Being a product of Catholic upbringing and schooling, I was exposed to a lot of Latin. The older form of the mass, the 'Tridentine' mass, which could only be said in Latin, was supplanted in the mid 1960s by the newer 'Novus ordo' mass which could be said in any language. If memory serves, it was probably around that same time that my school stopped having Latin classes.
Though we complained about having to learn Latin, it turns out that it is the basis for all Romance languages, such as Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and French. So for those of us who were lucky enough to take Latin, learning a Romance language in high school was made a lot easier. Thank you Sister Joseph Theresa!
I don't think there are many US high schools, even Catholic ones, that teach Latin anymore. Too bad. Not only because it gives students a solid base for learning Romance languages, but it also provides them with the basis for many of the words they need to spell and read. As Dr. Larabee in Akeelah and the Bee said, "Big words come from small words."
There are solid arguments on both sides of the aisle about the usefulness of learning Latin. I'm of the mind that building a strong foundation allows for more depth and breadth of learning later on.
"Utile Dulci" - the useful with the agreeable. I think it's pretty obvious where I stand on this. Latin may be old school -- come to think of it, so am I -- but to my way of thinking it can lead to more agreeable things such as being a more effective communicator, a better reader and decoder of words. It also gives students a leg up on taking the SAT; all of a sudden those unknown words can now be deciphered much easier, even if you don't know their exact meaning right out of the gate! And lastly, it can be the foundation and springboard for learning other languages, which, and I can't stress this enough, is an important tool to have in this global society and global business world.
I know this is a pipe dream for most schools, especially public schools. Perhaps, one day, when the Powers That Be have figured out that the acquisition of random memorized pieces of information do not make for educated citizens, our community schools will have the freedom to offer a Latin class or two to their students. It may be useful, and perhaps even agreeable ;-)
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Saturday, September 7, 2013
They're Not My Kids!!
I am enthralled by Bill de Blasio, New York's mayoral candidate.
This guy wants to increase taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers so that all four-year-olds get city-funded full-day pre-kindergarten classes AND all middle-schoolers can participate in after-school extra-curricular programs!
And the wealthy are up in arms....Oh. What. A. Surprise.
The wealthy cry foul when Joe and Jill Citizen want the meager $22,000-a-year spent on public school students (and that's the highest in the country) increased to $25,000-a-year though many of those crying foul have their children in private schools where tuition is in excess of $35,000-a-year.
I will be watching the New York mayoral race closely. Big Bill, all six feet five inches of him, could be the catalyst for a real public education reform movement. And I'm not talkin' about the Michelle Rhee toxic psuedo-reform kind of movement.
And the wealthy are up in arms....Oh. What. A. Surprise.
The wealthy cry foul when Joe and Jill Citizen want the meager $22,000-a-year spent on public school students (and that's the highest in the country) increased to $25,000-a-year though many of those crying foul have their children in private schools where tuition is in excess of $35,000-a-year.
I will be watching the New York mayoral race closely. Big Bill, all six feet five inches of him, could be the catalyst for a real public education reform movement. And I'm not talkin' about the Michelle Rhee toxic psuedo-reform kind of movement.
Friday, September 6, 2013
Grammar Guide
Came across The Grammar Guide site while looking for the correct usage of affect and effect, which for the most part I get right. But what caught my eye in the right hand column was the Quizzes section. I'm always a sucker for those. After a half hour of taking multiple quizzes I am embarrassed to say that I did not do as well as I thought I would. Sister Mary Albert would not be pleased.
Not sure if this is a useful resource for students or teachers but it was informative nonetheless. I find that I always learn something from taking quizzes like these. So just for fun I'm going to ask my granddaughter to try her hand on a few of these and see how she does. Maybe she'll pick up a thing or two!
Monday, August 19, 2013
Debating; learning to be logical and persuasive
Teenagers are illogical by nature so helping them morph into reasonable and cogent adults can be a daunting task. Like most parents, I tried to make sure that my kids were prepared for the adult world -- intellectually, emotionally and socially. Some things were easier than others.
Choices and responsibility increased with age. They took more control of their lives. Choices became more consequential and so it was important for them to learn how to be more thoughtful in their decision making process. How the hell do you teach that?!! How do you know if they are being thoughtful in their decisions?!
I come from a big family that was politically active. The dinner table saw many lively discussions about an upcoming election, civil rights or whether the voting age should be changed to 18. But my parents always encouraged us to be logical, persuasive and, if possible, provide supporting evidence for our arguments.
