A project for Education Technologies 2014 Teacher interview A project for Education Technologies 2014

Background information I chose to interview one of my high school English teachers, Karen Marvich. She teaches at East Ridge High School in Lake County. This will be her 20th year teaching and her 11th year at East Ride. Currently, she teaches English II and English II Honors to 10th graders and Journalism 1 through 8 to students in grades 9 through 12.

Typical day in the classroom When asked how a standard day in her class goes, Mrs. Marvich responded by saying “Right now, a typical day in the classroom would revolve around starting with a bell ringer that is less than five minutes and relates to the topic of the class that day. Afterwards, my discussion of the concept we are learning (symbolism, irony, rhetoric, etc.). Following that, we read something with are concept in it and then discuss it. Right now we are reading ‘Antigone’ and writing argumentative essays as to whether or not Antigone, the main character, is guilty of crimes against the government.”

Technology in the classroom Mrs. Marvich’s answer to this question surprised me. I took her class 3 years ago and the technology we used wasn’t nearly as diverse as it is for her current students. She told me “All of my Power Points, vocabulary lists, and assignments are accessible online on my website. We use movie maker programs for trailers and presentations. Students make videos and newscasts for their projects. We use the basics of PowerPoint and other presentation programs. We also use online surveys and test programs with clickers to immediately score tests. Technology is used often in my class, and yet, I still wish it was used more”.

Positive experiences with technology Mrs. Marvich reported that “Any project with technology involved sparks the interest of students. Most students are hands on learners these days and need to be in the middle of the action to really get it. They love the modern day Oedipus movie project!”. For this project, students write a modern version of the Oedipus Plays and then they video tape themselves acting out their play. The whole class then watches the plays on the overhead projector.

Difficulties in using technology Like a lot of schools, East Ridge doesn’t have the resources to provide every student with technologies such as laptops or tablets. This is one of the Mrs. Marvich’s biggest issues with using technology. “If you are expecting everyone to bring their own technology, you’re crazy because not everyone has it”, she remarked. She went on to explain that “sometimes the wireless network doesn’t work so you have to connect through the internet cord and today [she] couldn’t get the overhead projector to work to show the students a rubric that their essay grades would be based off of”.