Ebjournal Revisited.

Won’t Someone Please Think of the Children!?!?! THE CHILDREN!!!

(Well, that was a little over the top.  Let’s try to stay focused, on message, shall we?)

(P.S. Stuck, stop reading now. Truuuuuuuust me.)

Staid, rock-steady, impermeable.  When I think of the education system, I sometimes (90% of the time) worry that its traditions are what is keeping it from succeeding. Veteran teachers often refer to teaching as a cycle, or a pendulum, where basically the same ideas are bandied about and whoever is in control (textbook companies, presidents, evil IRA  leaders) have the power to shift the curriculum to reflect their beliefs and pocketbooks. “Don’t like whole language? Don’t worry, phonics will be back soon enough.” In the last ten years, there has been some attempt towards balanced literacy, where multiple approaches are integrated into teaching reading and writing. Research is making its way into the classroom more as well. The National Institute of Health’s National Reading Panel, published in 1999, was a serious attempt by the government to look at what helps children learn to read. Based on evidence from research, it made some really great recommendations on how to get students to learn. Desafortunamente, it also lead to the No Child Left Behind Act. This mandate has lead to a more strict curriculum that doesn’t allow for nearly as much creativity and freedom of thought that most of the research says children need in order to flourish. The idea of systemic and explict instruction in reading development is important; most of the research points to that as an effective means of teaching children anything. Where NCLB and publishing companies miss is that they think everything has to be regimented and assessed in the same way. Too many teachers are staying to the prescribed curriculum, using pencil and paper, and not exploring other means of education.

Oh yes, I’m talking about technology. I consider the current district I’m teaching in to be fairly advanced in technology for the area. This means I have 3 computers in my room, two of which connect to the Internet. We have a very nice lab that we get to see for 60 minutes a week. But we are still treating computers like a novelty, like we did when I was coming up through the education system 20 years ago. Technology needs to be a tool, not a reward. On top of this, the computer incentive isn’t what it once was. Students aren’t nearly as motivated to do the same static games and projects on the computer that they once were because a large portion of them (in my middle-class district) have access to these same things at home or at the library, and have already been doing them for the last few years. In other words, we are not using technology that is readily available to its fullest potential, and it’s starting to drive me a little crazy.

So, where are we? Computers aren’t being used to their potential and students aren’t being taught new ways to learn about reading and writing. Kind of a depressing landscape. Until I started thinking about it.

Just because the teachers aren’t using technology doesn’t mean the students aren’t. MySpace is a great way for students to interact with each other, and allows their voice to be heard. (Naturally I mean for older students…I shudder to think of my kids looking at even 5% of what’s on MySpace pages) Even more importantly is how students’ voices are starting to be heard on the Internet. I was searching for the sequel to Eragon on Amazon the other day and came across the comments for the second book, Eldest. Not only did the commenters pan it, but it turns out that most of the critics were between 10 and 15 years of age. Verbose, intelligent 10-15 year olds who pretty much nailed the contents of the book. I would have loved that kind of forum as a student that age growing up, and probably would have even done that assignment willingly. (Note to Mrs. Zigzag– how about having kids acutally post reviews of books to places like Amazon? Feasible?) I realized that students are finding ways to communicate about their learning (both social and academic) that teachers are completely missing in their digital-alien/migrant mindset. What a powerful way to have your voice heard! It made me renew my determination to get technology into the classroom more. To be fair, I don’t think that I’ll be able to get students to write scathing rejoinders about The Cat in the Hat, but they will be able to do more blogging now than we currently are (we’ve got a whopping three posts and ten comments for the school year).

Next Tuesday (pending jury duty…), I will be attending a seminar on podcasting and blogging in the classroom. It’s being offered by the district, and makes me oh-so-happy to see that they’re finally moving towards more 2.0 ideas. Information literacy is here to stay, my friends. It’s time for teachers to start catching up and help students realize the potential. I hope that this is a sign that the district is going to realize how powerful a tool technology can be for the future. Teachers need to use the tools out there to help students become tech-saavy, instead of waiting to say no because it doesn’t fit into prescribed curricula. The students won’t wait for us, and it would be a shame for them to learn this stuff without us!

(On a side, side, side note, I am also putting together a class to teach this summer on information literacy. Using computers, I want students to be able to evaluate Web content, learn flexible searching strategies, and actually realize that the Internet is not the Gospel according to MySpace. Suggestions welcome on what I should cover for students learning to safely use the Internet!)

RSS Trackback URL 9. January 2007 (07:13)
Filed under: General, School Daze, In the Reflecting Pool