And because of those amazing political discussions I decided that I too could teach my children to logically and persuasively make an argument which would then make them more thoughtful in their decision making. At least that was my hope
I'm not sure if I ever said to them, "Here are the Guidelines." Most likely it was a hit and miss approach -- feedback on how they should have made their case. The Guidelines were in my head......
Picture if you will, me standing in front of the kitchen sink. My son comes up behind me and holds my shoulders so I'll stay facing away from him. He asks, "What's the worst thing I could do?" I'm pretty sure most mothers with a teenage son would have responded the same way I did, "Get a girl pregnant." My head was ready to explode!! He then turns me around and shows/tells me that he got his nose pierced. My relief trumped my pathetically feeble protest. Three weeks later the parent/child equilibrium was restored when he had nose cartilage repair and the piercing closed due to lack of use.
I believe that our children learn more by our examples than our words. From a not-so-positive situation I got to show my son how to argue persuasively. His junior year he was expelled for the last half of the school year -- I did say that it was not-so-positive didn't I? He was allowed to do Independent Study during this time -- working from home except for weekly appointments with his IS (Independent Studies) teacher.
On his first day we met with his IS teacher. She gave him his textbooks and a copy of the assignments. The assignments were to be turned in every Friday. Quizzes were also given at this time.
At this juncture I should mention that since 1st grade my son's teacher have complained that he completes his classwork too quickly, gets bored and then disrupts the people around him. Giving him more challenging work was not their answer to this problem. This was cause for much frustration in our family.
Because of his history of accelerated learning I asked the IS teacher if there would be a problem with him completing the assignments ahead of time. The conversation went something like this:
One needs to know how to research information, speak succinctly, take notes, evaluate information, and provide supporting evidence . And it doesn't have to be taught in its purest form. It's component parts can be incorporated into Language Arts, History, Civics, Media and even Math (what good debater doesn't like using statistical references!).
And as a recruiter and manager I can tell you that communicating effectively and being able to give a persuasive argument are skills that I see sorely lacking in many new college grads but are skills they need in order to be successful in the workplace.
Below are a list of sites that I hope you will find useful on designing debate curriculum for your middle and high school class. And, just as an aside........ I would be thrilled to see Teacher Education programs include topics such as Teaching Debating Skills to Middle and High School Students. Someday!
Choices and responsibility increased with age. They took more control of their lives. Choices became more consequential and so it was important for them to learn how to be more thoughtful in their decision making process. How the hell do you teach that?!! How do you know if they are being thoughtful in their decisions?!
I come from a big family that was politically active. The dinner table saw many lively discussions about an upcoming election, civil rights or whether the voting age should be changed to 18. But my parents always encouraged us to be logical, persuasive and, if possible, provide supporting evidence for our arguments.
And because of those amazing political discussions I decided that I too could teach my children to logically and persuasively make an argument which would then make them more thoughtful in their decision making. At least that was my hope
I'm not sure if I ever said to them, "Here are the Guidelines." Most likely it was a hit and miss approach -- feedback on how they should have made their case. The Guidelines were in my head......
- State your case clearly.
- Try to anticipate what the arguments would be against it.
- Be logical in your reasons for doing it. Explain the benefits.
Picture if you will, me standing in front of the kitchen sink. My son comes up behind me and holds my shoulders so I'll stay facing away from him. He asks, "What's the worst thing I could do?" I'm pretty sure most mothers with a teenage son would have responded the same way I did, "Get a girl pregnant." My head was ready to explode!! He then turns me around and shows/tells me that he got his nose pierced. My relief trumped my pathetically feeble protest. Three weeks later the parent/child equilibrium was restored when he had nose cartilage repair and the piercing closed due to lack of use.
I believe that our children learn more by our examples than our words. From a not-so-positive situation I got to show my son how to argue persuasively. His junior year he was expelled for the last half of the school year -- I did say that it was not-so-positive didn't I? He was allowed to do Independent Study during this time -- working from home except for weekly appointments with his IS (Independent Studies) teacher.
On his first day we met with his IS teacher. She gave him his textbooks and a copy of the assignments. The assignments were to be turned in every Friday. Quizzes were also given at this time.
At this juncture I should mention that since 1st grade my son's teacher have complained that he completes his classwork too quickly, gets bored and then disrupts the people around him. Giving him more challenging work was not their answer to this problem. This was cause for much frustration in our family.
