So, you are moving to a student-centered classroom! Congratulations! This is an enormous step of which I took my last year in the music classroom. For a week or two, I was so afraid of every corner turned as I had no idea what would transpire. I quickly discovered a few things that needed to be taught without the devices in hand:
1) How to answer a question without asking the teacher to do it for you
2) How to research using a book
3) How to write search statements based upon questions given to them
4) Make students comfortable with finding a different answer than their neighbor
Hands down, technology is a help tool. It is NOT the answer to all of our problems. Technology offers a new way for students to grow! The technology tool cannot be successful if students do not know how to research given a question about a topic they have never studied.
As a class we found success, once I stopped to teach them how to develop a search statement for the web browser. Additionally, we discovered that not all individuals will find similar answers. Creativity and ingenuity come into play here. It is "OK" for students to write information in their own personal style.
When I was in school, projects were in the hallways only if they met the standard. This led to 20 projects looking exactly the same. Once students realized that their projects did not have to be exactly the same, they soared!
To develop thinkers and technology users we must encourage:
1) Individuality
2) Creativity
3) Good Research and Writing Skills
Just remember, though, that technology does not create these skills!
We as teachers must introduce and develop these skills with or without technology.
