We’re living in a world where technology refuses to be
ignored. As I sit down to write this post in my living room on my two-in-one
tablet laptop, my phone sits on the television tray directly next to my computer,
just within my left-handed reach and blinking at me with a new text message. In
this room there are four computers: our media center, and “main PC” which is
connected to our printer, my work laptop, the two-in-one device listed
previously, and my old laptop. Currently four game consoles, of old and new,
live beneath my television.
I recall a time in elementary school when I was told that
spellcheck wouldn’t always be around. I was editing a paper, what the paper was
about I can’t recall, but I remember sitting there in the ancient computer lab
(even then, the “new” computers were mixed in with old Mac computers, the ones
you may or may not recall playing “Oregon Trial” on), hitting the “F7” key to
check for spelling mistakes and using “Shift + F7” to open the thesaurus. I
remember thinking, “I disagree” (probably in a less kind and less elegant way).
Now it is 2015 and every device at our fingertips has some sort of spellcheck.
Students (and professionals) can simply “Google” a term and the wise search
engine can usually figure out what you mean, correct you, and locate various
definitions of your term from different sources. (Note: So far I have received one
email and three text messages on the phone sitting next to me.) Sure,
spellcheck can’t always find the grammar mistakes. It can’t tell if you meant
to use there, their, or they’re. It can’t figure out that my name is
in fact not misspelled without re-programming the spellcheck function, and it
certainly didn’t help me improve my spelling skills (read: lack of), but nonetheless
spellcheck is always available to us in some form or another.
I chose to talk about this today for a few reasons: first of
all, to dissuade us, as future teachers, from being those teachers who tell the students “that won’t always be around”, because honestly, it probably will
be and it will most likely continue to get more accurate and more advanced. Second,
how do we deal with the constant interruptions of technology, specifically in
our classrooms? (Note: I have two more new text messages) Finally, or rather
most importantly, how can we embrace technology in our classrooms? What new
(and old) tools can we use to help our students become more engaged in the
classroom? Think about it: I had spellcheck in elementary school; our students
had iPods, smart phones, and SmartBoards (the latter of which is now considered
outdated technology). (Note: another text message has arrived. It’s not even
8:00 AM people, why aren’t you sleeping?)
I’m constantly asking: “How do you deal with that?” To which
the answer seems to be something along the lines of the advice of the wise: “pick
your battles”. Not to bring on the implications of teachers as commanders but more
or less to ask: Is it really worth upsetting a student, causing them to shut
down and detach themselves from the lesson, because you asked them (for the
third time this week) to remove their carefully arranged, hidden from plain
sight, earbud? Is it really worth calling out the two girls near the front of
the room who, in between tasks, check their phones at least twelve times per
class period? They are doing the work and even sometimes answering the
questions out loud. This is for us to decide in our own classrooms and it is
something that I am still struggling with. Consider it food for thought.
What I am most interested in, is how to utilize technology in
the classroom to get students more engaged. I have been in classes and even educational
conferences where “tweeting” is encouraged as means of discussion. In my
placement, the students used “Goodreads” over the summer to engage with one
another about their summer reading and to assist them with their reports. Obviously
we are blogging about our experiences in place of hand written journals. Isn’t
this literacy?
I am very interested to hear what you think and I will be
posting a follow-up as this is something that I am continuously contemplating
while thinking about the mechanics of my own classroom. (Note: For those of you wondering, my total tallied up to two emails and nine text messages throughout the composition of this post.)
Sincerely,
Ms. (Holli) Dawson
I enjoyed your post. We kind of touched on similar things in our posts this week. I had been contemplating doing a post on cheating (which is what I ultimately went with, but also with an emphasis on technology) for a few weeks now. The questions you pose are tough ones. I once had a family member ask me how the use of phones were in placements. I was honest and told them the students usually have them out on their desks. This family member (of an older generation) felt that the schools should just ban the phones.
ReplyDeleteAt the time, I kind of agreed with them. But I have seen them utilized so much in my placement this semester, that I would have to disagree now. We need technology in our classroom. It is the future and it isn't going away. In the case of using school issue laptops, there have been many circumstances this semester where the laptops had not been charged properly and they were useless to the students. Ten years ago (maybe less?), this would have ruined the entire class period. The students would not have been able to complete the assignment, the instructor would have been frustrated, and ultimately a change in the the instruction would have to have been made.