Because of his history of accelerated learning I asked the IS teacher if there would be a problem with him completing the assignments ahead of time. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Will there be a problem with him completing multiple assignments within the week?
Teacher: We like the students to stick to the assignment schedule.
Me: Why?
Teacher: We have the curriculum broken up into chunks that are manageable.
Me: Is there a drawback to him managing larger chunks?
Teacher: We like to have the students stay on the schedule we have set up for them.
Me: Why?
Teacher: It makes it easier to manage.
Me: Easier to manage for who?
Teacher: No response
Me: You have students at all different levels and studying different subjects, correct?
Teacher: Yes
Me: So how would accelerated learning make things unmanageable?
Teacher: We need to stay with the schedule.
At this point I knew I was dealing with someone who was being illogical as well as thinking more about what worked for HER versus what worked best for my son......the student.
Me: Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the objective to have him complete the assigned work?
Teacher: Yes.
Me: So if he completes all the assignments and passes all the tests then the objective has been met.
She must have decided that further arguing would be futile so she agreed with the accelerated schedule.
I'm not sure if logic and persuasion ruled the moment or if the teacher just wanted to get me out of there. But to this day my son still recalls this particular debate and believes that logic and perseverance won him the right to learn at his own pace. BTW, he completed all assignments in half the time and aced every one of his tests!
Before writing this post I did a little research into debate classes offered in high school. I was happy to see that debate classes are making somewhat of a resurgence in our public schools!
Debating teaches so much more than just learning to argue your point. As Betty Maddox, a former debate coach and now a consultant with the Atlanta Public Schools said, ".....debate has a surprisingly wide academic reach. Students who are disengaged in a traditional classroom setting gravitate to debate. The excitement of debate tournaments ignites their intellectual curiosity. Once their mind catches fire, the curiosity spreads to other areas of their life. They begin to ask critically-informed questions about their history textbooks, their neighborhoods, and the nightly news. I've seen the Reading Scores of students who join debate jump two or three grade levels in a single semester."
Before writing this post I did a little research into debate classes offered in high school. I was happy to see that debate classes are making somewhat of a resurgence in our public schools!
Debating teaches so much more than just learning to argue your point. As Betty Maddox, a former debate coach and now a consultant with the Atlanta Public Schools said, ".....debate has a surprisingly wide academic reach. Students who are disengaged in a traditional classroom setting gravitate to debate. The excitement of debate tournaments ignites their intellectual curiosity. Once their mind catches fire, the curiosity spreads to other areas of their life. They begin to ask critically-informed questions about their history textbooks, their neighborhoods, and the nightly news. I've seen the Reading Scores of students who join debate jump two or three grade levels in a single semester."
One needs to know how to research information, speak succinctly, take notes, evaluate information, and provide supporting evidence . And it doesn't have to be taught in its purest form. It's component parts can be incorporated into Language Arts, History, Civics, Media and even Math (what good debater doesn't like using statistical references!).
And as a recruiter and manager I can tell you that communicating effectively and being able to give a persuasive argument are skills that I see sorely lacking in many new college grads but are skills they need in order to be successful in the workplace.
Below are a list of sites that I hope you will find useful on designing debate curriculum for your middle and high school class. And, just as an aside........ I would be thrilled to see Teacher Education programs include topics such as Teaching Debating Skills to Middle and High School Students. Someday!
- Teaching Argumentation & Debate: An Educator's Activity Manual
- NAUDL - National Association for Urban Debate Leagues
- Middle School Debate Program
- Teaching Debate - Kate Schuster
- Public Debate Program
- Resources for Classroom Debates - Education World
- Bright Hub Education
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
The Marshmellow Challenge
It tickles me to see an exercise that is used for team building in Fortune 500 companies, be used in a kindergarten class.
This deceptively simple exercise encourages teams to experience simple but profound lessons in collaboration, innovation and creativity.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Learning Is Not Linear
I just finished watching this wonderful talk by Sir Ken Robinson, who is a speaker and author on education and creativity.
I especially liked his comment about our educational system being modeled after the fast food industry. That is so right on! Education is not linear. It is organic.
We're not building a million Model T's but, in actuality, we're producing Jettas, Corvettes, Mercedes and Cadillacs; a combination of different models and colors and features. We, as a society, have more choices picking out the exact car we want than we have designing a curriculum that's right for each of our children. What does that say about us?
