Pushing My Thinking - Technology in the Elementary Workshop

I don’t have time to blog this morning. I’m typing between picking up the house, clearing a room to be painted tomorrow, and heading to church for my CCD class’s student mass. And yet, here I sit, typing out a post. I blame Franki. And Cathy. And Kristin and Troy. See, they all posted blogs that made me think. (Read them by clicking on their names.) Each blog was in response to some remarks made by Nancie Atwell, one of my teaching, and writing, heroes. In reference to having iPads in lower elementary classrooms, Nancie made the following comment in her post…

"I have concerns about them [iPads] in the younger grades. In fact, I think the trend of iPads in the primary classroom is a mistake."

Atwell is one of my heroes. Her books, In the Middle and The Reading Zone absolutely shaped what my classroom looks like. They helped lead me on the path to workshop based teaching and choice in reading and writing. I completely admire her and respect her right to this opinion. That begin said, it is not one I agree with in my room.

To be fair, she is speaking about the lower elementary grades and I teach fifth grade. Yet, I have many friends – including some who wrote posts I linked at the top – who use iPads (and other technology) in their classrooms and I completely admire their work. On the flip side, I am sure there are some elementary classrooms I could walk into that are using technology in a way that devalues the influence it could have in the classrooms. If devices are being used simply to do a task (worksheet) that could have been just as easily with paper and pencil, I don’t find value there. Just to play games, nope, not needed. The way I see it, technology is not a means to do what we’ve previously done in our classrooms online. If my students fill out a paper, send it to me through email or the like, what’s the gain? I might have a paperless classroom, but there has been no new learning, no new audience.

I see the value in iPads when I realize the world has opened up to my students. In the past, you would write a narrative and hand it in to your teacher. She would grade it and return it to you. Maybe, just maybe, the paper would be hung up for your classmates to read it. Your audience was small, as was your impact. Technology has changed that. My students can write their narratives and paste them into a blog that anyone in the world can see. They can tweet out the link to their blogs and others can read them. They get to learn about the impact we can make, the power of our voices. It is an influence that we cannot measure.

Through technology my students have learned to be creators on a different level. They are inspired and push their own learning and own their own learning. We use the iPads to brainstorm, research, publish, and share. The iPads allow my students – in a small, rural town in Central Illinois – to connect to authors and illustrators around the globe. Author visits are not common at our school, so when I introduced our classroom Twitter account to my students and explained that you could tweet authors, they went a bit nuts. When the first author tweeted us back – Dan Gutman – you would think we had won the lottery. Drew will be a Dan Gutman fan for life. That is something we couldn’t have done before technology.

When I think about my life and my classroom before technology, I know there was nothing wrong with it. We had amazing learning occur inside of those four walls. iPads and the like have not replaced anything I did previously, they have enhanced it. They simply removed the walls to our classroom and connected us to the world. We still read and write daily, our reading and writing just often includes a device as well as the traditional tools. Like everyone I linked has mentioned, I don’t see iPads or devices as an all or nothing proposition. My students are digital natives. They see the iPad just a tool in our classroom. I do too. I use iPads or apps when they fit the need. Sometimes I prefer to write in a notebook. I almost always prefer to read an actual book. Articles I read online. It all works.

So I thank Nancie, and everyone else, for spurring my thinking this morning. My classroom has evolved over the past five years, and will continue to in the future. Technology in the elementary classroom? Yep, I’m all in.

Slice Six - What does the future hold?

Slice of Life is sponsored every Tuesday by Stacey and Ruth from Two Writing Teachers. For the month of March we are challenging ourselves to write a Slice A Day.

My slice today is more of a reflection on teaching. On conversations I’ve had over the past month. On education in general. I’m done with hearing how we are “dumbing down” education. How it was harder ten, twenty, thirty years ago. What I think is that we are in a different world than we were then. The kids that will find success will not find it because they have facts memorized, they will find success because they have an innate desire to learn. They are curious. They seek out information.

What do our kids need to know today? This might be one idea:

And I think by letting them dream, the possibilities are limitless. They can create fun devices like Google Glass:

Or find a way to detect cancer for three cents a test. And they might figure out how to create that test when they are only fifteen years old. (Article here.)  

How do we get kids to be curious? To make them want to learn more on their own? I think we model it. When we are having any lessons in class, I am apt to get exited about a topic and we immediately go and research together to find out more. I love to tell kids I don’t know the answer and have them quickly try to find out who can teach me. And, I think this is no surprise, I think students that have read widely of books of their own choosing will have an advantage here. They can have a wide variety of interest, a huge knowledge base, and be self-motivated learners.

It is a different world than it was when we grew up. We can move with it and teach our students to be successful in it, or we can bemoan change. I’m choosing to embrace it. 

