Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Opinion: The Paperless Classroom
The overall concept of the class is intriguing and makes for interesting conversation each Friday with my students. However, at this current time I feel that it is difficult to try to incorporate what I have learned into my classroom. Not all of my students have the resources to participate in classrooms that involve social tech media. If I were to ask of my students to use Weebly, Twitter, Second Life, or to blog about latitude and longitude I would not get %100 participation. If it were possible to use social media in my school, I would be more than willing to teach in this way. Besides the lack of ability to use social media, I believe this class should state the types of prerequisites that are necessary to fully participate in the class. For example, a working internet connection as well as a computer with the appropriate type of requirements; otherwise, it becomes difficult to participate in each activity. When I first signed up for this class, I was under the assumption that I was going to learn how to teach in Baltimore City without using paper. However, that was not the case. Although, I cannot use any of these social media applications at my school, I have still found some of them useful at home.
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This class has definitely grown on me...To be quite honest, I dreaded this class the first few weeks. I'm wasn't a big fan of social media outlets and basically all I thought this class was about, but I have been proven otherwise. I am in the same situation with the lack of resources and its frustrating, but this class has motivated me to find the means necessary to equip my students with the skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century. My students have already been victims of the achievement gap and I cannot allow for the gap to get any wider.
ReplyDeleteI have had a similar experience. I can, as you said, see the purpose in these resources but when we cannot utilize them in school (which is where we spend most of our time) then what good are they? However, I've found that I've just gotten ideas from running around these websites, whether they're verbatim from the site or just a light bulb went off in reading through different articles. I'm wondering how much we'll look back and wish we'd utilized this class more in 5-10 years.
ReplyDeleteI think that we NEED to utilize this class. Nobody dislikes this stuff more than me, from an existential and philosophical standpoint. However, our students, at least mine, KNOW how to do all of this stuff, and want to know how to do what they dont know yet.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have found that technology, in the eyes of our students, IS LEGIT! My students hate listening to me lecture about Immigration, but if I put it in a powerpoint, or a video, or a delicious bookmark....it is amazing to them!
When I first began this class, I was completely against it. I was even considering printing more copies just to spite it. But now, I realize it is not so much about being paperless, than it is about exposing our students to more than just what we have time to make copies of in the morning. With the web at our disposal, we can view 10 articles on one day, just by clicking a button. With that type of power, we can gtruly empower our students, and hold them accountable for their learning.
Just a thought...
I totally empathize with your concerns and frustrations. I just hope that our school district will begin to realize the true disadvantage our students are at when we neglect to provide them with the proper supplies to prepare them for the future. I think this class has really opened my eyes to the other side of the achievement gap... the technology gap... which seems to be an even greater determining fact in survival in our society.
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