Coming back to teaching in the States has been in some ways very relieving. Youtube isn't blocked. I can access my g-mail. Internet speeds are fast. And I am no longer covered in chalk.
If you take a look at the picture you will notice lots of things, but I want to focus on the large green monstrosity in the center of the image.
China has one of the largest populations on the planet. It also has some of the most cell phone dependent people I have met in my life. Not a day went by where I didn't witness someone run into something or someone, trip, or fall because of their focus and dedication to whatever was happening on their phone. So how come a country with billions of people and a culture full of dedicated cell phone users has no technology in their classrooms? Now that isn't true of every school or every classroom. The universities I taught in had projectors and occasionally internet access. Training schools are also well equipped. For the most part, however, most of the K-12 schools I visited had little to no technology in the classroom. Chalkboards were abundant.
This experience I had in China is not anomalous. In the US you walk into schools filled with technology, students who are on phones/tablets/computers, but when you get up close you realize they are covered in dust, in need of maintenance, or out-of-date and students are on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter. Teachers are provided with all kinds of gadgets and software but not the time to learn to use them effectively. We are told to use technology in the classroom but do not know how. The Future Learning Documentary asks the questions, "Can any teacher say that we are preparing today's children for the role they will play in a society in 2031?" Based on my observations of the use of technology in the classroom today, I would argue no.
Students need to be digital citizens. They need to know how to interact with netizens all around the world. Our curriculum should meet the needs of our students. Curriculums change over time, we have all experienced this (thanks Common Core). So why are we still teaching our students information that they don't need? I liked the curriculum presented by Sugata Mitra: reading comprehension, information search and retrieval skills, and how to believe aka arming the child against doctrine. (Although I would call "how to believe" critical thinking) These are skills that students will need for the rest of their lives. I don't need to know how to calculate the circumference of a circle, I have Google and a calculator app. I don't need to know the key players in the Franco-Prussian War, I have Wikipedia. I do need to know how to read, how to find the answers, and how to determine the quality of the information. So why is it that these aren't the focus of our curriculum?
In my humble opinion, the reason why digital literacy and future learning aren't major components of our curriculum is because we as teachers are unprepared. We're old and tired and insert excuse here. Teaching is a lot of work and without support we are kind of stuck. But for me why is the important question. For me the important question is how. How do bring technology into the classroom? How do I develop my own instruction and personal knowledge so that I can help my students to develop into digitally literate critical thinkers for their lives outside of the classroom? I am open to suggestions!
If you haven't used VideoNot.es before, you should check it out! I have linked the videos I watched and my own notes below!
Future Learning Video
Future Learning Video Notes
The Future Starts Now Video
The Future Starts Now Video Notes
China has one of the largest populations on the planet. It also has some of the most cell phone dependent people I have met in my life. Not a day went by where I didn't witness someone run into something or someone, trip, or fall because of their focus and dedication to whatever was happening on their phone. So how come a country with billions of people and a culture full of dedicated cell phone users has no technology in their classrooms? Now that isn't true of every school or every classroom. The universities I taught in had projectors and occasionally internet access. Training schools are also well equipped. For the most part, however, most of the K-12 schools I visited had little to no technology in the classroom. Chalkboards were abundant.
This experience I had in China is not anomalous. In the US you walk into schools filled with technology, students who are on phones/tablets/computers, but when you get up close you realize they are covered in dust, in need of maintenance, or out-of-date and students are on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter. Teachers are provided with all kinds of gadgets and software but not the time to learn to use them effectively. We are told to use technology in the classroom but do not know how. The Future Learning Documentary asks the questions, "Can any teacher say that we are preparing today's children for the role they will play in a society in 2031?" Based on my observations of the use of technology in the classroom today, I would argue no.
Students need to be digital citizens. They need to know how to interact with netizens all around the world. Our curriculum should meet the needs of our students. Curriculums change over time, we have all experienced this (thanks Common Core). So why are we still teaching our students information that they don't need? I liked the curriculum presented by Sugata Mitra: reading comprehension, information search and retrieval skills, and how to believe aka arming the child against doctrine. (Although I would call "how to believe" critical thinking) These are skills that students will need for the rest of their lives. I don't need to know how to calculate the circumference of a circle, I have Google and a calculator app. I don't need to know the key players in the Franco-Prussian War, I have Wikipedia. I do need to know how to read, how to find the answers, and how to determine the quality of the information. So why is it that these aren't the focus of our curriculum?
