Hi-tech reality check
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- August
- 13
A teacher I know is deep into planning for the coming year. As he’s working from unit overviews to individual lesson plans, he’s thinking about using the new technologies. And at one level he’s excited and at another level he’s freaked out.
We’re not talking PowerPoint here, but blogs, Websites and wikis … there are even teachers trying to turn MySpace.com to productive use (adult definition).
Given the number press releases on this subject that are flooding my email, this has got to be overwhelming educators and parents right now.
I’m overwhelmed by all the new technologies and gadgets, and by the experts who promise to show everyone how to use them to instantly impart knowledge and make all students eager to learn.
I can see that technologies can be serious teaching tools. Reporter Leah Rae wrote about one teacher having great “success with iPods.”:http://thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060531/NEWS08/605310320
I even see how they could be useful superficially—catching kids’ attention so that you can sneak in some instruction.
I can also see that figuring out how to capitalize on it all could be daunting.
And the pressure’s on. According to a new Roper poll commissioned by the national PTA, parents are obsessing about their children’s techo-savvy (essential to success and happiness in life); and they think it’s the job of the schools to train the kids.
You can read a summary of the poll’s findings on the national PTA “website.”:http://www.pta.org/ne_press_release_detail_1155163596953.html
This entry was posted
on Sunday, August 13th, 2006 at 6:50 pm by Lanning Taliaferro.
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What happened to books? you know those square things made from trees? Those things you can open when there’s a power failure or the phone lines are down? What then? What I dont agree with is some teachers are requiring the info comes from the net. Yes it is easier than going to the Library. Yes. But there’s something to be said about being able to rifle through some pages and finding information and a cool picture. I heard an ad on the radio yesterday. A child did a book report on solar system and he told basically how he scanned/printed etc… I was lucky if i was allowed/able to photocopy a picture. what happened to drawing the pictures? or cutting them from a magazine? show something thats you did. yes does it take talent to put together a powerpoint etc yes. absolutely, but what happens when not everyone has powerpoint. I would like to see more individual effort put back in teaching. Sorry Computers are the easy way out. Calculaters allowed in tests now?! unbelievable.
ok steps down from soapbox but leaves out
I have to disagree with Steve—computers onlly seem bad when they’re viewed as simple, fast, or easy. In the end, though, there’s such an onslaught of information (not to mention advertising) coming to a web-user that it takes a certain technique to find what you need. For a fourth-grader, the level of quality between an internet-copied and a library-researched presentation is small. As students approach college, they’ll learn (or their teacher should make them learn!) the values of a library.
But even if we view powerpoints and calculators as simple, fast, and easy, they’re great because today’s child is evolving in a more tech-savvy way. They master the wiki in seconds, which allows the teacher to go deeper into the subject, because the new technology fosters discussion, opens students’ eyes to more illustrations of the lesson, and saves precious, precious classroom time (remember how much time we wasted in grammar school figuring out what our homework was?)
Steve’s point is a good one, but the argument in favor of technology is a better one. After all, demeaning as it may seem, it makes sense catering to youths’ interests: whatever gets the word across.
back on the soap box
Point Takin Intern 4. So here’s one for you, why take spelling if the computer will correct it for me? ;-]
All things should be learned in moderation. The problem is the more things are done for us , the more things are forgotten. I have lived in both worlds the Non-Tech and the Tech. I am a computer programmer, but i was the son of a carpenter. he wanted me to go to school. I wanted to learn to build a house. Now here i am a computer person still wanting to be able to build a house the way he could. computers make things more complicated. ever go to grocery store? and the scanner breaks or there’s no price? Well when I was young there were typewriters and cash registers with numbers and buttons. the cashiers had to know most of the prices. If something didnt scan they typed in price and on your way you went. oh and then there’s counting change.
The answer is everything in moderation, but one must learn and use the non tech way.
I dont want to be around when the need for books disappears. That will truly be a sad day. For everyone will be wired like in necromancer and then the world can truly get hacked.
That’s also a good point, about the spelling, in this fascinating topic. I think it’s that very moderation that explains why computers will never completely eliminate books—this generation is still enthused with the breaking of technological barriers, but four decades from now those complications you justly cite may lead people back to a more humanistic pragmatism. That’s my hope anyway, as I cannot imagine having to read Hemingway on a scrolling screen, an injustice to my eyes and to the essence of art.
I call a truce, in hopes that the rise of technology will lead to an improvement in our spelling, and not the immediate opposite.
I don’t think the issue is computers versus books. I think the issue is literacy. I mean literacy in the broader sense of being conversant in area or topic.
To that end, I believe the web offers opportunities for reading and responding, like in this (or any blog). The educational opportunities in this kind of situation are, I believe, extraordinary. I offer a link here to a posting on my blog about this issue: http://gman.edublogs.org/?p=6
I certainly plan to make use of this type of experience in my middle school science classroom this year. I will keep updating the blog with what’s working and not working.