Today in class, we had three former MAC students share with us their experiences. One was present via Skype. Appropriate for our education technology class. I could not have imagined what we learned today.
One of our guests vistorL was a teacher that went to my placement district. He talked about their new policy on cell phones. Previously, there was a no cell phone policy. Next year, they are implementing a red, yellow, green light policy. The teachers have to post on their door if it is red, yellow or green in their classroom. Red light, no cell phone use; yellow light, can be used when asked permission; and green light use at will. I wonder how many teachers will actually let it be a green light. VisitorL said that he already had a green light policy in general. He has an open forum class anyway, and the students learned to balance the use of the cell phone themselves. They figure out if they miss something about a lesson, that they can't use it any more. This seems like a very practical approach, teaching the balance they will need in every day life anyway.
Another one of our guests, visitorK, had some great tidbits of information. He pointed out that he turned into the resident expert when experimenting with new technology in the classroom. If it gained interest in the students, other teachers liked that they kids were generally excited, so they would test it out in their classrooms as well. At that point, a teacher had any issues in implementation, the questions start coming in. VisitorK ended up giving conferences on the new technology pieces to catch people up to speed. We really will be the innovators in the teaching world when we get out there.
VisitorA, when was Skyed in from France, gave some valuable insight on the school she was teaching at. It is in the Ann Arbor area. She said they are currently working on a grant to try and get an iPad into the hands of every student. This is crazy! And exciting.
When I was poking around the internet, searching for an edublogger that I truly would like to follow, I discovered this: OLPC's mission is to empower the world's poorest children through education. If I saw this six weeks ago before the exposure to concepts such as achievement gap tied to socioeconomic status, I would not have had the appreciation I have now. I finally found some edubloggers I can legitimately follow in regards to education technology.
(All right... first video in a blog. Just keep learning.)
What will happen in a world where how much money you have doesn't stop you from gaining access to technology and learning. We are living in an amazing time. Perhaps the best is yet to come.
OLPC also operates on a premise that given equipment, children will gain the capability to learn on their own. Where do teachers fit into that, I wonder???
ReplyDeleteWe look forward to continuing our conversations in September. Jeff and I both feel it is an amazing opportunity to get to be with you throughout your MAC journey!
I was happy to see that it caught your attention that L made such a purposeful effort to situate responsibility with his students. It can sometimes take a while to figure it out, but wherever you can identify natural consequences for behavior you are always well-served. In fact, a lot of teachers have had great success with behavior contracts, where understandings are made explicit.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering how teachers can moderate cell phone use in a science or math class. Unlike some seminar classes, much the of the material in math and science class builds off of previous knowledge. Developing schema in your students is everything and I worry if my students will miss an important concept or opportunity for learning if they are focused on their cell phones.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you enjoyed class on Friday and learned a lot from the visitors. I did as well, and am curious also to see what happens with the implementation of the red, yellow, green light policy. I suppose I don't quite see the huge benefit in having students use their phones in class. Is it really necessary to use it as a learning tool? Wouldn't a computer be a better tool for accessing information, and wouldn't it be easier to monitor what kids are doing on it? Or no?
ReplyDeleteI still am not quite sure how I feel about having kids use their cell phones in class, but I don't have much experience with a smart phone/iPhone, so perhaps there are more benefits that I'm unaware of? Hmmm...
I agree with the cell phone in class being an interesting idea - esp if as Jeff said, there is a behavior contract to go with it. So that students do choose to use their cell phone in class, they know that they are responsible for what they miss. Also, if we as teachers are augmenting our teaching with technology, will it matter as much if they aren't paying attention in class as they will have access to materials outside class as well? As always each conversation only seems to create more questions :)
ReplyDeleteI wonder as well, would anyone ever use cell phones as an assessment tool? With the amount of students actually owning a cell phone ever growing, will we be able to utilize the technology that students already have? I wonder how long it will be before everyone has a smartphone!
ReplyDeleteI definitely affirm your wanting to empower the world's poorest children by education!
And I am proud that you incorporated a video into your blog! So tech savvy!