Surprisingly, I have seen
little difference in the creativity, interest level or
writing ability of my students.
For the past four years my
class was housed in a portable classroom. This was due
to the remodeling of our elementary school, Park Avenue.
The 4th and 5th grades have been housed in the Middle
School building. A variety of mishaps, with the construction
companies have resulted in numerous delays and lawsuits.
This year marks the fifth year the elementary students
are in the building. I, however have been moved into the
building after an absence of four years.
Presently we are writing about
the same issues, for the most part, summer vacation, book
reviews, the First Assembly and the World Trade Center
tragedy. Students were given a set of questions to be
answered in their essays in these first weeks of school.
The answers to these questions result in a composition
of several paragraphs.
All of the essays, compositions,
poems and news magazine articles my students write this
year will be a part of their ongoing Writing Portfolio.
Typically my students collect
these experiences in a loose-leaf notebook I provide at
the beginning of the school year. My students will also
receive a digital copy of their sixth grade Writing Portfolio
at the end of the school year compiled as a digital yearbook.
Additionally, many of their
writing experiences and photos of their projects will
be displayed on our classroom website, www.middleschoolkidz.com.
The website is used as their
classroom portal to the Internet. We start at the site,
and then branch out from there to complete class work
assignments using the Internet. Our syllabus and entire
curriculum is shown on our website.
One of the first things we
did this school year was to first determine the learning
styles of my students. Learning Style is "the unique
way each person learns most effectively." Our schools
do not reflect what is known about "how students
learn best." Developmental
considerations, learning
styles, multiple
intelligences, technology access and culture
greatly impact the quality and quantity of student learning.
Technology in and of itself
is no panacea for what ails our schools, however, in the
Information Age, it is incumbent upon schools to provide
ALL students (regardless of socioeconomic background)
with meaningful access to technology
tools and teachers trained to effectively integrate
technology and the internet into daily classroom instruction
across the curriculum.
Developmental considerations
directly impact curriculum and instruction. Educators
must plan a developmentally appropriate curriculum that
enhances their students' logical and conceptual growth.
With regard to instruction, teachers must emphasize the
critical role that experiences - or interactions with
the surrounding environment - play in student learning.
For example, instructors have
to take into account the role that fundamental concepts,
such as the permanence of objects, play in establishing
cognitive structures. Clearly, "sage on a stage"
rote memorization does not support students developmentally,
nor does it consider "how students learn best."
We took the VARK
test to evaluate our preferences for the way in which
we process information. The online VARK is available for
students, teachers and parents to determine how they learn
best and take in information.
This V-isual, A-ural, R-ead
and write and K-inesthetic assessment tool can provide
teachers and students with valuable insights into the
ways in which we all process and take in information.
Many students learn best in a combination of the VARK.
Some people are adept in many learning styles.
Sometimes the teacher's learning
style and delivery of instruction style inhibits the learning
styles of their students. Teachers, students and parents
need to be aware of these variables in the classroom.
Part of the technology skills
my students will be learning this year will be based on
the Linux Platform. My students will use the Macintosh
Platform in the school computer lab. They will complete
the remainder of their class work and projects using Linux
in our classroom. The
Room 118 Linux Project will provide my students with
an additional subset of technology skills.
This past summer I was trained
as an instructor of teachers in the
New
York State United Teachers Effective Teaching Program.
My union, NYSUT,
plays an important role in offering educators across the
state graduate level courses to assist our educational
practice in the classroom.
Because of the excellent skills
and strategies I've gained, I'll be more effective in
the classroom. Providing graduate level training to educators
on Long Island is a particular interest of mine. However
my classroom is where I carry out what I've learned and
ultimately my students and I benefit from the intensive
professional development I've received.
In addition to the many projects
and learning experiences we have in class this year, my
students will gain an in-depth focus on a variety of student
portfolios. They will do a theme- based portfolio, a unit
portfolio and an integrated or multidisciplinary portfolio.
They will be able to showcase their learning, their multiple
intelligences and their reflections on their work. In
the end they will be able to demonstrate what they learned
by performing various tasks and projects as we cover our
curriculum in English Language Arts and Social Studies.
What I'm discovering this
year is my sixth grade students are better able to write
and compose directly from the keyboard. I have 43 students
in two sections. I teach English Language Arts, Social
Studies and Reading to these students. Approximately 39
students have computers at home.
What this tells me is that
students today are coming to my class more informed, aware
and interested in technology than ever before. Last year
in fifth grade, students were not exposed to technology.
Their teacher did not take
them to the computer lab to work on projects. They did
not have an extensive writing portfolio from their previous
elementary school. They had one or two samples of essays,
compositions or poems in a manila Writing Portfolio that
was collected by their fifth grade teacher.
From my observation point,
this second week of school, students in my classes are
gaining technology skills at home, on their own computers.
They are often unaware of the many technology skills they
already possess. They often cannot describe to you how
they moved text, inserted pictures or added color to their
text; they just "did it."
I'm encouraged by their technology
skills. The "digital
divide" has narrowed within the confines of my
classroom. Socioeconomic
factors and technology
literacy in schools notwithstanding, I'm heartened
by their written work.
What this also tells me is
that my sixth grade students will be able to go further
and faster than any other class I've taught. The level
of their projects and depths of their writing will almost
certainly improve. I believe our entire technological
experience this year will know no limits.
Our ongoing newspaper The
Room 118 Gazette, will break new ground and illustrate
the learning styles and multiple intelligences of my students.
Does this herald a new day
in technological
literacy? I think so. If schools and teachers are
not versed in the technology,
the students are. They kinesthetically manipulate software
unconsciously, adding interest and demonstrating a familiarity
their teachers may not have.
A 1997
report by the Benton Foundation, cites chilling predictions
by researchers who have investigated educational computing:
"Economically
disadvantaged students, who often use the computer
for remediation and basic skills, learn to do what
the computer tells them, while more affluent students,
who use it for programming and tool applications,
learn to tell the computer what to do.... Such students
[economically disadvantaged] become passive consumers
of electronic information...Once out of school, they
are relegated to low-wage jobs where they may operate
electronic cash registers or bar-code readers. They
may catch on as data-entry clerks, typing page after
page in deadly monotony. They are controlled by technology
as adults - just as drill-and-practice routines controlled
them as students." |
The technology skills of students
are often limited by access.
The more students are exposed to technology, the more
proficient they become. They begin to use technology unconsciously
as a tool. It becomes as familiar as the cell phone, DVD
player or microwave. This generation of students will
not know about record turntables, phone booths, banks
closing at 3pm Mon-Friday, paying bills by mail or stores
closing on Sundays. It's a new day, a new society, user
friendly and consumer oriented.
They must have all the technological
skills needed to succeed in an increasingly technological
world. Their journey towards honing and developing those
skills begins this year in Room 118.
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