But that wasn't the case this past week when the laptops were not working, because the students had their cell phones. Immediately they were on the internet and looking up what they needed to know for their poetry assignments. I think that in the classroom, we have to have a medium. I think students should be allowed to have their phones on them, but they should be stored away until a time when they are needed.
Even though they are useful, they still can be a distraction. If a student has earbuds in and is listening to music instead of the instruction, I feel they are probably not receiving the information to their fullest benefit. We should not hinder the students from using their technology when the appropriate time calls for it, they should be allowed to have it on their person, but their should be limitations of use. I think we are always going to need that. But I do think their are some people out there who need to accept that technology is the future and not using it in their instruction and especially not allowing students to utilize it may be hurting the students more than it is benefiting them.
Thank you for your response!
ReplyDeleteTechnology and cheating are definitely easily intertwined: everything is on the internet. This is similar to what we were discussing last week, students are tweeting book endings left and right and while the information could easily be googled (and a spoiler is not necessarily the same thing as cheating), applications like social media are more direct and in your face about it.
There is a part of me that wants to completely ban cell phones from the classroom as well. I've seen (via Facebook) those posts and photos with a shoe holder full student cell phones which serves as the "attendance log" and I don't know what to think. Maybe on test days?
The students in my classroom also use their phones for research and to look up definitions for their vocab charts and when this happens, they seem to be very much on task. If you think about the way we do things, our first instinct is to pull out our phones and look something up from the name of that actor we can't remember to how to spell a word correctly.
Ultimately, I think that there is no "one size fits all" answer. It will always depend on the day, the class, and the tasks assigned to the class for that day.
Did you have any ideas about utilizing technology in your own classroom?
- Ms. (Holli) Dawson
Holli,
ReplyDeleteI love that you chose this topic; it's so relevant in today's classroom. I also love that you advise teachers to pick their battles.
I've heard of teachers using twitter to incite discussion outside of class by using a class hashtag. This sounds like so much fun!
I want to help my own students explore how to use technology in my classroom. They seem unsure of how to use it let alone how to use it effectively. I want my students to be assigned multiple media projects that engages their creativity.
-Miss Bryan
I love the idea of multiple media projects and completely agree with finding ways to use technology in our classrooms to develop these projects! I can't wait to see what you come up with. I have a feeling we will be collaborating in the near future.
DeleteThank you for your response, Miss Bryan
Ms. Dawson,
ReplyDeleteI love your attitude about this. I have worked with multiple teachers that choose to be sticklers about cell phones in the classroom. Honestly, I feel the constant correction of behavior is more distracting than allowing a student to use his/her cell phone.
With that being said, I do believe moderation is necessary. I identified with your examples of the boy with earbuds and the girls checking their cellphones constantly. I feel I will be the teacher that would allow the girls to check their phones between classroom activities and I would allow the boy to listen to music as long as he turns it off while I am giving instruction.
Granted, all of these things are hard to monitor. However, I have also worked with teachers that have great solutions to the cell phone issue. For example, in a block schedule classroom, I worked with a teacher that would allow her students a 10 minute cell phone/talk break if they worked diligently for the first half of class and after they earned their break it was understood if they didn't work well for the remainder of the class period they would lose their break for the next week. I found this very effective.
Personally, I have found this awesome UNICEF app that donates water to a third world country in need for every 30 minutes that a cell phone is left untouched. I think this would be a fun and informational way to discourage cell phones in the classroom. You could even turn it in to a friendly competition of something!
You make a great point in this post. Technology is a vital part of our society and I believe we as teachers should be finding effective and educational ways to implement it in the classroom rather than continue to further distraction by constantly nagging our students.
Thank you for sharing, Holli!
--Ms. Loyd
Ms. Loyd,
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic idea! I had never heard of that UNICEF app before you mentioned it! I'll have to look into it.
Thank you for your response! I think that I may very well try the "phone break" in my own class if the environment will allow for it.
I'm excited to see what technology will be available to us as teachers and to our students for our classrooms.