I went out of town on Monday. I had a speaking engagement with Job Corps in Minnesota. Afterward, I met up with my sister and I had a chance to sit in on my nephew's year-end class presentation. He had made a diorama of Alcatraz and had to present a 2-5 minute speech to his 5th grade class. Side note: I don't normally have an occasion to go to an elementary school but when I'm there it is always a treat. I enjoy the little chairs and desks, and all the pictures on the walls and all of the positive affirmations and rules painted everywhere! It was like stepping back in time.
While I was sitting (in a tiny little seat) and listening to presentations I noticed all of the technology equipment in the room. The teacher had a Mac at her desk - actually there were at least 5 computers in this room of approximately 25 children. I also noticed a 37' LCD mounted on the wall and a nice overhead projector mounted on the ceiling and speakers installed around the room. My nephew has Asperger's and he was using a hand held device to help with speech/writing, etc. I also saw a few other students with gadgets in hand. I had to remind myself that this an elementary school. I thought to myself "did we have all of this access when I in elementary school? I'd venture to say no. I wondered if this schools' access to technology was an exception in Minnesota or the U.S. at large or was it the rule. It was a real eye opening experience and nice to see first hand how the classroom has evolved.
The curmudgeon in me (yes, I harbor a resident curmudgeon at all times) says that "back in the day, we didn't need all that fancy, schmancy technology. We were smarter and tougher and we just got things done." The Educational Technologist in me is smiling and happy that they have those devices. Your nephew is a fortunate recipient of things that allow him to hit his potential.
ReplyDeleteI agree that "back in the day" we did not have that fancy technology. I was in grade school when Oregon Trail came out on the computers, with those green pixeled pictures and text ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII_art and http://www.glassgiant.com/ascii/ ). We've come a long way! In our district, the teachers have a nice computer at their desk, then there are 3-5 other computers in the room--a notch or two beneath the teacher computers. All of our elementary classrooms have data projectors (bought over a choice to update maps!) and huge screens, many have qomo tablets, some have sound systems, some have ladybug document cameras, we have several flip cams, as well as digital cameras and digital video cameras. You nephew's classroom seems right up to speed with everything, if not a bit ahead, I think!
ReplyDeleteI would also consider your nephew's classroom as well-appointed. Did they have BOTH a flatscreen TV AND an LCD projector? Wonder why?
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