Creative Solutions

Finally, an idea that has some merit! Technology by itself isn't a miracle cure. It won't make people smarter or fix problems with inequality. On the other hand, it's not an unavoidable curse either. It won't make people immoral or cause the breakdown of our society. It can't do anything without the people who use it.
People who are creatively using technology in new ways and combinations can pave the way for learning in all disciplines. Students are bored in school-- they're memorizing facts that they will promptly forget after the test, and these facts are being fed to them from decades-old chalkboards, or the tried-and-true PowerPoint presentations. Applying creativity to the available technology can change the way students are given information. Hopefully, students will start being taught to think for themselves.
Perhaps showing a news clip from a tumultuous time in history, and asking the students to react to the clip (instead of simply telling them what happened and when and moving on) would be a creative way of teaching history using technology. If asked to respond to the clip, the emotion they feel as they react will help them remember. The open-ended response will let them form their own opinions regarding the event, beyond accepting the spoon-fed dates and other facts. They could very possibly get a better grasp of what they're being taught, as well as learning other valuable skills such as critical thinking and evaluation.
In a kindergarten classroom, creative uses of technology still have their place. Using a SMARTboard as an interactive way to take attendance or make charts. Integrating the technology that is part of their world into the classroom in new and creative ways can engage the students and encourage learning in ways never thought of before.
Creativity applied to technology can expand learning in every discipline, not only in a school setting but in the business world and beyond.

Inequality: An Unfortunate Reality

This week I'm supposed to discuss whether or not I believe that teaching online classes could eliminate inequality in school districts. Quite frankly, I'm not sure what sort of inequality is meant, so I'm not certain how to go about responding. However, I believe that online classes gives many people the opportunity to receive an education that would otherwise be lost to them. Districts with more poor communities, with families that need everyone who can to work (often during school hours) can still get an education through online classes. They can still view the course material and listen to lectures after school hours when they're not working. This would help to reduce the inequality between school districts.
While this or other suggestions could potentially reduce inequality, I think it's foolish to believe that anything will completely eliminate it. People and the world we live in are broken and sinful, and no matter how hard we try (and we should try as hard as we can), there will always be inequality until Christ returns to a new heaven and a new earth.

Boys Love Expensive Toys

"Technology eliminates gender inequality in schools."
What an interesting proposition. I've never heard such a claim before. After thinking about it, I don't really see how it could. The technology itself can't really be biased. Links will do the same thing no matter who clicks on them. But there are still people in schools. There are still teachers and other students and faculty members who often exhibit a gender bias without even realizing it. Technology can be a great aid in the classroom and beyond, but it can't fix everything. It's the people who need to be honest with themselves and make an effort to call on boys AND girls to answer questions, to give both genders the opportunity to come up to the board, and to display student work equally.
One thing I have noticed concerning the relationship between technology and gender is that males are generally more into it. They get more excited about it, are generally better at using it, and generally dominate technological professions. Without a doubt there are plenty of females who do the same thing. However, I think males have got us beat on that one.
With that in mind, teachers should be mindful of how their students are interacting with the technology in the classroom. If they're having trouble with it, be patient and explain. Perhaps they should work in boy-girl teams, and make sure each person gets a significant amount of time using it. Maybe if girls are exposed to the technology more, with someone patiently explaining it to them, then males won't be so dominant in the realm of technology in  the future.

Saving Our Schools, One Macaroni Noodle at a Time

     In class this past Thursday, we watched a video of a young man and his proposed solution to a broken school system. His idea is to replace textbooks, copy machines, paper and pencils, etc., with iTouches. The apps already available as well as a few more geared specifically towards classrooms and teachers, he terms the iSchool. He suggests that the amount schools could save by cutting the things that could be replaced by the iSchool would save our schools. More money would be available for programs that are currently being cut and more teachers could be hired, reducing classroom size and allowing for more personal interaction. According to his math, schools are currently spending about $600/student, while an iTouch would only cost about $150/student.
     I found this a compelling argument, and his movement is gaining political support. From the technology angle, I think that incorporating things like an iTouch or iPad into everyday use by students is a great way to start making learning real for the students. Technology like that is something they're growing up on and will use in the world outside the school building. Being able to manipulate it is a useful skill.
     However, I'm always a little unconvinced when it comes to such integrated technology in younger classrooms like preschool and kindergarten. I may be a little nostalgic, but I believe kids that young should be creating things and gluing macaroni to themselves and learning to write with pencils and drawing with crayons and using blocks and other touchable, movable things to learn. I wouldn't want them doing everything on an iTouch or iPad. They need to learn to do things outside of the technology before learning how to use the technology.

