Teaching Naked

After reading the essay by Paul Fyfe I feel that I have to agree that the ability to be able to teach naked only adds to the teacher’s arsenal of teaching tools. When understanding how to reach the learners imagination the teacher will be more able to effectively teach the learner.

What does teaching naked mean? I think it means to have the ability to teach without the necessity to rely on the digital and rather use the tech as an add-on and use it to compliment the lesson. As the essay explains to go back to an old way of teaching and to combine it with the new ways and end up with an improved digital pedagogy.

From my own personal experience many teachers have still not been able to successfully mix the digital and non-digital tools. I am reminded of this fact every time I sit through a lecture where the lecturer scrolls through a word document on the projector while reading directly from it or I am shown a PowerPoint with a million bullets and whole textbooks worth of text on one slide. As a PGCE student every time I see this I try and think of ways how I myself might have done it better and I have to admit that’s it’s not as I initially thought.

“What if instead we kept the “digital” in the non-electronic senses of that word: something to get your hands on, to deal with in dynamic units, to manipulate creatively”

A example of this is the IVANHOE game (Ivanhoe.scholarslab.org/about) developed by Mcgann and Johanna Drucker. The game asks players to take an active role in studying the text and then rewriting it. This is a great example to get learners involved and excited a work peace.

The essay also mentions that pulling the plug completely, this approach can work as great way to go back to basics and then to relearn by adding bits of digital technology to your lesson. The most of today’s learners have access to cell phones, tablets, computers and use these to access the internet and the internet has everything and exciting ways to learn them. Youtube is a great example of this, all you have to do is point your browser to Youtube and search for something you want to learn whether it’s for school or just a hobby and just the amount of fun and interesting ways you’ll find to learn is staggering.

 To me the solution seems simple. Teachers, soon myself included, have to take a step back and ask the learners if they are bored with the work, ask the learners for suggestions on ways to improve and consider their opinions, they know what they find boring and what excites them. The key here is communication.

What stands out for me from this essay is the long road that lies ahead of me to improve my own teaching skills and add to my toolbox.