I once had a teacher who told me that we will learn in spite of his teaching. Was he telling me that his teaching had no impact on my life? That teachers really don't have much meaning in our lives? He went on to say that there are a lot of mediocre teachers out there and that we'll be lucky to have a half dozen that will positively impact us. I was a silly teenager at the time so I didn't give much thought to the bombshell he had just lobbed at us.
I've had over 40 years to think about that statement. I've thought about it, not from a teenager's point of view but, rather, from an adult's perspective. Do I think he was right? Yes and No. There are so many variables when thinking about our educational system and the teachers and students that comprise it. Learning modalities have always intrigued me. How information is presented. But deeper than that is how people learn. And I don't mean sitting in a classroom kind of learning. I mean day-to-day learning. Unstructured. Organic.
It is a wondrous thing to watch kids educate themselves. Case in point.......my 12 year old grandson and 3 of his friends were enjoying watching the mockingbirds in the yard swoop down and attack the family dog. I told them she was protecting her nest and that she would go after all sorts of animals as well as humans if they get too close to her nest. This lead to a lively discussion about birds and their behaviors. I mentioned that my favorite bird video was on Starlings and how 100's at a time will flock together, racing around in the sky. It is a thing to behold. Like most 12 year olds, these boys are YouTube aficionados and immediately went to the computer and found the video below.
I would have been quite content to sit there for the entire 5+ minutes watching starlings, but I saw the boys get a bit restless so I innocently inquired as to where Otmoor was. They Googled it. Wikipedia had a short piece on it -- it's in England. Up came Google. Googling Otmoor, one comes up with a lot of birding sites. "There's no map" one of them says. I pipe in, "Maybe you should use another search term." A few were thrown out but the consensus was to use Otmoor map. Wikipedia told them that Otmoor is in Oxfordshire, UK. Google maps showed them what the surrounding area looked like. Lots of green and lots of funny names of places, like Weston-on-the-Green and Charlton-on-Otmoor. I asked them if they had ever heard the name Oxford. A resounding "no" from all of them. I went on to tell them that it was a famous college like Stanford. "Oh" is all I got back. I was losing them. I reminded my grandson that his grandfather was born in England. Coventry, England. Let's find it on the map. Someone typed in Coventry and selected Coventry, United Kingdom. I might add here that none of them had ever been outside the U.S.. Before I totally lost them, we got to see what the city of Coventry looked like, how far away it was from Oxfordshire and that Coventry was equidistant from Oxfordshire as London was from Oxfordshire.
I wanted to add just a little more to their knowledge base by asking them what "shire" meant, since there was an Oxford and an Oxfordshire but they had grown restless and ran outside to play hoops. But, hey, I should be happy that in those 15 minutes, they learned a little about birds, geography, topography, a little history and.........research! They had to try different key words and then check out multiple sources. It wasn't pure organic learning -- I manipulated some of it -- but they learned a little and hopefully realized that there was a ton of information at their fingertips.
I don't believe in pure organic learning 100% of the time. Kids need the basics and there are times that their learning needs to be guided. But when all learning is guided, children lose their curiosity, which is a strong motivator for lifelong learning. The Sudbury Valley School is the quintessential organic learning model for schools. Daniel Greenberg, one of the Founders of Sudbury, when discussing why education is failing said, "Schools today are institutions in which "learning" is taken to mean "being taught." You want people to learn? Teach them! You want them to learn more? Teach them more! And more! Work them harder. Drill them longer."
Sudbury students have an intrinsic love of learning. They tend to fare better in college in choosing their majors and motivating themselves versus other students who have always been told what to do in school; what to learn, how to learn it, when to go to the bathroom, how much time to spend on a project........
I think there is a way to make learning more organic in our schools and in order to do this, the very first thing we need to do is eliminate high stakes testing. That is the driving force in public education and it kills curiosity and creativity; not only for students but for teachers.
As a recruiter I look for people who are curious. Did they learn another language just because they wanted to? Did they travel to learn about other cultures? Did they learn to make crepes because they had some at a restaurant? And as a manager I encouraged my employees to take on challenges and follow their interests. Many of them ended up in careers that had nothing to do with their college majors! And they learned to take charge of their career paths.
Life is not linear. It's pretty messy. Education needs to prepare us for that.