It Takes a Village

This week I had one of those days, a day where I was a bit overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by everything we need to teach, overwhelmed by the needs of my students, overwhelmed by a never ending to do list. And then, in a conversation with a fellow teacher followed up by a conversation with a student, more was added to my plate. See, I found out that my fifth graders are no strangers to social media. And, as eleven year olds are wont to do, they jumped in with both feet and didn’t look back. It seems that some kids needed some lessons on better choices: what to put up, privacy, “friends”, etc. My mind reeled.

We’ve already talked about the digital world often this year. We’ve created an Edmodo classroom page. We discuss good digital citizenship. But I don’t think I’ve been clear enough. So when I heard about the social life they were having outside of the classroom, I was concerned for them.

Sometimes I am grateful I grew up in the 80s. That my mistakes, while burned forever into my mind – and I’m sure my friends’ minds as well – are not visible to the entire world on the Internet. Today’s generation does not get that luxury, and that is a tough lesson.

So we talked. I pulled up my Instagram account, my Twitter account, my Facebook account. We talked about:

·      What I would post, what I wouldn’t.

·      What privacy looks like.

·      How to lock down your account.

·      Who I allowed to follow me, who I block.

·      And on, and on.

They shared with me, I gave advice. I explained that I cared about them. That I didn’t want them in tears in my room when they were older – wishing they could take back a post, a text, a photo. I’ve comforted former students through that before and my heart broke. I don’t want to experience that again.

And then I sent a letter home, sharing with the parents what I taught that day. I explained the tips I shared and I heard back from just a few parents. Many thanked me, some lamented that they were a “bad parent”, that they should have ensured that their child was completely safe on the internet. They asked if they should just take away all devices, not allow them on. They asked, “What is the best choice?”

To that, I have no answer. But this I know – they are not bad parents. Most parents are trying to do the best they can with what they know – just like I am. Technology is moving faster than most of us can keep up with. As I type this my boys are playing a PS3 game online. I have no idea who they are playing against. We talk about what to share – we talk about their online lives. Is it enough? I think that is the perennial question of parenting.

This tiny town I live in is where I grew up. And when you only have about 5,000 people in town, there are always eyes on you. I grew up knowing that if I got in trouble at school, my parents would know before I got home – even if the principal didn’t call. If I was hanging out on the square – where I was not supposed to be – they would know. People watched out. (And gossiped, but that’s another story.) And so many years later, it is pretty much the same way. I have been on the receiving end of the phone call for a less than stellar act by one of my children. And while it is a bit mortifying, I’d much prefer everyone looking out for my kids – the good and the bad – then turning away. So that’s what I continue to do as a teacher.

I also build the relationships in class – so when I am giving this talk about our online lives, and telling them that I care and want to help them, they know I do. They know that I am taking time out of reading class not because I feel a need to lecture but because I want to protect them. The relationships we have with our students allow them to receive this message with the given intent.

Thinking though this week I was given this link to Kid President’s Pep Talk.

One of my favorite lines, although it is hard to choose, was towards the beginning:

If life is a game, aren’t we on the same team? I mean really, right? I’m on your team, be on my team.

Parenting is tough. Teaching is tough. We are all on the same team, with the same goals. Raising these kids, these students? It takes a village. And I want my students’ parents to know I am on their team. 

Webinar with Katie Davis

Katie Davis is like a one-woman superhero for all things “kidlit.” She has a great podcast, Brain Burps About Books, has a fabulous blog (HERE), and has written wonderful books, including Little Chicken’s Big Day. She has started hosting some amazing webinars as well. The other day I saw a tweet about an upcoming webinar she was hosting with Jenni Holm and Matt Holm, the creators of Babymouse! (Jenni's blog HERE. Matt's blog HERE.) I immediately signed up.

The webinar was super easy to access. I logged on at 11:00 with my RTI group. I teach a reading intervention and these kids are addicted to graphic novels. I thought this would be a great way to spend today’s class. When I shared with them we were going to be watching a webinar, and explained what one was, they asked who was in it. As soon as I mentioned Jenni Holm and Matt…. they cheered! They immediately knew it was Babymouse.

Watching the webinar was fun with this group. There was a chat feature on the right side of the screen so other participants could write comments. The kids were excited to see a comment from Colby Sharp to me and told me I had to run back to my desk and comment back to him. (Colby – you truly are famous to this group!) When Jenni came on she shared a little about how she and Matt grew up, the inspiration for Babymouse, and how they create a graphic novel. Unfortunately, right as they got to the question and answer session we had to head to lunch so we could be on time.

Thanks Katie, Jenni, and Matt for a great webinar. My students and I had a blast listening in. I will be sure to look for more that we could watch together in the future!