Rachel Robinson
SAMR
I will be using the SAMR model because I believe it will help me reach a higher level of student comprehension and technological implementation.
SAMR is a student-centered model in that the focus of this type of arrangement is to help the student understand the material in a specific lesson using transformative means.
Sure, I can use an app like Shakespeare that is simply an electronic copy of the works of Shakespeare, but that would simply be a Substitution.
However, if I choose to use the app Shakespeare in Bits, students can break the works into bite-sized portions for them, look up the meanings of words in modern langugage, make notes in the margins of their readings, and quiz themselves of the content of the plays. This takes our students into the Modification portion of the SAMR model.
Obviously, I would want to design my own lessons impleminting SAMR, but as for now I can rely on very smart app designers.
BYOD is a great mode of technological enrichment for high schoolers nowadays. Most kids in school have smartphones, tablets, personal laptops, or a combination of these, which allows them the very neat opportunity to use these for educational purposes.
A few months ago, during October, there was a funny late night show sketch involving Doc Brown and Marty McFly from Back to the Future. They had, indeed, finally traveled to the year 2015. In this sketch, Doc Brown, seeing an iPhone for the first time, said something to the effect of, "That's just a tiny super computer! That must be what scientists and mathematicians do their most complex calculations on now!" Jimmy Kimmel, laughing, responded by saying, "No, we usually just watch videos on the toilet with these."
I want to give my kids the opportunity to use their intellect, expand their knowledge, and dig deep by using all this wonderful technology they already have.
