I could use a set of those

While we are thinking about going 1:1, maybe we could get them to throw in a set of Touches too.

Tech and Talk in the Classroom

Holidays are always fabulous. This holiday, however, offered a unique professional opportunity. We saw about 65 former students, all of whom have started university or are finishing high school. This provided us with a chance to do some informal yet invaluable field research on education and on technology in education.

Before detailing our findings, it’s important to describe the ‘subject group’. They actually form two groups. The first is made up of my grade four/five students from an urban charter school in Los Angeles. This school is a successful public school in a neighbourhood and district of many unsuccessful schools. Students at the school do not have to pass any kind of entrance exam but do have to maintain a decent academic and attendance record to stay in the school. Some of these students were part of an accelerated program so that they enrolled in university as second year students. These students are all in university now, most of them in large public universities in California.

The other group of students is from the small private school in Pasadena where we were first middle school teachers and later heads of the middle and high schools. This school is small in both total numbers and in class sizes and would be characterized by most people as a liberal institution. Its methods aren’t radical, but the politics and attitudes of most students and families would be considered liberal. There is no entrance exam at the school and, compared to most private schools in the area, it takes a very wide range of students of different abilities. The students we reunited with from this school are either finishing high school or have started university. They attend a wide range of schools including community colleges, public universities and small liberal arts schools.

Both groups of students would likely be considered quite technologically literate. In most cases, much of what they do using computers grew out of their own interests and mastery occurred through practice on their own. Some of the teachers they had through high school embraced digital tools in education and some had little interest in them.

In discussing what school is like for them now, we asked our students many questions about technology use in the classroom. We were very surprised by the strength of their reactions against digital tools being used in the classroom. In almost every case, students lamented situations in which they could not engage in discussion (as is the case for those at University of California schools where introductory classes are large). In the case of those students in small schools with small classes, students heaped scorn upon the idea that they should be using computers in class. They were overwhelming in their desire to talk.

They saw talk as an essential underpinning of their understanding and as an essential way of working with their peers. They embraced classes in which teachers lead good discussions and complained about those in which their means of expression of ideas was primarily electronic.

We described images of university classrooms that we had discussed in our courses in which students were all sitting with their laptops open. Virtually unanimously, their reactions were negative and included the following points:

· They know they would not pay attention in such a situation.

· They want to talk and discuss.

· They want to hear what their professors/teachers have to say.

· Multi-tasking meant incomplete attention to each task.

Though I have to confess that I am happy to hear their responses since they reflect some of my own beliefs, I also have to admit that I was quite surprised at the forcefulness of their reactions. Some students were actually quite passionate about the need to talk as a group in class. Others found some of the uses of digital tools to be needless intermediate steps that postponed important discussion.

I know that for me, this reinvigorates my commitment to discussion and talk in the classroom.

Texting: Another Reason not to Call

I have always hated talking on the phone. Well. actually that's not quite true. There was a short period in Grade 7 when I was on the phone for hours at a time. Aside from that, approximately, six month period, I have avoided talking on the phone. Email was a dream come true but had its limits as everyone started to carry cell phones.

Then I discovered SMS. A dream come true. Instant communication but no chatting. Well it turns out that there is an unexpected benefit to texting for our students - better spelling! According to a study frequent texting requires a strong awareness of spelling rules even when non-standard spelling is used. So as long as our students can figure out that we don't want them writing that way for academic purposes, there is no harm in texting the hmwrk assignment.

c u l8r

30 November: Peripherals in the Classroom

Peripherals, like laptops, are a tool in the classroom. As such, there isn't anything radically different about their use in my classroom. So, I think I'll write about the special challenges of computer use in a beginning language classroom.

Digital tools have a special place in a language class in that they allow students to express their ideas and creativity in the target language in new and different ways. They also allow the teacher to bring language into the classroom through different media (music, video, text you name it). In addition, their are tons of new tools to extend language learning online through sites such as livemocha, learnspanish and even university level coursework such as MIT.

The challenge with digital tools is the temptation they offer students to 'express' their ideas so easily. Online translation sites abound, and for a sophisticated grade 8 student who has only basic language structures and vocabulary at his/her disposal they seem like the perfect way to say what you want to say. This can undermine language learning in various ways.

