Is This Thing On?

Technology. Textoids. Video clips. Audio files. Voice threads. OMGs. What happened to the good ole fashioned book cracking and pencil sharpening? Seriously, throughout this entire program I swear the only thing I’ll ever remember is use technology! Please, I love technology, I am not opposed to it by any means. I remember how empowered I felt when my parents finally cracked and got call waiting…like two years ago. Better late than never right? Well..I’m a realist, God help me, and I truly believe that there is a time and place for everything. If one incorporates technology into their classroom because it truly is beneficial and lends itself to the learning process…fantastic! A+ But then again, since when is showing a movie in class really incorporating technology for learning’s sake? It’s not people, and many teachers use this excuse. Technology use should not replace anything, it should enhance. If you must default to showing a movie, you’re doing something wrong and a disservice to your students. Shame on you.

My experience? Glad you asked. Technology is too expensive, unavailable, inaccessible, and when it is available it’s not working…again making it unavailable. Okay, now what? What do you do when you’ve planned your whole lesson around using a mobile computer lab, or showing some YouTube clips in class but the server is down? Again, shame on you. A good teacher should know not to rely on this plan alone. You let your students down and then they hate whatever you must fall back on. What happens when your school just doesn’t have it? This is my school. 200+ students, 20 computers and a 30-minute time period allotted per class once a week. Awesome. As if this is even reasonable. You know what, it’s what we’ve got, and you gotta do what you can with what you’ve got right? Well, yeah, but when access is limited, so are your options. This is why we must not forget books, pencils and papers. These, among other things, need to be our backbone and we need to start thinking about technology as it really is: great when it works. There are multiple implications there.

My cooperating teacher has only fermented my apprehension with technology usage. Beware, he said. Many students do not have computer access at home, outside of school (during school for that matter), and the media center is almost always booked anytime of day. Now what? “Well lady, hoof it to the library.” I hope you’re faster than the daggers she just shot at you. Why would we set our students up to fail? I absolutely see the benefit of wiki and blog usage (ahem), and I love them both. But again, I think it’s a time and a place thing. Perhaps right now, is not the right time for some schools. Maybe when there is more money. Hahahaha. Oh, I’m sorry. I’m done. This proves my point. Incorporate when appropriate, but stick with what you know until the availability is there and is constant.

At times I feel as though we allow technology to do the work for us. Wait? Is that it’s purpose? We are looking for efficiency right, but sometimes doesn’t that take away the means to the end? Careful. It’s supposed to help us actually, not do the work for us. iRobot was just a movie. Do we use blogs as an excuse not to perform academic writing, or is blogging simply an alternative style/genre? Are wikis the new newsletter or syllabi? There are pros and cons folks. I’ve never found more pleasure and success with writing than I do right here, blogging. However, would I use this as an excuse not to be involved in class when I know I can just type it out here? Me? No. But someone else, maybe. As a teacher would I rather point my kid to the wiki than stop, take a minute and speak to them like a human being? I hope not. Of course this all goes back to whether or not it’s available and we have access naturally.

My point is, as with all things, the good comes with the bad. There are pros and cons and we as educated individuals educating individuals need to be smart about our choices. Technology is not to be solely relied on, and is not to replace, but to aid in our daily processes. I have found through my life experiences a love for English, language, literature, etc. This love developed with the help of passionate and talented teachers, without the use of blogs, wikis and textoids..whatever the hell those are anyway. Only now are these things becoming prevalent in my life and adding to my educational experience. We need to be aware of what it is that we are really teaching our children. What do we say when a student says, “but my printer ran out of ink?” Think about it.

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Over 35,000 free books listed on the web. Happy reading.