Another valuable component that I realized today about using technology platforms in the classroom is using technology to strengthen classroom community. With the use of tools like Google Classroom and other collaborative technology platforms, it takes the classroom community and relationships home each night and over the weekend. These things can be a great tool for keeping kids connected to each other, their teacher, and their school. I think this would also invite the parents in to some degree as well.
I do believe that there is a fine line between using these tools effectively and having the technology be a burden to the students. However, I believe that if these tools are used to create a collaborative learning environment where every kid is able to contribute is some way, I think that relationships are being built and strengthened, and kids will see that learning is alive and active. The work doesn't have to necessarily go home each night, but the community can.
An iconic lie by three high school teachers and four college professors. This line was about as believable to us students as,
"It'll be obvious if you don't read the book, SparkNotes isn't a good idea."
Let's be real, most people have never actually made it past the third chapter of Lord of the Flies and have flocked to sources like Quizlet and SparkNotes.
Anyone that was born before or in this generational gap we are in would probably say utilizing those sites mentioned above is cheating. How?
We are engaging our students in the Internet of Things, they are learning valuable research skills, and at the end of the day, if they the assignment is constructed in a way that encourages critical thinking rather than simple fact-based answers, the origin of the knowledge of the book is insignificant.
The bottom line is that these resources are here and they aren't going anywhere. in fact, there will always be even a better and more efficient option taking their places in a blink of an eye. Instead of shunning them and kids taking extreme measures to cover up their inevitable usage. Utilize those incredible sites and take advantage of the wealth of knowledge (and even the occasional radically off base ideas) and have the kids make an impact and engage them in much bigger ideas.
I love the idea of teaching kids credibility online by using the "World's Rubric" in Wikipedia. I think using that and having students edit those low graded pages is an incredible way to validate student work.
There are a lot of benefits to having parents that are much older than those of my peers. For example, we we had a lot of financial freedom and were able to embark on really spectacular trips and my parents really saw no need in being strict with me. They had been teachers for 20 years, after all.
There are also a lot of quirks.
For example, my dad still believes seat belt laws are an intrusion of his civil rights and my mom has no retention of how to attach a file to an email.
(FYI :
The cell phone situation has always been a battle with me and my parents. In 5th grade I made a powerpoint presentation of why I should be allowed 1. for more than an hour of TV a week and 2. to have a cell phone.
They were so impressed with my tech savvy ways that I got the screen time and the little flip phone where I was allowed to send AND RECEIVE 25 text messages a A MONTH.
(For reference of how ridiculous this is, I have sent and received 17 messages in the last four minutes.)
Recently I took myself off of our phone plan because they could not wrap their head around the fact that 2 GB of data was not going to work for me.
Today when we were discussing the different generations, all my parents' annoyance with my phone habits made complete sense. They really did not get me. They are Boomers and I'm a Millennial that is REAL close to being a spime, delta, a doom, or whatever those little nuggets want to be called.
They have no comprehension of what my life is like in terms of my social media presence and how my relationships are constructed because when my dad was my age he didn't even have a landline and my mom was off in Europe backpacking with stationary in her bag.
My mother does try to understand, though. In her own classroom in Newport, WA she was extremely passionate about her document camera and the Apple TV where she could connect the HD version of the 1960's version of Romeo and Juliet and easily cut the boobie scene.
My dad, on the other hand, keeps his technology presence slimmed down to Facebook, texting, the DVR and the laptop IF his email stayed logged in. He nearly had a conniption when I tried to show him how to work our Kindle Stick.
I'm so excited to slowly start to incorporate more tech into their lives and watch the smoke flow from their ears.
"When I was in school, we walked to the library to check out books." "When I was in school, we passed notes in class to talk to our friends." "When I was in school..."
This past week I have repeatedly found myself thinking, "I sound like my mother, maybe even my grandmother" as big flashing lights went off in my head and I was smacked with the reality, that I have been naive to the capabilities of technology within the classroom. Just last week I thought the role of technology was to be a supplement to learning and a tool to make information accessible to all. I still agree with those thoughts; however, I now recognize, as a Digital Immigrant, I was limiting the role of technology within the classroom because of my own experiences.
As a soon-to-be teacher, I face the reality that I need to "get with the times" and create a learning environment conducive to the digital age our students are growing up in. I now recognize that social media should be exploited in the classroom not avoided. What a great opportunity to teach students how to communicate effectively and appropriately, in a context that is applicable, in and out of the classroom. Social media can be a great platform for teaching social responsibility and drawing awareness to the impact of an online presence. I think it can be easy to think of a person's social life separate from their academic or professional life, when in reality, the two collide via social media. It is important to teach student's to recognize that connection as they enter the 'real world'.