I especially liked his comment about our educational system being modeled after the fast food industry. That is so right on! Education is not linear. It is organic.
We're not building a million Model T's but, in actuality, we're producing Jettas, Corvettes, Mercedes and Cadillacs; a combination of different models and colors and features. We, as a society, have more choices picking out the exact car we want than we have designing a curriculum that's right for each of our children. What does that say about us?
I once had a teacher who told me that we will learn in spite of his teaching. Was he telling me that his teaching had no impact on my life? That teachers really don't have much meaning in our lives? He went on to say that there are a lot of mediocre teachers out there and that we'll be lucky to have a half dozen that will positively impact us. I was a silly teenager at the time so I didn't give much thought to the bombshell he had just lobbed at us.
I've had over 40 years to think about that statement. I've thought about it, not from a teenager's point of view but, rather, from an adult's perspective. Do I think he was right? Yes and No. There are so many variables when thinking about our educational system and the teachers and students that comprise it. Learning modalities have always intrigued me. How information is presented. But deeper than that is how people learn. And I don't mean sitting in a classroom kind of learning. I mean day-to-day learning. Unstructured. Organic.
It is a wondrous thing to watch kids educate themselves. Case in point.......my 12 year old grandson and 3 of his friends were enjoying watching the mockingbirds in the yard swoop down and attack the family dog. I told them she was protecting her nest and that she would go after all sorts of animals as well as humans if they get too close to her nest. This lead to a lively discussion about birds and their behaviors. I mentioned that my favorite bird video was on Starlings and how 100's at a time will flock together, racing around in the sky. It is a thing to behold. Like most 12 year olds, these boys are YouTube aficionados and immediately went to the computer and found the video below.
I would have been quite content to sit there for the entire 5+ minutes watching starlings, but I saw the boys get a bit restless so I innocently inquired as to where Otmoor was. They Googled it. Wikipedia had a short piece on it -- it's in England. Up came Google. Googling Otmoor, one comes up with a lot of birding sites. "There's no map" one of them says. I pipe in, "Maybe you should use another search term." A few were thrown out but the consensus was to use Otmoor map. Wikipedia told them that Otmoor is in Oxfordshire, UK. Google maps showed them what the surrounding area looked like. Lots of green and lots of funny names of places, like Weston-on-the-Green and Charlton-on-Otmoor. I asked them if they had ever heard the name Oxford. A resounding "no" from all of them. I went on to tell them that it was a famous college like Stanford. "Oh" is all I got back. I was losing them. I reminded my grandson that his grandfather was born in England. Coventry, England. Let's find it on the map. Someone typed in Coventry and selected Coventry, United Kingdom. I might add here that none of them had ever been outside the U.S.. Before I totally lost them, we got to see what the city of Coventry looked like, how far away it was from Oxfordshire and that Coventry was equidistant from Oxfordshire as London was from Oxfordshire.
I wanted to add just a little more to their knowledge base by asking them what "shire" meant, since there was an Oxford and an Oxfordshire but they had grown restless and ran outside to play hoops. But, hey, I should be happy that in those 15 minutes, they learned a little about birds, geography, topography, a little history and.........research! They had to try different key words and then check out multiple sources. It wasn't pure organic learning -- I manipulated some of it -- but they learned a little and hopefully realized that there was a ton of information at their fingertips.
I don't believe in pure organic learning 100% of the time. Kids need the basics and there are times that their learning needs to be guided. But when all learning is guided, children lose their curiosity, which is a strong motivator for lifelong learning. The Sudbury Valley School is the quintessential organic learning model for schools. Daniel Greenberg, one of the Founders of Sudbury, when discussing why education is failing said, "Schools today are institutions in which "learning" is taken to mean "being taught." You want people to learn? Teach them! You want them to learn more? Teach them more! And more! Work them harder. Drill them longer."
Sudbury students have an intrinsic love of learning. They tend to fare better in college in choosing their majors and motivating themselves versus other students who have always been told what to do in school; what to learn, how to learn it, when to go to the bathroom, how much time to spend on a project........
I think there is a way to make learning more organic in our schools and in order to do this, the very first thing we need to do is eliminate high stakes testing. That is the driving force in public education and it kills curiosity and creativity; not only for students but for teachers.
As a recruiter I look for people who are curious. Did they learn another language just because they wanted to? Did they travel to learn about other cultures? Did they learn to make crepes because they had some at a restaurant? And as a manager I encouraged my employees to take on challenges and follow their interests. Many of them ended up in careers that had nothing to do with their college majors! And they learned to take charge of their career paths.
