The
Ongoing Battle
Carl Sannito
I’ve
been both a computer lab teacher and a classroom teacher in my career,
and I try to straddle both mindsets whenever I plan for instruction
at my school. For instance, I try to make sure that whatever software
program I’m teaching in the lab is available to the teachers
on their classroom computers.
There’s another fence that I straddle all the time. This one
is a bit more complicated, but very important: deciding what to
teach with the computer.
The
first school of thought is to use the computer as a tool. Using
the Internet to do research. word processing in Microsoft Word,
graphing in Microsoft Excel, or creating graphic organizers in Inspiration
are all great examples of using the computer as a means to an end.
The
second school of thought is to use the computer as an educational
device. This involves running any type of educational software that
students interact with. Accelerated Reader, Fast ForWord, Reader
Rabbit are all examples of this type of usage.
Why
is this an important question for all teachers (not just new teacher)
to consider? First of all, the software you choose will impact your
lessons. For example, if you purchase reading software, which students
work on independently on a few exercises that address particular
standards or skills, your students won’t have the opportunity
to create multi-media presentations. Alternatively, students could
spend time researching topics on the Internet or via electronic
encyclopedias (like Encarta or World Book), or working with PowerPoint,
Hyper Studio or Kid Pix to create dazzling slide shows that showcase
their work. But this requires that the teacher spend a great deal
of time working with students on how to use the software as well
as how to integrate technology and the lesson. The learning curve
is much steeper and it involves a deeper commitment on the teacher’s
part.
I
struggle with which school of thought to embrace all the time, and
I think any teacher who uses technology should weigh the pros and
cons of each. The easiest software to use in a classroom is often
something that an adult can learn quickly. You can even teach one
group of kids and then have that first group teach a second group.
Heck, sometimes the kids can teach themselves the program.
I
also have to recognize that if that’s all I use the computer
for, I’m not using the technology to its fullest teaching
potential. I’m cheating my students out of learning that the
computer is more than just an educational “Xbox.” A
computer with Internet access opens so many doors, it provides so
many databases to investigate, it gives access to the world by simply
typing in “www.google.com.” Imagine how much you rely
on the following components of your computer: a word processor,
a presentation program, a graphic organizing program, a digital
camera, a printer, a projector, a spread sheet or calculator, e-mail,
or a media player. All of those are tools that students can use
to explore ideas, to organize thoughts and to share conclusions
with other students. Many of those components are built-in to your
computer or can be obtained relatively easy.
I
think that schools would be foolish not to investigate educational
software these days. Whether you spend $15 at Best Buy to purchase
something for your classroom or you spend $25,000.00 for a district
license that covers grades K-8, there’s a need for educational
software. I try to help the teachers at my school pick out independent
software for students that ties into whatever they are teaching.
The educational software available to teachers is dazzling these
days, no matter what grade you are teaching. (To give you an example,
I’m currently helping pilot some student software that is
supposed to help remap parts of your brain! It’s very sophisticated
stuff and I’ll have more to say about it next year.)
I also believe that schools need to help foster computer skills
that are practical in the classroom and in the real world. Neither
is more important than the other, but neither should be left out
of a teacher’s bag of tricks.
Over
the next two months, I’m going to address the variety of options
available to teachers in both areas of software and get into more
details about the pros and cons of each type of software.
Do
you have a comment or suggestion? You can e-mail Carl carlsannito@yahoo.com.
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