Hi @ all,
in today’s blog task I am supposed to have a look in the “Schulprogramm” of my former grammar school in order to find out about its intended use of the new media in class. Since that school, the Elsterschloss Gymnasium, is located in eastern Germany I have no access right to the paper at full length right now. However, I looked it up on their website, where I found a short form of it. What stroke me first, there is not a single entry dealing with the New Media. So I used the search engine searching for “Computer”, “neue Medien”, “Internet” in the document, but again and again – no results. It is incredible that a school taking care of 1200 pupils does not give a toss on teaching the new media or at least haven’t it included as a central issue in their “Schulprogramm”. Even the homepage of the school offers no information about the use of computers in the classrooms. Of course there are certain courses in computer sciences. However, this is not what I run for.
So I try to remember the time when I used to go to school. Personally, I feel that there was not much use of the new media in our classes. Not in math, not in history, not in biology, not in sports – not at all? … No stop it, of course there was! During our EFL (English as a foreign language) classes we used to go to the computer lab once a moth and got a simple task. For instance, find out about medically assisted suicide on that and that website. However, that seemed to be rather a convulsive effort to imply the new media. I remember that most of the people checked their mails or visited other websites – I mean they were easily distracted by a computer having access to the internet and used the class in the lab as a timeout. (I do not want to exclude me in doing so…)
All in all my former school did (and probably does) not even try to involve the media and if some teachers tried, they failed. Don’t know whose blame that is. Maybe the headmaster does not urge the teachers enough to do so or the teachers have never attended a training of how to do so. So first I want to appreciate that the new media in foreign language education are offered at university and even are a firm issue of our teacher’s degree. Because to my mind the new media are a good basis for an eventful language learning on the one hand. Furthermore, since the new media gather a greater influence on the everyday life of the children and youths it is worth having a closer look on them. Therefore, it is a shame that the Elsterschloss has not included those in their curriculum. Anyhow, actually, I must respect the fact that my former English teacher tried to imply the new media. She had no idea how but at least the motivation to do it. Hopefully, I am going to have her motivation once. A good teaching unit with the new media should work then.
p.s. have a look on the website of the school:
Hey Thomas,
I can understand your anger about not having found any clue about the use of new media at your old grammar school. I agree with you that this is probably due to a lack of further teacher training or the headmaster’s ignorance – maybe he does not even see the importance of teaching new media to today’s students?
But I am sure that in the near future no school will be able to ge around using new media. At some point they all will have to – and maybe you could go back to your old school as a teacher and introduce the “media of the new millenium”?
Best Wishes
Marina
Comment by mboonyaprasop — December 10, 2008 @ 9:27 am
Hi Philipp!
When I was reading your entry I thought as if I was reading mine because it is the same scenario with my old grammar school: not any information about any term concerning media.
So you see, ou are not the only one who went to a school where new media did not play any role at all
Cihan
Comment by yesilmencihan — December 10, 2008 @ 9:30 am
Hi Thomas,
I feel really sorry that your school doesn’t show any efforts of including the New Media. I can totally agree about the situation in the computer lab once a month. We also had those lessons and used it to do several things on the internet, except fulfilling the task
Nevertheless, I also agree that students should get in touch with New Media in school to become media competent.
I think you did a really good job although there was not much information given in the Schulprogramm of your old grammar school.
Comment by tanjawalgenbach — December 10, 2008 @ 9:32 am