high school Socials 11. Again, it was a huge success. The whole class was engaged in reviewing work we had done. It was a blast for the class and for me as well. I have no data to compare achievement of students who did written reviews as opposed to this Jeopardy approach. However, I can honestly say that the students enjoyed themselves and were engaged. This initial foray into incorporating technology into my teaching had a part in my decision taking the MET.
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