Technology in the Classroom

 

 

I really enjoyed reading the articles for this week. I feel we are always learning more about technology and that it should definitely be used in the classroom. Tracy Tarasiuk explained very well why she needed to “move her English class to the computer lab.” Her students learned so much better with hands on work and they actually enjoyed doing it! Teachers should stray away from the worksheets and traditional paper and pencil projects and let the students show their abilities in ways that they use every day for their own pleasure. One part of the article I really connected to from my own experience in elementary and middle school. She states “…schools have been slow to acknowledge students’ involvement in information and communication technology (ICT) as a respected form of literacy” (Tarasiuk 544). I can remember doing some projects in school that required using computers and powerpoint presentations but these activities did not meet the needs of the students of the classroom. Even when we did get to do bigger projects that allowed us to use ICTs as a respected form of literacy, they would be one time a year, if that. The only project that I remember doing, that would relate to be as effective as the wikis or the digital book talks, was a project my senior year of high school when we did our own version of a digital book talk. The name of the story escapes my mind right now, but it was about a problem someone had and how they fixed it. It was a preposterous plan to fix his problem and something that would never actually happen. In groups of 3 in my English class, we had to pick a problem in our society and come up with a ridiculous way to solve it. Each group videotaped themselves and made their own mini movies about their problems and how it would be solved. Instead of writing our own story, which many students would not find enticing, the teacher had us create our own story with our actions and spoken words. It took up many hours of class time to complete and perfect, but it was well worth it because it was a meaningful activity that everyone seemed to enjoy. So along with this article, I agree that instead of teaching students how to read using textbooks and write papers with pencil and paper or on the computer with Microsoft Word, schools should use the multiple tools and resources available to them to let the students learn reading and writing in purposeful ways.

 

For my Bauerlein article I read “Decline of the Literate Culture.” It gave statistics about how far literacy has dropped in America. Bauerlein believes that reading will be at risk for us if there is not a lust for reading. They talked more specifically about books and traditional literature and did not consider other ways of reading. Student may need to be exposed to novels like Odysseus and Great Expectations in school, but that may not get them to be an avid reader unless they really enjoy it. I agree with the article when they say that good teachers will give the students an array of books including themes that relate directly to them with adolescent experiences. But “it isn’t a matter of classics versus contemporary books. Young people need both. But in order to have both, students have to develop a lust for reading” (Bauerlein). How do we get those students to have a lust for reading though? Do we use the ideas from Tracy Tarasiuk’s article and let the students learn to love reading through technology and creating their own wikis and digital book talks? Bauerlein would not agree. But Tracy Tarasiuk said that Robert, her at risk student who scored below-level on his Standardized Achievement Test, got higher scores and was proud of work he did. It made him into the leader he needed to be in the classroom. It was a rewarding experience for the students. Bauerlein believes that our country is abandoning literacy and that it is too at risk for comfort. I believe that people may be reading less traditional novels, but the country is not at risk in the way he believes. Young students still participate in a wide assortment of reading materials like forums, blogs, video games, and even articles and books online. Our generation may be different, but we are not at risk for losing literacy in our society.