I love the sentiment Bellow expresses in this quotation (shared at a workshop I attended this weekend), and I agree that technology has the potential to be a great equalizer. It can empower users with information, tools, and a community, among other things, but there's a predicate need for access to devices as well as (but perhaps less so) to reliable internet access. And the fact of the matter is, not all of my students - not all of most teachers' students - have that, even in our schools.
I struggle with this when I plan activities and experiences for my students with the limited resources I have. Currently, I have ten iPod touches for my students' use (double the number I had last year), and we've done some good work with them - apps help them practice grammar skills, learn new vocabulary, create flashcards from which to study, and even write poetry, and they've enjoyed that work. We've also used the devices as cameras and video recorders as we created multimedia presentations. They're amazing tools, but often I spend as much time trying to manage how the devices can be shared effectively - without the drama that too frequently accompanies sixth graders' sharing - as I do planning for my desired educational outcomes. That's frustrating for me and my students.
As a result, I sometimes ask students who have their own devices with comparable capabilities to use them. It's a choice I make out of efficiency and convenience, but it's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I do enjoy and see value in showing students that the tiny computers that so many of them carry with them all day, every day, are useful for more than calling, texting and gaming. That's important to me. On the other hand, I'm deeply sensitive to and on behalf of the students who don't have a device of their own to pull out at those times. The tension there - not wanting to out students who aren't allowed to or don't have the resources to have their own devices, but recognizing that allowing the students who do to use theirs affords those students more access to the class devices - is tricky to navigate.
That difficulty is compounded and multiplied when I consider the options for work done from home. Knowing the challenges and stresses it can create for students who don't have computers or internet access at home has kept me from doing more flipped lessons in the past, and I'm still struggling with that. This fall I screencasted a lesson about literary terms, and there were two students who couldn't watch the video at all or complete the Google form. I've considered loading the videos onto some of the iPods, but I worry a little bit about lending them out overnight (since even my most delightful and diligent students are notorious for leaving their binders at home). I'm eager to flip more lessons - I see so many advantages to reorganizing and reallocating the use of my class time with students - but I feel like I have to have a better solution to this problem before I start requiring more online work. So that's what I'm mulling over right now.
I struggle with this when I plan activities and experiences for my students with the limited resources I have. Currently, I have ten iPod touches for my students' use (double the number I had last year), and we've done some good work with them - apps help them practice grammar skills, learn new vocabulary, create flashcards from which to study, and even write poetry, and they've enjoyed that work. We've also used the devices as cameras and video recorders as we created multimedia presentations. They're amazing tools, but often I spend as much time trying to manage how the devices can be shared effectively - without the drama that too frequently accompanies sixth graders' sharing - as I do planning for my desired educational outcomes. That's frustrating for me and my students.
As a result, I sometimes ask students who have their own devices with comparable capabilities to use them. It's a choice I make out of efficiency and convenience, but it's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I do enjoy and see value in showing students that the tiny computers that so many of them carry with them all day, every day, are useful for more than calling, texting and gaming. That's important to me. On the other hand, I'm deeply sensitive to and on behalf of the students who don't have a device of their own to pull out at those times. The tension there - not wanting to out students who aren't allowed to or don't have the resources to have their own devices, but recognizing that allowing the students who do to use theirs affords those students more access to the class devices - is tricky to navigate.
That difficulty is compounded and multiplied when I consider the options for work done from home. Knowing the challenges and stresses it can create for students who don't have computers or internet access at home has kept me from doing more flipped lessons in the past, and I'm still struggling with that. This fall I screencasted a lesson about literary terms, and there were two students who couldn't watch the video at all or complete the Google form. I've considered loading the videos onto some of the iPods, but I worry a little bit about lending them out overnight (since even my most delightful and diligent students are notorious for leaving their binders at home). I'm eager to flip more lessons - I see so many advantages to reorganizing and reallocating the use of my class time with students - but I feel like I have to have a better solution to this problem before I start requiring more online work. So that's what I'm mulling over right now.
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