Life is not linear. It's pretty messy. Education needs to prepare us for that.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
One More Technology Tool for Education
After reading an article about utilizing data in our educational system I was left with a lot more questions than answers. First, let me say that I applaud the work that Code for America does for government entities. I want our educational system to come into the 21st century and have the tools they need to be more efficient and productive.
My concern is that there are limits to what data can be captured and quantified. Test-based accountability has driven our curriculum for way too long. How can we test to see if our students are asking good questions, and then using all the tools they can muster to investigate and answer those questions? Can they problem solve? Are they critical thinkers? Will that information be part of the data that is utilized by the school district? I doubt it.
As a recruiter I utilize many different tools in order to find, interview and hire the best people. When interviewing, the interview team looks for skills expertise, culture fit and problem solving ability. For the latter I've seen many different types of problem solving questions. Most of these are used as brain teasers or logic questions. The answer is not important. What is important is how to work through the problem. I also use behavioral interview questions. These are basically open ended questions which will give me an idea of problem solving in real life situations.
Hmmm, so if students were to get tested on these open ended problem solving questions, could we rank their answers? Could their problem solving ability be tracked? I'm not confident it could be. The answers to such problem solving questions would be in an essay format and scoring them would be a little subjective. NO you say? Well, yes it would be. Do you give the student who came up with 3 possibilities more credit than the student who only gave one? Or how about the student who gives 3 possibilities but 2 of them are fairly lame?
As any teacher knows, grading essays is much more difficult than counting the number of correct multiple choice answers. This would entail more work for the teacher but, oh, the insight that essays would give you!
Back in 1985 we had 2 Apple IIe computers for our school. Using computers in the classroom, that was not a computer lab, was relatively new. One other teacher and myself were the only two teachers who A) knew how to use a personal computer and B) had any interest in using it in our classroom. I used Bank Street Writer and had kids "type" in a journal. I thought I was so radical, using technology in the classroom. But basically I was swapping one tool for another. Instead of using a pencil and paper for writing their journals, I had my students use a computer. I look back on that now and think how far we have come in how we can use technology in education.
These wonderful new online tools that we have at our disposal have their place. But I worry that they will be seen as the ONLY answer to bridging the technology divide. They are just one of many tools that teachers and districts can utilize.
More to follow........
My concern is that there are limits to what data can be captured and quantified. Test-based accountability has driven our curriculum for way too long. How can we test to see if our students are asking good questions, and then using all the tools they can muster to investigate and answer those questions? Can they problem solve? Are they critical thinkers? Will that information be part of the data that is utilized by the school district? I doubt it.
As a recruiter I utilize many different tools in order to find, interview and hire the best people. When interviewing, the interview team looks for skills expertise, culture fit and problem solving ability. For the latter I've seen many different types of problem solving questions. Most of these are used as brain teasers or logic questions. The answer is not important. What is important is how to work through the problem. I also use behavioral interview questions. These are basically open ended questions which will give me an idea of problem solving in real life situations.
Hmmm, so if students were to get tested on these open ended problem solving questions, could we rank their answers? Could their problem solving ability be tracked? I'm not confident it could be. The answers to such problem solving questions would be in an essay format and scoring them would be a little subjective. NO you say? Well, yes it would be. Do you give the student who came up with 3 possibilities more credit than the student who only gave one? Or how about the student who gives 3 possibilities but 2 of them are fairly lame?
As any teacher knows, grading essays is much more difficult than counting the number of correct multiple choice answers. This would entail more work for the teacher but, oh, the insight that essays would give you!
Back in 1985 we had 2 Apple IIe computers for our school. Using computers in the classroom, that was not a computer lab, was relatively new. One other teacher and myself were the only two teachers who A) knew how to use a personal computer and B) had any interest in using it in our classroom. I used Bank Street Writer and had kids "type" in a journal. I thought I was so radical, using technology in the classroom. But basically I was swapping one tool for another. Instead of using a pencil and paper for writing their journals, I had my students use a computer. I look back on that now and think how far we have come in how we can use technology in education.
These wonderful new online tools that we have at our disposal have their place. But I worry that they will be seen as the ONLY answer to bridging the technology divide. They are just one of many tools that teachers and districts can utilize.
More to follow........
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