Paperless classroom
I have found my hero. Judy Herrell, a 36 year veteran teacher, is running a paperless classroom. Ah, what an inspiration! I encourage you to read the article
Quoting Ms. Herrell, “web sites are used in lieu of textbooks, Power Point Presentations substitute for written essays and students get homework help from their teacher over e-mail.”
WOW! Can you imagine how cool it would be to be a 5th grader in this classroom? Think of how many real world skills her students are gaining.
The interesting aspect of this innovative educator is that 86% of her school is on free or reduced lunch. Isn’t this normally the excuse we give when we say we can’t teach technology in our classroom? I have heard many teachers say it isn’t fair to the students who don’t have access to computers. Well, if we don’t expose them to technology in school, where, and when, will they get this resource? I understand that many, many families don’t have the income to purchase computers, but we still need to teach computer skills so these same students won’t be left behind.
Ms Herrell and I subscribe to the same theory.
She says, “this is the only opportunity they have to join the 21st century. Without education, children in this classroom don’t have a chance at the American Dream.”
Hmmm…. I think she’s onto something. We can’t continue to make excuses for not integrating technology into our lessons. If we want our students to be competitive in the 21st century world, we must do our duty and give our students as many opportunities as we can to practice these skills.
“Good teachers use technology really well. Bad teachers use it poorly…” said Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr., an education professor at the University of Miami.
Think of the good teachers who could be even better if they subscribed to this theory. Think of the not as good teachers bad teachers who could become better if they did. We can’t keep doing what we’ve always done, or as the saying goes, we’ll get what we’ve always gotten.
We must overcome our insecurities and discomfort and learn the new technology ourselves. We must then teach our students and teach them well using this technology. Our administrators can’t allow teachers who aren’t doing a good job teaching our future to continue in the same rut. That’s how we should view our students; our future. Our future is only coming into view with the new technology that our students are being exposed to on a daily basis.
Education is not the same as it was 14 years ago when I began my journey into education. The students aren’t the same, society isn’t the same, our culture isn’t the same, and technology isn’t the same. Think how technology will advance by the time I can retire in 16 years. My imagination can only leap with the unlimited possibilities.
Mr. Provenzo added, “Technology is one of the best and worst things introduced in schools in the last 20 years,” he said. “It can be an extraordinary tool. But it can also be the difference between watching a movie about Venice and actually going to Venice and smelling the salt air.”
Ah, I can smell the salty air as I ride in a gondola. Can you? Will you ride with me?
Until next time ~ Danita
article:http://www.local10.com/news/10352340/detail.html
November 26th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Danita,
I am so excited that you are jumping into Web 2.0 feet first! I am going to have to set aside some quiet time to read your blog. From a quick glance it seems that we are on the same wavelength! Chris is going to be facilitating a skypecast about the 21st Century School this weekend, and the links to that information are in his post that I copied to my blog. Have you participated in K12 Online, and are you familiar with “When Night Free Falls”? I’ve got to go put a child to bed right now, but if you need the links, just let me know. My email is with the comment, and I love to use skype! I hope to keep in touch!
Jeanne