Most importantly, students don't use the target language structures and vocabulary that they need to as the essential scaffolding for developing fluency. In a sense, it allows them to run before they can walk. This actually slows their mastery of core curricula. To the teacher, it is always glaringly obvious when something has been been translated by google; it contains language way beyond the student's level and/or it is a mishmash of non-sensical phrases.

Initially I dealt with this simply by explaining to my students the scoring/rubric criteria for assignments and the necessity of focusing on the core language structures related to the task. I emphasized how easy it is to recognize the results of a translation site and how I valued their experimentation with language much more than perfect phrasing. Though it worked to an extent, students continued to use the sites.

Ironically, the only thing that really worked was to go old school. With a project oriented classroom, I now generally have my students write by hand using good old paper and pen. When that step is complete, students incorporate their (and this way it truly is theirs) language into video, digital stories, slideshows etc. In some cases there are more mistakes; in some cases there are fewer. Either way, student are authentically using the target language in real ways that truly reflect their language development.

Laptop Use: 23 November 09

I have not found laptops to be problematic in class. Classroom management is classroom management, which, by its very nature, evolves with the circumstances. Laptops are another circumstance to which we, students and teachers, adjust.

Things that work for me...

1. Give time to play and explore when introducing a new tool.

2. Talk about expectations.

I try to be clear with my classes about what I want them doing/not doing during work times. This extends to work on computers. If time has expired for personalizing a blog, for example, I let my students know that they can continue on their own time. I also know that at some point, someone will use their laptop in a way that I don't want, so I explain in advance that there will be consequences for doing so.

3. I ask students to close the laptops during discussions.

I know from my own experience that it is very difficult to engage in a discussion with the temptations offered by the laptops. Often I will ask them to find what they need to participate fully in the discussion and then close the cover.

We often alternate between discussion, research, reading, writing etc. During discussion my goal is for students to focus on what other people are saying; minimizing distractions is essential. The key difference between discussion and answering a question is listening to what others say. This is the only thing that creates an opportunity for participants to build upon what others say. Part of teaching is moving students out of the paradigm of simply asking questions and getting a teacher response. It is not an easy transition because of years of practice simply answering questions.

Online discussions (using any of the tools at our disposal) is very different and really has no place in class. There is too much simultaneous input for students to 'listen' to each other and maintain the momentum of discussion. This is an excellent format for continuing discussion outside of class or for fostering discussion in students involved in distance learning.

4. It's impossible to answer every question. A teacher can quickly be run ragged trying to respond to different students' questions about HOW to do something in class. I usually insist that students ask people at their table first before asking me. This reduces the questions I am asked to the more essential ones. Also, to be brutally honest, there are certain questions that, after a few requests, I refuse to answer. I will direct students attention to the board, my blog, an online resource or to a peer if I have told the class as a whole several times. I find that for some, this is the only way to encourage technological independence.

NETs and Good Teaching (week of 15 Nov)

The NETs on teaching and administration set admirable goals and describe good teaching. There is no question of that. Congratulations to the authors.

Subtract the 'digital tools' from them (or any permutation of the term) and you are still left with good teaching. That leaves us with two big questions: 1. Do we need NETs?; and 2. Can you be a good teacher without using digital tools?

The answer to number 1? No. I have known great teachers who do not use computers etc. in their classes. Nonetheless, their classrooms resemble in every respect the environment that the NETs evoke (minus the digital tools). Creativity, originality and collaboration do not begin with any particular tools or format. Good teachers find good ways to use good tools. They find ways for students to express themselves and to work together.

I have also known lousy teachers where little of value takes place with or without a digital tool. Their students' work does not reflect analysis, collaboration or introspection. Once again, but in a not so positive way, the tool does not matter.

The NETs serve as guidelines for the kind of work students and teachers should be doing. Of that there is no question. Good teachers will find ways to work with digital tools in great ways whether or not the NETs were ever written. If the NETs serve a purpose it is to guide people to the good pedagogy WITH DIGITAL TOOLS. Shouldn't we just guide people towards good pedagogy? PERIOD - NO QUALIFIERS.

Can you be a good teacher without digital tools? Duh. Do I want to use them in my classroom? Sí. Am I constantly looking for new ways to use them? Definitivamente. Could I go to another school that didn't have a wide array of digital tools available for classroom use? Claro. I would be sad at first, but I know that, just as it always has, my pedagogical practice would adjust to the demands of my environment.

A homework precedent

An interesting article from Calgary...