19: The Power of Learning

Recently, I had a close colleague come up to me and ask for help. Let me put this in a way easily understood, he is about 45 years older than me, has been teaching for over twenty years, and our ideas of how a classroom should be run are quite different. Needless to say, when he asked ME for MY help, I was floored. He told me that the days of his teaching style are long gone and he has decided this year he wants to make a change and he needed my help trying to do it.

On our first meeting, I walked into his room and immediately saw in the far right corner hidden under a blanket, a projector gathering dust. I grabbed it, dusted it off, and set it up into his computer. I showed him how to turn it on, use the remote and he marveled that the students could see whatever what was on his computer. Oh the possibilities! He could show movies, show word documents, show PowerPoint presentations (if he learned how to make one), and show internet sites. Mostly though, he did not have to make so many copies because the words were very legible for all students around the room when projected.

The projector was step number one in our journey and he had conquered it. With excitement in his eyes, I pulled up an example of a PowerPoint I use to introduce new vocabulary. He loved the idea of having the word and an authentic picture associated while the kids learned the new vocabulary. I then showed him Google images and how he could get pictures that the students can relate to. He was amazed! He even made a slide with a picture of his favorite beach in Virginia. I told him that now he could talk about something personal with the kids as they learn new words, since studies show how much story-telling influences memory. Not only this, students will know more about him personally and possibly begin to form a relationship with him and vice versa.

No matter whom you are or what age you are, there is always more to learn and more technology that could use experimentation. Technology allows learning to be exciting and more real for both the teacher and the student. Seeing his eyes light up made me want to go find something new that would make me feel the way he did. This was just the beginning to our journey. My colleague is now showing YouTube videos and saving many trees!