Reflection #7

WHAT: I was observing in an elementary classroom at Lakeview Elementary and for the first time I watched first hand the use of microphones in the classroom. The teacher was wearing a special one around her neck and then there was a more traditional looking one at the front of the classroom for students to come up and use when they were presenting their poems to the class.

SO WHAT: I thought that this was very weird at first and I did not like it at all. It seemed weird to hear voices coming through a speaker when you are in a small classroom. But I realized it helps the students be heard when they are presenting and it also prevents the teacher from loosing her voice or even having to raise her voice. It seems as though the teacher is able to hold so much more authority in her voice because of the microphone.

NOW WHAT: The more I visit schools, the more I see these microphones. I believe that microphones in the classroom are going to become very common. I have talked to a few teachers about them, and they love them for the very reason that they don't lose their voice by the end of the day (which seems to happen a lot at the elementary level). The only fear I have in the wide use of this, is that I don't think teachers and students should get used to always speaking into a microphone. Students need to learn how to speak up and use their "presenter" voice. We can't rely on technology to do the work for us and make things easier all the time.