I recently attended a conference. In the first session I went to the person was enthusiastic, excited, and full of personal stories that had very little to do with the content. We got through about 1/4 of the content and then very superficially. The next session was a very methodical person who went step by step through a process and showed examples. I wonder how we are when we teach. Do we focus on content as the second person did or do we focus on being interesting & friendly as the first person? Yes, we can combine both but usually we focus more on one than the other. I spent time last year in visiting many schools and I find most teachers were trying hard to make the class exciting. They tried so hard that they spent less time on content and more on “fun and games”. One of the teachers had PowerPoints that made weird sounds and had flying things. The PowerPoint become more like a circus show than a learning environment.
How do you teach and how do you use technology to support your teaching?
One of my pet peeves with PowerPoint (don’t you love my alliteration?) is how too many people use those animation and sound effects. It TOTALLY distracts from the content of the presentation.
I always used technology when teaching. Of course, I was a computer teacher.
There is definitely a difference that I don’t think most teachers distinguish between engagement and entertainment. Too often those who recognize that students need content to be interesting mistake interesting for entertaining and too often those who are more focused on content neglect presentation. I think it is about time we adopt practices that promote students taking responsible for more of their own learning.