This I Believe: About Technology

In the classroom I say that I embrace and welcome technology.  If you own a device, and haven’t been grounded from it, I expect you to bring it.  And to use it.  I have my own computer, iPad, and iPhone on my desk at all times.  I FB and Tweet everyday.  I build my own web sites as a hobby.  Using technology is a way of life for my family.  I met my husband online -- 17 years ago -- before people did that kind of thing.  (For a lot of years we stopped telling people where we met because the axe-murderer jokes get old.)

My students use technology much in the same way I do.  When it comes to academic work in the classroom, though, I hesitate.  And put in place a lot of rules.  My students are twelve -- and  like to think they are tech savvy.  I disagree.  I have seen that they are not afraid to click around before reading anything on the screen.  They end up lost because “It’s not working.”  One thing I remember about BASIC programing is that a computer does not do anything you haven’t told it to do.  Some are likely to look up dirty words and search for images to match.  Their parents monitor my assignments more than they monitor their student’s online lives.  District policies and advice from the CEA lawyers make me feel like everything I should do to embrace technology in my classroom will create liability and trouble for me personally, as well as an employee.

Technology, like time, marches on: seemingly faster.  My students deserve to bring in to the classroom their digital lives.  

It is time for me to shift the role of technology in my classroom.  In a collection of essays published on learningthroughdigialmedia.net, I am reminded, “Today, learning is at least as much about access to other people as it is about access to information.” This quote sums up what I believe and how I use technology.

Their devices are still welcome.  The rules will remain.  My personal FB posts and Tweets continue to be none of their business.  Middle ground, though, is possible.  Starting my 14th year of teaching (this will be my 11th year in 7th grade), I already know what to teach.  I know what the standards are and can reliably predict what most students will need before I meet them in August.  This frees up time and energy for me to focus on how to deliver instruction and how to allow students to master the information in ways that shift technology from a what to a how.  

Phones will no longer be glorified dictionaries.  Tablets will no longer be typewriter substitutes.  

I will find ways for my students to take reasonable risks.

I will shift from: avoiding the use of technology because “what if . . . “ pointing at your screen and saying “click here” emailing ideas of resources to post on my site submitting final drafts in Google Docs asking students to verbally repeat good feedback as an example of others using school iPads after your work is done using only free apps already loaded on school iPads practicing a speech or presentation alone publishing a web site explaining how to use a technology 1:1 for each 120 students

To: establishing concrete expectations that students will be held accountable to teaching the vocabulary students need to effectively use technology adding resource ideas to a shared doc sharing working drafts with peers projecting a document with comments and revisions as an example of what you should be doing choosing an app that suits the purpose of the work you are doing recommending apps and technologies every student should try -- via my digital hub recording your speech or presentation for peer review before being graded providing a digital hub of resources asking students to publish screencasts about technology they know how to use