The first part of this article that particularly stuck out to me was the short section on school access. The idea that students in higher socioeconomic schools have more technology than lower socioeconomic schools was something that I had heard of many times. This did not come to a surprise to me at all. What surprised me was the comment on giving newer technology to students in higher performing classes. This is an issue that I had never really thought about before. I was in predominately higher performing classes throughout my public school years but I did have a few “on-level” classes too. Looking back, I am now aware of this gap between technology uses. The only classes I ever got to use the school laptops in were my AP and pre-AP classes. This leads me to the question, why? Why would we give students who are already performing above the standards access to technology? Would it not be a better use of our time and technology to give this to students who are performing below or on par with the standards? The integration of technology into the classroom can be the difference between a student being completely lost on a topic to finally understanding something that they had been struggling with for a long period of time.
I’m also always interested in the topic of the generational gap. While I am able to stay current with the times as a young person, I wonder if 30 years from now I will still be able to keep up with my students and their use of technology. I think the fact that we are growing up surrounded by so much technology (and learning through technology!) is beneficial to us as future teachers. Seeing the benefits of technology in the classroom first-hand is an important step to helping bridge that generational gap between teachers and students.
I never realized what a great elementary school I went to until I started working with low-income students who do not receive all the benefits I did growing up. Like you said, students in low socioeconomic schools are not exposed to technology in an academic setting the way they should be. This cycle should be broken and equal education should be given to all, if success in college and in our society is going to rely on computer skills. Implementing technology in the classroom also means having teachers who can manage it. I never thought about the generation gap and that one day technology might be something difficult for me to understand. That’s why it’s important to keep teachers up to date with seminars and workshops, no matter what the school’s socioeconomic status.
Stephanie, I liked that you mentioned the generational gap that Warschauer discusses in the article. I think it’s kind of funny because in my experience, my older teachers are the ones most excited to use “new” technology, and by that I mean, they like to throw technology into their lesson plans without really thinking about whether it is relevant or helpful. Obviously, this isn’t true for all older teachers, but I’ve still noticed this pattern.
I also can relate to your critique of schools allocating their new technology to the more advanced programs. Although I never really experienced this because I lived in a fairly wealthy district while growing up, I still noticed that my AP classes always took precedence over the advanced classes when reserving the library or the computer lab for a class period. How are students in non-AP classes supposed to advance if they don’t have access to the materials? Definitely a question to consider.
I think what you had to say about the generation gap brings up a good point. Growing up with so much technology is definitely to our advantage and makes us better prepared for us to integrate technology into our lessons in a more efficient way. I have also wondered if years from now, I will be able to keep up with the mass surplus of technology and keep up with the students use of technology. I think one way we can make certain that teachers are staying up to date with new technological practices is by requiring teachers to take a technology class during the summer or throughout a semester. By having computer classes, teachers will be better prepared to use the technology in their classroom. I think we have to make all teachers accountable if we want to integrate technology into the classrooms in a beneficial way.
Stephanie, I too was concerned about the author’s comments about how students who are performing at higher levels should have access to newer technology in their daily classroom experience over students in general education classes. Like you, I feel that if schools were to incorporate new technology and new ways of learning into classrooms with lower performing students, such technology could be the way to get such students excited about learning. By introducing technology in these classrooms, students who have been struggling to grasp a certain difficult concept may finally see the light and understand. I love the fact that St. Edward’s University is requiring that we, as future teachers, learn how to incorporate technology into the classroom. I am grateful for this because I see just how prominent technology is in our students’ lives and how the use of such technology may be the way we can help our students find a passion and drive for learning.