tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5390199041521256086.post1699538454640894694..comments2023-11-08T19:39:01.829-08:00Comments on The Teacher's View: Education Reform: Hold On To What WorksPaul L. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16571449117336295156noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5390199041521256086.post-40525054368956196822012-06-27T12:21:46.009-07:002012-06-27T12:21:46.009-07:00SolariC,
You hit it directly and concisely. I hav...SolariC,<br /><br />You hit it directly and concisely. I have spent my career in private schools, and what I have seen since administrators have begun demanding the use of technology in the classroom is not enhanced learning, but distracted wandering. I think this institutionalized attention deficit disorder is crippling American education. And I am afraid it is not just impacting students, but teachers as well. I find myself fighting to concentrate and sustain a focus. With the computer on the desk, the rapid-fire images from movies and television, the increasingly faster and more superficial pace of culture, we all might find ourselves unable to focus for sustained reading or study. All part of the dumbing down of our world, I guess.<br /><br />This summer, I am teaching in a fully outfitted technological classroom. It is the pride of our IT department at the college. I will use the equipment when the lesson can be enhanced by it, but I will not use it just because it is there. There is no point in putting up a PowerPoint slide and reading it to students. Integrating video clips, music, library resources via technology--all good if they enhance the lesson. To me, the through-line of teaching methodology is the relationship between the student and teacher. Two people, interacting and discussing a concept, procedure, or lesson. Technology and everything else can only enhance that basic interaction.<br /><br />Thank you so much for your comment. I've printed it and shared it with colleagues because I thought you were so dead on.Paul L. Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16571449117336295156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5390199041521256086.post-58352602915016320592012-06-16T13:22:52.725-07:002012-06-16T13:22:52.725-07:00I teach in a private school where technology is st...I teach in a private school where technology is still almost completely absent. What I find interesting is that the children always have to make a choice as to whether they will interact or not. This choice remains whether one teaches via old-fashioned or new-fangled means. Children can participate in class discussion, blog posting, etc., or they can daydream - it's up to them. <br /><br />I think the problem with technology as a tool for teaching, though, is that it is a highly 'distracted' medium. It encourages a short attention span, since there is always something else new to look at, so even if children make the choice to interact with teachers through blogs and so forth, they no longer have the mentality that prompts them to enter deeply into a discussion and form educated opinions. The difference between my non-technological students and other students I've met, who do use technology, is phenomenal and disheartening.Clare Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12275618718871589963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5390199041521256086.post-42514589293086461972012-06-13T18:24:45.079-07:002012-06-13T18:24:45.079-07:00Hasn't it always been about getting students t...Hasn't it always been about getting students to think deeply? I find it is worse now because everything in our culture encourages the superficial, the instantly gratifying. It is an uphill battle, but to give in means cultural failure, and I am not ready to concede the fight. So we go on...<br /><br />Thanks for the comment, and welcome to The Teacher's View.Paul L. Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16571449117336295156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5390199041521256086.post-35520936191387580402012-06-13T04:37:41.129-07:002012-06-13T04:37:41.129-07:00Paul, I stumbled on your blog this morning for the...Paul, I stumbled on your blog this morning for the first time and have been enjoying reading your posts. Today's regarding technology and education rang true for me because, like you, my classroom is equipped with all the technology I will ever need. And like you, I have found that many of my students (first and second year college) view learning as nothing more than information gathering. Once I ask them to do something more than that, however, many of them flounder. Every answer, at least so they have come to believe, is just a Google search away. When I tell them otherwise, they don't like it. It's a constant battle to get them to go beyond mere information gathering.Rick Diguettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09556088192579865532noreply@blogger.com