TPACK Survival Kit- Week 5



TPACK Survival Kit

TPACK is something that every teacher must deal with and balance on a every day basis. TPACK stands for Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge. All three components need to work together for the students to get all that they need out of a lesson.

But when we do introduce any new  technology or tools into the classroom, we need to remember that all children are different and they will all respond differently to new tools in the classroom. When introducing new tools into the classroom a teacher should ask these basic questions to measure how effective this will be to her and her students.

1. Will this make understanding this lesson easier or more interesting with this tool?
2.  Does this tool have any accommodations for those students who need them such as; reading out loud or large print?
3. Will this tool be more of a frustration than helpful to the students? 

With all these questions in mind, it will help teachers make sure they have the best intentions of the students in mind always. Aside from that there are still positive and negative outcomes of introducing new tools. One positive thing that can come out of new technology is the children gaining the abailty to be adaptable to new situations and their ability to figure new things out quickly. One negative outcome that can arise from new tools is how children can become discouraged from not understanding.

Since TPACK is such a complex concept I still do have a few questions. One question is what can I do if I am focusing on two out of the three but my students are enjoying and understanding the material, do I have to change my style? Another question might be, is any of the three more important than the other?

For the first question, I think I would have to try to introduce new things from the knowledge I left out and see how the children react to it. If they react okay to it then I should slowly introduce more, but if they react poorly, then I should back off a little bit.

For the second question, I think that all three of the knowledge areas are equally as important, because without one the other two will weaken. All three are like a balancing act, they all have to be equal to function properly.