Post # 4 :Vicki Davis: The innovative teacher

First of all, in the video we watched this week, we were introduced to Vicki Davis whom is an innovative teacher that uses all types of media tools to teach and to connect her students to the world. According to her, the uses of digital technologies are important when it comes to connecting the students to the world, to the real life.  Every student can learn, but problems occur when they are asked to work only with paper and pencil. The use of different media tools diminish these problems and motivate students to learn. 

Furthermore, learning how to learn according to Miss Davis is to have the students learn how to use new softwares in order for them to be comfortable with technologies. She doesn’t explain every new term she is using because she thinks that the students should Use the Internet to look it up, therefore, she is not defining everything. Therefore, her students are more autonomous when it comes to their learning.

Moreover, the students feel a great sense of empowerment when they find out the answer or how a software works by themselves. Finally, Miss Davis encouraged her students to communicate with students from all around the world, because she thinks that like this her students experience the trends and learn about the trends with other students from various countries. It gives them new perspectives of possibility.

 

I believe that the approach Miss Davis is using is very relevant for the students. She leads her students toward autonomy in their learning and she uses their strengths and weaknesses when choosing activities. According to me, she is right when she says that students learn a lot when using technologies, nowadays this trend is ubiquitous. She is very open-minded and she sees the potential of ICTs.  I believe that the media tools help students to learn and to develop their sense of autonomy. It leads them to have empowerment and they feel a sense of achievement when they find out by themselves. It is important to create these senses of empowerment and achievement. In school and at home, empowerment can be created like Miss Davis is doing; by having the students find the solution to their problems without giving them the solution or the explanation. The students will feel their success as important and will increase their self-esteem.

Finally, ESL teacher should include the use of media tools in their teaching since it connects the students to the world. It can be done by having the students complete a webquest, work in team on wikis, play powerpoint game, etc. ICTs are an open window to the world surrounding us; therefore we need to include these in our teaching to open our students mind.