Technology Provides Efficiency, Opportunity

This morning I was thinking about the day's topic of Otzi the Iceman in my social studies class. I had everything prepared, everything set to go. However, this morning, I stumbled upon some interesting articles, some new findings about Otzi, and a website that breaks things down for kids. These three resources I felt would be very interesting for kids to read, think about, and discuss. They shed some new light on the topic of Otzi, in particular, our topic of the day which is his mysterious death and tattoos. Unfortunately, I am relegated to telling my students about the new information instead of having them sift through it themselves and make their own discoveries. This puts the teacher in the center of the learning circle, instead of what should be in the middle: the student. Sometimes in teaching, you find something that you think is good and want to use it right away. Technology, specifically having consistent access, provides students with more opportunities to learn and discover. It is a more efficient way of doing things. With tools like Symbaloo, Google Drive, and Gibbon, I could easily post the articles and have students access them immediately, at their own pace. We could talk about what they found, what they think and what it all means. I posted them to my website in hopes they explore the resources further at home.