In my humble opinion, the reason why digital literacy and future learning aren't major components of our curriculum is because we as teachers are unprepared. We're old and tired and insert excuse here. Teaching is a lot of work and without support we are kind of stuck. But for me why is the important question. For me the important question is how. How do bring technology into the classroom? How do I develop my own instruction and personal knowledge so that I can help my students to develop into digitally literate critical thinkers for their lives outside of the classroom? I am open to suggestions!
If you haven't used VideoNot.es before, you should check it out! I have linked the videos I watched and my own notes below!
Future Learning Video
Future Learning Video Notes
The Future Starts Now Video
The Future Starts Now Video Notes
When I was in China in 2005, there was so much technology everywhere but in the classrooms. Based on the picture you have it looks the same as the ones I visited. Sad that they look like so many American classrooms where there is a ton of technology in the hands of kids everywhere but in their classrooms. What a world where you can order your groceries and all of your banking on your phone but you have to teach your students with chalk and erasers.
ReplyDeleteMeg, your experiences in teaching are so neat to read about. I loved hearing about your time in China and how different it is. I am one of those teachers in the US with boxes upon boxes of dusty technology that I simply don't have time to learn. I chose the Masters in Education and Technology mostly for that reason. I completely agree with your thoughts on teachers being unprepared. It's sad but true. I have been sharing all sorts of different resources that I am learning about with the teachers in my building in hopes of inspiring someone to use them! Again, your experiences sound amazing and I'm excited to read more about them this semester.
ReplyDeleteNo worries! I am one of those teachers too at times! Sometimes there is just too much to keep up with!
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DeleteHello Meg. Reading your video response reminded me a lot of what I wrote. I completely agree with you that we should think about what we really need to teach our students to prepare them for future circumstances. I even made the exact same comment about putting particular emphasis on how to recognize and retrieve reliable information. This skill is becoming more and more important as fake information is becoming seemingly more prevalent. I taught in Korea for four years, and the classroom in your picture resembles my classrooms in Korea almost identically. However, there is one difference in Korea. Recently, they have been trying to transition into 'full-scale educational technology super school mode.' This was evident to me when I was there because they were continuously installing smart screens and projectors in every room throughout the time I was there. Sometimes changing everything around more than once. They were even thinking of integrating iPads into the classroom. This was all great, but I noticed that many of the older teachers didn't know how to use the technology to its full potential. They just used it for basic purposes. Their lessons didn't really change much despite the new technology. Installing the technology is the easy part; over coming technological fear, old-school style pride, and gaining training on how to best make use of the technology to benefit the students is the hard part!
DeleteHi Meg, I enjoy reading your teaching experience in China which is a bit similar to my learning experience in Taiwan. From my learning experience, I would say many teachers are rush to catch up with tech tread and incorporate those tech in their teaching; however, they are not well-prepared about how to use it, and how to incorporate it to fit students' learning goals. I have experienced some teachers who are eager to introduce some websites or technology to their students even they are not sure how to use it. Therefore, it turns out that the teacher spent tons of time figuring out how to use it in front of the class. I agree with what you mentioned teachers should know how to bring technology into classroom properly. By doing so, students can develop their digitally literate critical thinking and benefit their future.
DeleteI loved reading about your teaching experiences! I have always wanted to teach in a classroom abroad. The one point that really stuck out to me was the teachers not having the time to learn how to use the newest technologies. I feel that the school districts need to be providing, or even requiring, professional development specifically on how to use the technology they are given. They can also offer these programs during the summer or provide substitutes to cover the class on a school day.
ReplyDeleteHi Meg! I cannot agree more with you on the importance of technology use in classroom. When students bring more technology products in to classrooms, such as phones, laptops, iPads, it doesn't mean we really bring technology into classrooms for teaching and learning use. Students need to learn how to use these high-tech products as tools of learning smartly. Your picture reminds me of my study in China. It was 2000 when I was a first grader in an elementary school, and it was 2016 when I graduated from my university. 16 years had past, and people were using more and more smart phones and laptops, however, chalks and blackboards have always existed in classrooms. Although I can feel the changes in classrooms made by technology development, they are much less than the changes which happened outside our classrooms. I still remember that some of my teachers were not willing to use the active whiteboard although we had one in our classroom because they thought it was too complicated, so I agree your words that teachers should get prepared!
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