Chapter 11 Preservice

Chapter 11 Guiding Preservice teachers in developing TPCK

John Dewey’s quote, “If we teach today as we taught yesterday, then we rob our children of tomorrow,” expresses the need for change in education in order to meet the changes in society. This chapter states the need for preservice teachers to be guided towards the literacy skills to teach not only for today, but also for tomorrow. As educators, we understand the need to create educational instructions to prepare our students for the twenty-first century in order for students to be competitive in the workforce.
Preservice teachers have the same “wicked problem” as in-service teachers; most students that we teach are digital natives. It is difficult to instruction students with different technology learning experiences, as it is with diversity in learning styles.
I liked the idea of creating collaborative study groups with similar grade levels. Our courses need to be designed with this idea in mind, in order for us to plan and design instructional objectives and assessments for all the content areas that we teach. Technology then could be used as an enrichment tool that is integrated within each content area.
I have not explored real-world problems with my first graders. After incorporating a real -world problem into my unit on butterflies, I found that it would make the unit more applicable to my students. Using technology as a productive tool, and a problem-solving tool will enhance my teaching instructions and provide students with new tools to assist them in their learning. This chapter reflected on the use of technology to enhance students’ learning, which also should be used in assessing their knowledge. It has been expressed through out this book, that it is important “how” and “why” we use technology.
The quote, “learning is not a spectator sport,” applies to students and educators alike. We need the opportunity to apply and use new knowledge in order for it to become affective learning. I have found that through the last few years, that I have taught, some students would prefer to be spectators and have the teacher do the “thinking” for them. Is this another “wicked problem” we will be facing each year?
Preservice and in-service teachers face many “wicked problems” when trying to implement TPCK affectively in order to improve our teaching instructions, strategies, and assessments.