I guess this has come to my attention this week, although it's been "going on" for about a year now. At Central we have this amazing state grant called "Classrooms for the Future" or CFF. Basically we get MacBooks and electronic white boards (SmartBoard) that collaborate with computers and do all kinds of fancy things.
Too bad I haven't learned anything with the help of the grant.
Last year in my Honors English 3 class ( a CFF room) we had about 30 shiny brand-new MacBooks and a Smart Board.
Too bad they were still shiny brand-new laptops on the last day of school. I could count on my right hand the number of times we had a meaningful use for them. My teacher had to go out of her way to make up activities so we had a use for the SmartBoard.
Maybe I am conventional, but instead of wasting time trying to figure out things to use our computers for, or fixing the problems with the computer, I'd like to actaully learn something. Give me a pen, some paper and a classroom discussion and let the learning begin.
There are plenty of uses for computers in the class. For instance, how cool would it be for a history class to have a collabortive forum with a class from the Middle-East? Last year I had more than one class where we had a forum where the class would discuss what we were learning. Having an electronic conversation with the kid sitting two rows in front of you rly dosnt hve da sme efect (if u kno wat i mean.)
I do enough of that at home.
Doesn't that seem a tad bit counterproductive? Isn't school about learning not only subject matter, but communication skills? Why would you have an electronic converstation with a person you could just talk to? That caters to people who are afraid to speak up in class instead of getting them out their comfort zone (and developing communication skills.)
Don't get me wrong, computers are the future. We do need to learn how to use them. But I think they've hindered the learning process more than helped it, at least for me.
And one last thing. If you're going to have 600+ computers in the building, please get people who are going to tell me something more than "restart it" when it isn't working right.
I won't even start talking about how we should have new computers in Journalism ( a class where we actually use computers.)
I guess I wish the state and school seemed less interested in the classrooms of the future, and more interested in the classrooms of the present.
Agreed 100%. Except the fact that Spring Grove has more like 60 computers in the building, not 600 haha.
Sounds like the technology isn't the culprit here. Rather, it's poorly trained teachers who aren't equipped to handle the integration of the technology. How ironic is it that you used the same electronic discussion method that you criticized in your post here to post your own thoughts on this blog, rather than working on those dubious communication skills and barriers that you claim are so important to make your opinions known directly to the teachers themselves - or perhaps the school board.
A little observation on your post. You're English class may have not used the technology as effectively as possible. But, how can you make such remarks on the basis of one class experience? It doesn't sound like you did enough investigating and observing of other classes to see what they were doing. I'm pretty sure I remember reading in a district news letter about how some teachers were using the new technology in a social studies class to keep in contact with a soldier and gain first-hand knowledge about the war in Iraq.
Dylan...Perhaps you should rethink what you wrote. Here are a few observations. First, I can almost guarantee you that many teachers in your school are using technology in an effective manner that is truly benefiting the students. Second, the CFF grant provides money for technology in the main academic areas--math and English and now it includes science and social studies. Journalism technically isn't one of these classes and that's most likely why you haven't seen the new technology in your class yet.
You need to get your facts in order. It seems that you have a lot more research and observing of classrooms to do before you can make a true decision here.
I'm disagreeing with you. York Suburban is jumping on the CFF wagon this year. My English teach has a Smartboard in her room and it is great. Yeah, she may not use it for everything but for something it makes the learning process a little easier. Plus did you ever think about those of us who have learning disabilities and made be a pen and paper just doesn't work for us. The CFF is a great to way to get all students involved no matter what their skill level is. And your school is very luck to have six-hundred computers plus a new building (I might add). I understand where you are coming from but the truth is CFF is working; ok so there is going to be problems with computers, problems with Smartboards but all that takes time before the problems are fixed. The technology if used correctly I believe will gets students to participate in class discussions that they normal would not participate in. You may not agree with what I say but I think you need to get more facts before saying that CFF grant's aren't successful.
Throughout the entire article, you only mention yourself and how CFF hasn't helped you. Ok, maybe you're just above and beyone everything that CFF has to offer. Not once do you mention how it is affecting other students. Did you ever think to ask them? Seems like some very poor journalism skills here. Your article needs to be based upon facts, not just the author's opinion.