Teachers do not need to be experts

This week my students got to play with and learn a new website (for me too) for making animations called Doink.com. I created a class account and gave each maths group a problem to solve (linked to our learning) but they had to show their strategy. Although most animations are still to fast, most students have begun to become proficient with the site, more so than me. Next week I'll make the problems more difficult, varied and again differentiated according to their levels. The students are engaged while having to really think about the strategy they are showing, and this could be used as a resource to teach other students. The students embedded them on our wiki here but below is an example. Although even in Term 4 not all my students have mastered embedding, they know not to ask me but to find a peer tutor to assist them. This is not because I am mean, but they know that they have experts among them and are expected to use them; they have grown to appreciate their own abilities and each others skills.


The lesson here is that teachers do not need to be experts with every bit of technology, give that power to your students and focus on being the guide of the real learning.


Macane's_place Value by BRSroom13, made at DoInk.com