Yet, it changed my perspective when we talked about the fact that our students are growing up in this culture of technology. I have to understand that so much of what students know and how they have been raised is through this saturation of iPhones. Knowing this, it is almost freeing to choose to react positively and with the student's well-being in mind. I too feel the need to be connected through my phone-- to check it every few minutes because I am always discussing something with someone. If students feel the same need-- for their own social reasons--can I really be so judgmental?
The issue of judgement regarding those using phones, reminds me of a question my mom once asked me: if you see someone on their phone and they are reading a book, and you see another person is reading a paperback book, which do you think more highly of? I immediately said I though better of the person with the physical book. My mom responded, "But they are both reading?" I returned with, "But I don't know if the person on the phone is reading a book or not! They could be doing anything!" While it's true that I won't know for certain what a student is doing on their phone, now I would rather assume the best of them and care for them accordingly. Like we said, this is their culture and it holds significance in their lives. I want to acknowledge their lens on life, while directing them towards making the best decisions that they can. Also, as my mother pointed out, both groups are engaging in literacy skills because both are reading. So, if we as teachers are supposed to prepare students for living a successful life in society by supporting their expansion of knowledge and skills, then it is vital that we teach literacy through the very medium that they will most engage with upon leaving school: technology.
Here is an article on the psychological effects of reading (specifically books) on a screen versus that of paper:Do we read differently on paper than on a screen? There is a mention of a temptation to engage in distractions when using a screen. I think that this element of technology is an important reminder that we as teacher should be striving to ask questions and plan activities that are engaging and which provoke students' curiosity each step of the way. That way, we minimize the temptation for students to be distracted by other apps calling for their attention when using technology. And as we mentioned in class, technology should really just be the aid by which students are learning. Not everything should be done in isolation with a smart device.
Mikayla, thank you so much for your well-written and articulate post. I've had some of these thoughts, too, but haven't been able to articulate them anywhere near as well. I think it's fascinating, too, to think about the benefits of reading on a screen vs. reading on paper. It makes sense that reading on paper is more engrossing: it certainly feels that way for me. I also sometimes worry about what seems like everyone's decreasing attention spans, potentially due to technology. (For instance, I used to be able to study for hours and hours. Now, I want to check my phone every fifteen minutes!) It's easy to react and say that that cultural change is bad, but I think you have a really excellent point--maybe this just means that we, as teachers, need to step our game and make our lessons more interesting than whatever texts kids could be receiving. This also makes me wonder about conventional ideas like looking up vocabulary words. When I was in school, I was always told to get to the end of the page (and try to use context clues) before looking up a word's definition. Now, anyone can easily look up any definition at any time while reading. Is this something to embrace? Will this modify our behavior in how we read? Is this an okay change, or was it really better for me to be practicing those context clue skills? (It seems to me like that is a useful cognitive function, but that having too many words left up to context clues might frustrate readers and take them out of the reading experience. It's hard to say, in the end, which way would be "better" for encouraging reading and good reading habits in students.) To add to this discussion, I am going to link to this blog about the value of context clue reading skills: https://www.smartspeechtherapy.com/and-now-on-the-importance-of-context-clues/.
ReplyDeleteI think you and I might be in similar places right now in thinking about technology integration. We recognize that it is an important (and valid) value for today's students--it is where a lot of their world occurs, and it has shaped their culture, for better or for worse. As teachers, we need to find ways to make it all have been for the better. We will do this by making sure the students acquire the necessary skills they need (like face-to-face communication and potentially context clue reading skills) while also trying to shake up instruction to fully welcome their technology into the classroom (and let it redefine what education can do). That's pretty exciting.
Thanks again for your blog post! I'd love to discuss how we use technology in ELA classes (and still teach necessary ELA skills) more with you sometime.