Control (Part 2)

After reading a few other student's blogs, I think that the majority of us have very similar viewpoints to control in the classroom. As I have previously said, I believe a balance in control is a crucial aspect for teachers and students to gain respect. I found that many other students also found that through control, respect can given and recieved and a strong relationship can be built.

Shannon said something i found to be very true. She said, "The way I see it is this: students and teachers both learn through using technology, if the situations are right for learning." Integrating technology in the classroom can be very tricky. It's not necessarily something that can be determined by age, but by skill level and maturity. A teacher has many opportunities to observe her students and he/she knows what is appropriate - what technology to use, when to use it, and how much control to give. Everyone can benefit from using technology, but a teacher has to be aware at how technology can hinder learning. The teacher ultimately has the control - not only their own control, but the control to give his/her students control. I believe it's a delicate balance that requires a good, skilled & well informed teacher to know how to integrate technology and balance control in the classroom.

Control

I believe that control is a very important aspect to the classroom. Like the discussion prompt stated, one of the challenges of constructivism is giving control to students. As future teachers, we need to give our students control, while still maintaining control ourselves, in order to build a mutual respect.
Regarding control over technology in our classrooms, it is not necessarily inevitable. We can choose not to incorporate it in the classroom, however it may severely hinder students from learning skills and information necessary to future classes or jobs. If we give students full control with technology, it is likely that they will not behave properly, damage something, ect. For example, in high school I was able to use computers and the internet whenever I needed to. I was given a lot of control and freedom, but the school restricted student’s from accessing many websites. This was an indirect form of control because while the teachers weren’t sitting there telling us what to do, we knew it wasn’t appropriate go to on Facebook or other inappropriate websites during school hours.
Control in terms of importance in the classroom, like I have previously stated, builds respect. I believe this to be true because it is very similar to Choice Theory in that control is closely related to power. Younger students often resent teachers because they may be “too mean” – I find this to be they are too strict. After all, who wouldn’t want a teacher that would give them a little control, power or respect every once in a while?!