Confidence & Clarity When Teaching Technology Tools

[Julia Loving]

"The most effective teacher will always be biased, for the chief force in teaching is confidence and enthusiasm.
Joyce Cary

When you enter any classroom you should have not only a confidence about yourself personally but also confidence about the content area you are about to teach. That is not saying you should know absolutely everything about the topic but it is saying you are comfortable enough to present the content to anyone one on any level in an effective way. In order to have this level of confidence you must have a clarity about the content yourself. In order to teach a content area such as technology you definitely have to be clear in your teaching and possibly demonstrate step by step. It is also important to allow the student have time to be a conscious user of the tool after the demonstration. I guess my perspective comes from being a librarians. Librarians always try to make research and access to research tools as "user friendly" as possible. I personally do not work well in library classroom setting were there is chaos due to the lack of effective instruction. Instead, I love to see students learn and become confident user themselves of the technology. Students with one more bar of knowledge on their belts means I was successful!

[Felicia]

But isn't there room for exploration and for just "mucking about?" I think it's possible for teachers to learn along with their students. I guess for me the confidence is in knowing that you can figure new things out.

[Sonali]

Thanks for sharing this interesting blog post. believe that all teachers are biased and should openly discuss their opinion at the appropriate time (perhaps after students have begun to form their own opinion based on various points of view). However, I don't agree with the quote by Joyce Cary. There are many biased teachers who lack confidence and enthusiasm. Have to "put down my cursor!" Bye.