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.
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I agree that there are some cases where it will be hard to expect much from students outside of the classroom technology wise. I like your idea of making sure you give students enough class time to make a PowerPoint or something like that. However, I think we do put students at a disadvantage if we do not include other forms of technology in our lessons. Like the articles said, so many of today's jobs require skills with different forms of technology that we really need to give students a foundation of some of this knowledge if we want them to be as successful as possible.
ReplyDeleteIt definately makes it hard to teach or learn anything when you dont have the right tools to do it with. I completely agree with you, if a teacher can't give an adequate amount of in class time to work on an assignment that requires technology, then maybe the teacher should reconsider how to do the assignment. I also like your record player idea, I still have some of my dad's old records.
ReplyDeleteI like how you were thinking of different types of technology aside from just computers, such as record players or overheads. I agree that as teachers it can be difficult to expect students to be able to get access to computers outside of school and thats why its so important to give them the opportunities during class. Also, letting them know about the library computers , or the computer lab is helpful. I thought that it would be a disservice to not provide technology in the classroom, because technology is becoming a bigger part of everyone's lives and the article discussed how careers and school acceptance is starting to rely on the use of technology. Your mentioned points and ideas are good though!
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