Technology Challenges

I think that technology can be used in the classroom but you shouldn’t have any huge expectations for students outside the classroom. I can see you requiring the students to type a paper or do a chart outside class because students are able, assuming that parents OK it, to stay after school a little bit and work in the computer lab, or library. This way students can write their papers and do their charts. But, personally, I don’t think that you should assign something like a PowerPoint presentation to students unless you are going to give them enough class time to get it done because there are those students that don’t have access to a computer outside of school (believe it or not).

I don’t think you would be doing them a disservice. It also depends on what you consider technology. Are you talking about just computers and things like that or are you referring to overhead projectors? Because I remember being in school and until I was in high school we never had technology other from overhead projectors in our classrooms. And, personally, I think that I learned a lot and turned out pretty good. I think that people are so focused on trying to make things cool and appealing to students that they forget that most kids don’t even know what an overhead projector is because they all have the projectors that hook up to their teacher’s computer. “Retro” things are cool to kids and by using them in the classroom the kids might just pay attention more.

Another good example is using record players in the classroom. If you are talking about the 70s and you want to play some of the Beetles music, you could bring in their records and play them on a record player. You could be authentic. I understand that those things are expensive if you don’t already have them but by doing that you could talk about the Beetles and the record player. You could talk about how it works and why it was the best thing they had back in those days…it would be exciting to kids.

To make sure that my disadvantaged students have access to computers I will make sure that they know how long the library and computer lab is open. Or, if the hours of those places are inconvenient for that child I will be willing to stay late, or come early, so that the student will be able to access the technology needed and for the proper amount of time to get their project done…everyone deserves an equal chance.

Cell Phones in the Classroom!?

My original opinion is to keep cell phones out of the classroom. And, even after reading these articles I still believe that it is the best way. I understand where people are coming from when they say that cell phones can be used in the classroom. For example like it said in the article Should cell phones be banned from classrooms? “[schools] are overlooking that many secondary students already own a technology tool that can be integral not only in school learning, but in the students’ future professional lives.” But at the same time there are so many other things that students could be doing on their cell phones when they are in class. They could be texting, surfing the web (if they have internet on their phone) or even listening to music. It’s like bringing a laptop to school, unless you are behind the student the whole time how do you know that they are typing notes the whole time and not surfing the web?
The cell phone policy in my classroom will be that there are no cell phones allowed in my room. Even if there is an emergency with the student’s family they should be calling the school to get a hold of their child, not the child’s cell phone. And chances are that the student will have their phone in their pocket anyway so if they get a call about an emergency they’ll leave and take the call. I know that students will still be bringing their phones into my classroom, just like we all did or do now and I’m sure that there will be texting and whatnot happening while I am teaching, but there will be consequences. The student will have to give me their phone and I will confiscate it for the rest of the day. If the problem becomes reoccurring then I will have to get in contact with their parents and discuss how to solve this problem. I might just have to have a “cell phone box” in my classroom. This box will be sitting in my room and when the students come in they will turn their phones off and put it in the box and then when they leave at the end of the day they can get their phone back. And if they happen to have the same phone as someone else they can either not bring their phone to school or find a way to tell them apart.
Like it stated in the article From Toy to Tool “…students in an English literature class conducting local author studies could just pull out their cell phones to conduct interviews when they meet the author. They can dial in to Gabcast, set their cell phone down and ask their questions. When they finish their interview they press a button and their interview is immediately posted to a blog site.” The only problem with this is that not everybody has the internet on their phone and therefore they cannot all do this. Another way that phones could be incorporated is like an article we read before stated, you could give points for students receiving texts from people outside school and bonus points for people outside the country. But other from that I really do not see a usage for cell phones in the classroom. Not to mention most of the things that you can do with cell phones in the classroom are for older students and I want to be teaching young students so I am hoping to not have to deal with this situation, but I’m sure that the day is drawing near.