Posts Tagged ‘technology’

Each week at TCR, educational magazines are passed around to all the editors to keep us aware of trends, hot topics, and current research. It’s become one of our “eyes” into the classroom. Each magazine has its own focus, whether it be technology, literacy, or the like. And while some of the articles can have overlapping ideas, one article I read today put a new spin on an old idea. Little did they know, however, that their subjects included more than just students.

In “Focusing the Brain,” an article in Educational Leadership, Marilee Sprenger suggests that because students have multiple technological devices and often use more than one at once, they’ve become “passive viewers.”¹ Instead of thoroughly reviewing, absorbing, and then reflecting on information, students are skimming, scanning, and then quickly moving on to the next task. Sprenger illustrates this through Emily—an average teenager who is “focusing on her homework assignment.” Naturally, while researching the Civil War, she is listening to Coldplay, sending instant messages, answering her cell phone, and text-messaging. Sound like someone you know? Actually, it sounds like a lot of people I know.

Just the other night, I was sitting in my room with my laptop open, listening to Swell Season, reading recipes online for turkey brine, and answering my husband’s shopping list questions, all while watching Glee—well, sort of watching (but not really reading or offering many grocery options for my husband). It’s terrible! Last month I was reading Real Simple and was delighted to find a spoof on multitasking. The author, A. J. Jacobs, vowed to go “cold turkey” from multitasking for a month. Instead, he would focus on one task at a time. He called it Operation Focus.² Of course, more often than not, he failed (though, not without a valiant effort). We all do. How can we not? We’re surrounded by gadgets, people, TV shows, and, if you’re a teacher, activities, realia, and STUDENTS! You might be the worst violators of multitasking out of everyone (Be proud!). But, here’s the thing, if you can isolate the times that require focused attention and truly deliver, then it’s OK to multitask every other time. The key is balance. This is the lesson that has to be passed onto students. Remind them that it’s OK to focus on one idea at a time. Advise them to reflect after each time they’ve read something, so they can really absorb it. And if these don’t work? Banish the techno-toys! (Just don’t take mine away.)

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¹ Marilee Sprenger, “Focusing the Brain,” Educational Leadership 67, no. 1 (2009): 34–39.
² A. J. Jacobs, “How I Stopped the Multitasking Madness: One man’s quest to go from manic multitasker to Zen unitasker in one month flat,” Real Simple (September 2009): 198–202.

Through the years I have stayed in touch with my teaching colleagues. At a recent get together, I spent some time reminiscing with an old friend. We are both of a certain age and so technology and communication in the classroom as we knew it has changed dramatically. As my pal said, “It’s older teachers like us who have to learn the technology so we can teach it to the students.”

His comment gave me pause. Was he right? Is it older teachers who are to blame for not integrating technology into the classroom? I started to ask others who I know that are in the classroom. I can’t say that given my very unscientific poll he was correct.

What I found was that those I spoke with were more than willing to take the time to learn things, regardless of their age, if they had the right books and tools. Of course that’s when it clicked that at TCR we take helping teachers to integrate technology into their classrooms very seriously. Our books Blogging in the Classroom, Using Google Tools in the Classroom, and the Media Literacy series help both kids and teachers figure out ways communicate that didn’t even exist 20 years ago. These books help teachers to help kids make sense of all that is out there. It is what is new and what makes schools different then years back.

The way we communicate changes so fast, that it’s a yeoman’s job just to keep up. But the keeping up is important for all teachers and it is something we intend to do at TCR.

So how about you? What are you doing to keep up with the ever-changing world of technology and communication?