Thing 1

In Thing 1 we read an article by David Warlick about a school in which technology is used seamlessly throughout the day for a variety of purposes. It really got me excited ... where is this school David? Are they hiring? JK.

Seriously, though. It gave us a picture of what could be and really got me thinking about moving forward. The drawback is that I want to move forward eagerly, and so many of the people I work with aren't ready for it and are afraid of it. I really think some people even don't see the value - they see using technology as a toy for teachers or pandering to the students' likes and dislikes. I don't ... it's cool, it makes learning fun, it's engaging, it meets them where they are ... it teaches to the WHOLE CHILD to appeal to them. When we ask them to disconnect at the door, we're not only putting them in an emotional funk, we aren't getting them ready for reality.

Yes there are concerns about using technology - including phones, ipods, laptops, etc. Two of the biggest concerns I hear are equity and ethical use of the tools, but we can find solutions. I believe we can. A few teachers have suggested that students will cheat with access to phones - they should be banned. I submit that students cheated before cell phones and will continue to cheat until they learn better ethics. They cheated by writing on little slips of paper, and we didn't ban paper. They cheated by writing on their hands, and we didn't cut off their hands. It's about the desire to cheat and their felt need to cheat ... maybe it's really about changing our expectations. In our world, can't we "phone a friend" in most cases? Isn't life and work really about finding the information or knowing who to contact to get the information more than knowing everything at the drop of a no. 2 pencil?

Just my thoughts ...