Another Possible Career Plan

This week in class we had a guest speaker talk to us through an online audio connection about teaching in an online school. Her name was Beth Day, and she presented online teaching in a way I had never considered. She said her primary motivation for switching from a brick-and-mortar school to an online school was the ability to stay home with her children. By teaching online, her love for mommying her own children and her love for teaching others don't conflict. With my own heart for children, and a strong desire for some of my own one day, I took notice of this benefit of online teaching. It definitely peaked my interest-- the thought of staying home with my children but still having a career in education.
However, since I am primarily interested in teaching kindergarten, I wondered about how I could teach children so young without face-to-face interaction. Can they even navigate within the technology used for online schooling? How would arts and crafts projects be done on their own? And how could they experience the social interaction with their peers that is so crucial for development?
Concerning my technological concerns, Beth shared that young children are surprisingly adept at using computers and navigating the technology. The online school in which she teaches is K-12, and there hasn't been any major concerns or issues about the younger children using their software. Also, when asked if she would send her own children to an online or brick-and-mortar school, she had a thought-provoking response. She said she would send her older, healthy daughter to a brick-and-mortar school. However, her younger daughter was born with complications that would make it difficult for her to function normally in such a setting, and that if forced to choose in that moment, she would prefer an online education for her.
An online education as an alternative for children with special medical needs or disabilities was a possibility I had never considered. Online schools could provide a greater chance for interaction and one-on-one guidance by someone who might be more qualified than a parent, while allowing the child to stay at home where more attention can be given to their medical needs.
All of these thoughts have led me to consider teaching online as a greater possibility for me than I ever have before.

A New Call for Revolution

I was recently required to read a rather lengthy article by Sam Roberson entitled, "Defying the Default Culture and Creating a Culture of Possibility." It discusses how the school environment hasn't changed in nearly a hundred years, and the dire need for it do so as of yesterday. The global society outside of schools has changed drastically, but schools are still teaching the same things in the same ways, and students are suffering for it. Students aren't prepared with the skills they need to be effective in the world outside their school building. 

Technology has been the biggest change in our globalized, fast-paced society. Roberson asks us to consider "that the lives of students today are submersed in technology, and their use of technology configures their understanding of life and their experience of it. Consequently, new ways to make learning interactive, personalized, collaborative, creative, and innovative are needed." He advocates a change in classrooms from teacher-centered to student-centered, with students having an active role in learning about their world and ways to change and improve it, as opposed to passively receiving facts to be memorized for a test and then promptly forgotten. 

A proper use of technology in the classroom can improve student achievement in the world at large. Using new technologies as more than just new ways of fact-delivery, but as a way to "change the conceptualization of learning," will prepare students with the familiarization and tools that employers and others they will encounter in our society are looking for. Technology can make students' learning more than just relevant. It can make it real, engaging and useful to them once they graduate. 

Crayons and Paste for Me!

This week I learned about a lot of different tools and technologies out there to provide more enriching and captivating classroom experiences. Prezi is an alternative to PowerPoint that isn't so linear and organized. It seemed like a more fun and comprehensible way to show relationships between characters in a book or steps in a cycle, or the like. Google Lit Trips I found fascinating as one who loves to read. A Lit Trip maps out the path of characters from a book, like The Kite Runner or Make Way for Ducklings, and shows it to you on Google Earth.
Even with all this technology, I'm having a hard time figuring out how I might incorporate it into a kindergarten classroom. A lot of the interesting ideas presented in class didn't seem to apply. In my experience, younger children are bigger fans of hands-on type learning. Prezi presentations and Google Earth images aren't going to hold their attention.
The only idea I've had for incorporating technology into a classroom full of 6 year olds is for them to use some of the many and varied games available online. There are a lot of simple math, alphabet, simple spelling and color games available that would be a fun way to review or learn these concepts.

For me, I would still rather give them crayons, paste, markers and paint than an iPad with a drawing app. I would rather have them gather on the carpet to be read a story than give them all Leapfrog Learning systems. I would rather have them play math or alphabet games with each other, or at least with tangible objects than set them in front of computer screens. I would rather take them outside and show them colors than leave it up to posters or computers to show them.

Baby Jetpacks?

Welcome to the parents' bench for Ms. Melissa's classroom!
Visit this blog to see what your kids are up to during the week. I hope to post pictures and samples of student work every week, so that you can watch as your child and the class as a whole learn and progress throughout the year. Maybe you as a parent, and I as a teacher will learn something this year too. :)

In fact, I'm sure we will. I've already learned something this year. I was thinking about how technology will change education. There are some very obvious ways that technology has changed education already. Powerpoints and smartboards replace overhead projectors and chalkboards. Online and virtual classrooms are becoming more popular. New technologies like Baby Einstein, the Leapfrog learning system, and Baby Mozart are teaching children at younger and younger ages.

But how will changing technology affect kindergarten education? Usually when I think of technology, first I think of the internet. Then I think of things like robots. Jetpacks. Hovercars. But unless Fischer Price makes a jetpack model operational by 6 year olds, this isn't the kind of technology that will change kindergarten classrooms. I can't be sure what kind of technology lies in the future, but I am certain that it will change the way children learn, the way teachers teach, and the way parents interact with their children, just like it has in the past.