Leveraging Technology to Enhance Teaching

Accomplishments have a way of giving us joy and satisfaction that's beyond mere explanation, and everyone of us strives to achieve more and more as the day goes by, and when we cross a milestone, it gives us a sense of fulfillment and hunger to chase and achieve more. Personally, for me, looking back through the year 2024, it felt as though I haven't achieved anything, and it took me hours to come to the realization that not counting our blessings and achievements most times can make one seem like an ingrate.

I was probably in that state because, like the prologue of this prompt said, most of us were taught to stay humble and not boast of our achievements; that probably got to my head to the point where I just crossed a milestone without having much enthusiasm about taking note of it, but then, in respect to responding to this prompt, I had to critically examine my ordeal through the years, and although I came to realize I've accomplished a lot that I'm proud of, one I felt proud about the most was regarding my profession and the massive result yeilded from this accomplishment, and so without further ado, let me take you through it.

So many of you probably already know that I'm a teacher by profession at a high school, and being a teacher in this part of the world literally already as a tradition of how lessons are taught, although I'm not pleased by this system and felt something needed to be done to make students understand subjects better, but unfortunately nothing in the system seems to favor an innovation in that direction. What I'm saying in essence is that most topics down here are mainly based on theory and mouth-say without any form of practical to aid perfect understanding.

An example of such was my days at the university when I studied computer science. You won't believe throughout my years in college, we never for once went to the lab for practical; instead, we're orally taught programming, software, and the like. It's that worst. The same is the case with my friend who studied human kinetics, and while they were teaching them about swimming, the lecturer literally taught them how to swim with his mouths without talking them to a swimming pool for better understanding and practice.

In a nutshell, I wanted to make a difference in my style of teaching, and after trying diverse means to help the students, everything seems abortive because I'm not allowed to take students to the laboratory for practicals on how to use the system and the like, because the school management believes students will damage the computer if they're allowed in the lab, although via my oral explanation, 40% of my class still shows signs of understanding, but I wasn't pleased, so I signed up for a particular training hosted by elite teachers in my country, and that's when everything changes.

At that training, I was taught how to sort for cheaper alternative tools that we can use to enhance our teachings; they also suggested some to us, and via that, I learned a lot. After the program, I critically examined the best way forward and tools I can use to aid my teachings for better understanding, so I opted for leveraging simple technological tools that can make a difference, and so I set out to work and concluded on what I'll need.

I realized I need a projector, a speaker, and some animation videos to illustrate some of what I'm explaining, as I've come to learn that students are more attracted to the screen, practical, and the like than meer oral explanation, so I purchased a speaker, learned how to create animation videos, and used it to generate a storyline that explains the topic better to the students. Although I couldn't afford the projector because it was too expensive, I did rent from someone each time I needed to indulge my students in practical class.

Since I started doing this, I realized there has been a massive improvement in the performance of my students; in fact, over 90% of them now thrive in my subject and usually look forward to having me in their class. The utilization of these simple tools has aided my job delivery, made me a better teacher, and improved the performance of my students, and I can't help but hope all teachers take this step too because, at the end of the day, the students we all thought weren't brilliant were actually good but weren't taught with the right tool that'll simulate their assimilation.

In my opinion, this is by far my greatest accomplishment this year, and I can't wait for the new school session to kick off so I can once again use it to make my teaching more efficient. I mean, since using this, I've come to realize I don't have to drain myself on prolonged explanations; with a simple explanation and then a video backing to illustrate what I'm saying being projected by the projector, my work has become much easier and has made students not want me to leave after my period and even look forward to the next time I'll be coming.

I'm grateful for other achievements and hold them in high esteem, but I'm far more pleased with this and hope to acquire my personal projector and other tools that'll make this easier for me going forward. That's about it for today. I hope you enjoyed the read. This is an entry for the Neoxian prompt, and you can click on this link to read the info and participate as well.

First photo was taken on canva, while the second image belongs to me.