Online Article Reflections

Article #1 - Students Leave Technology At Home from Education Week

This article presents the disparities of the ways in which young people use technology. Many children and adolescents use technology much more often outside of the classroom than inside. As educators, we need to be making more of an effort to keep up with technological advances. Children will need to learn technology for their future jobs and careers.

Using technology in the classroom also speaks the language of students more than traditional teaching. It engages students more and creates immediate interest. The high school at which I am teaching installed LCD projectors in every classroom this year. My colleagues and I have noticed that students are much more interested in subject material when it is viewed on the LCD projector than shown on the overhead or TV. Watching a DVD on the LCD projector engages students more than watching the same video on VHS on the television. My drawing students are currently underway on a scratchboard self-portrait. I started the lesson by having students use Photoshop to crop and adjust their digital portrait. I was amazed by how quickly the students flew through the steps and how few questions they had. Whereas I didn’t even learn Photoshop until my first year at design school (and that wasn’t even that long ago!), many of my students have Photoshop at home and are already familiar with the program.

On the other side, not every student has access to technology at home. Not every household has a computer with internet access and an MP3 player. With this in mind, we as educators have an even bigger responsibility to use technology in the classroom. Otherwise these students will be at a tremendous disadvantage in the job market. If we don’t teach it, how will they ever learn it?

Article #2 - Teachers Use You Tube in the Classroom
Having used You Tube in the classroom, I agree with Mr. Colosi, videos on You Tube help hold the interest of students. From what I observed, it doesn’t seem to matter if the clip is an old video uploaded onto You Tube. For the scratchboard project mentioned above, I incorporated two You Tube clips. The first was a twenty-minute instructional video. Though parts may have been a little slow, the students watched quietly through the entire video. The second clip was a four-minute time-lapse by a college student demonstrating his scratchboard technique. The clip’s soundtrack, Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” immediately engaged students.

I will admit that I was skeptical of using You Tube in the classroom. Initially, I didn’t know that it had educational resources. I can understand why some administrators would block You Tube, but I would hope they would consider the academic resources it does have to offer. It is helpful to see what other teachers are doing in their classrooms. I had not previously heard about TeacherTube and SchoolTube, so I will have to look into those resources.

Article #3 - $50 Computer Being Tested in Schools
A $50 computer for every student? That sounds great! This seems like a great way to engage students and for their personal needs to be catered to. Students are automatically drawn to the computer and don’t even realize that they are actually learning educational material. In a classroom of 20-22 students, it is difficult for a teacher to devote large amounts of time in class to students who need extra help.

However, I somewhat agree with the comment from thespecialeducator. We cannot replace the role of the educator. While the “teachermate” can contribute to a child’s development of language and math skills, it does not replace the teacher.

Article #4 - Online Speech Pits Students Against Teachers
The immediate thought that came to mind while reading this article was, “Have students written anything about me on the internet? Maybe I even have a MySpace page I don’t know about!” While students do have First Amendment rights and freedom of speech, students also need to learn about what is appropriate and what is not, especially in the domain of the internet. To me, it seems obvious that overtly calling administrators names and making a fake profile for a school principal would warrant punishment. While students may think they are voicing their opinion in the private sphere, the internet is the public sphere. Perhaps we as educators need to educate our students on appropriate use of technology. Although students do have First Amendment rights, if schools districts clearly set guidelines of expectations of their students, then students would know the repercussions.