CH. 11

For this weeks chapter, I decided to respond to objective #4--Clarify key strategies in an effective demonstration that guides student learning with and about technology in various subject matter areas. Demonstrations are useful strategies when guiding student learning and technology. These demonstrations are usually teacher-centered and the teacher is the one who demonstrates while students assume roles of observers. Teachers can ask their students to follow their verbal instructions; this gives students hands-on work. With this type of strategy students are engaged in thinking about the demonstration and the questions that are posed throughout the demo. The four key steps in effective demonstration are the following: prepare, motivate, demo, and closure.

With these four key steps I know that step 1 requires is very critical and requires lots of effort by educators. There is a lot of preparation. In step 2, the teacher needs to physically and mentally stimulate the students. Step 3 requires observations by students and they must respond to questions that are challenging. In step 4, teachers must explain, extend and evaluate their ideas they explored during class. I know that as a teacher I will need to follow these steps and be able to successfully show smooth transitions. Another important factor with the strategies steps is to always be stimulating their thinking.

For effective demonstration, the biggest constraint is that students disengage easily and questions are very critical to reengage students. Also, this method does not provide a good strategy for introducing technology. However, teachers are told that they need to direct questions toward certain students who will support progression rather than those who have not been paying attention. To me, this seems backwards. How do you engage the students who are NOT paying attention if you are supposed to only ask questions to the ones who ARE paying attention?!