Chapter 4: Teaching with Technology

Sandholtz, J. H., Ringstaff, C., & Dwyer, D. C. (1997). Managing a technology-rich classroom (p. 55-75). Teaching with technology: creating student-centered classrooms. New York: Teachers College Press.

Summary

            As part of technology integration, there are several stages of technology concern within the classroom setting.  During entry, teachers cannot anticipate and thus are unprepared for student misbehavior with technology.  Additionally, many schools are not built to incorporate technology into the classroom and as such, managing physical space and software becomes difficult.  In the adoption phase, teachers integrate these experiences into their cognitive framework and can now anticipate and address problems.  This paves the way for technology to aid in other tasks during adaptation.  Given a new comfort level with technology, teachers begin to use it to increase efficiency in other areas of their classrooms and lives.  The authors indicate that movement through these phases is supported via professional development.  Given the new classroom context of multidimensionality, simultaneity, immediacy, and unpredictability, guiding teachers into a new type of classroom management is critical.

Reflection

           

            What grabbed my attention in this chapter was the paragraph linking classroom management and learning at the top of page 74.  Essentially, classroom management is a top predictor of student learning and if teachers cannot keep students engaged in learning because of a lack of classroom management, technology is useless. 

            It was this phrase that underscored the relevance of this chapter in today’s classroom.  The examples of floppies, laser disks, and 20 megabyte hard drives made me chuckle, but the concerns surrounding student attention, time on task, and cheating with technology are ever present in my current classroom.  More than ever, our classrooms are multidimensional, simultaneous, immediate, and unpredictable and  as one teacher pointed out, students remain students, regardless of the technology they use.  It is still our job to guide them into becoming responsible for their own learning.

            Technology has done wonders for discussion in my writing workshops this semester.  In classrooms where students won't speak, I can use tools that immediately (or almost so) allow me to know what everyone in the class is thinking and understanding.  I use Socrative on a regular basis so that students can contribute using their mobile devices.  Otherwise, I can’t even get a head nod out of them… “Does this follow an inductive structure?” I ask.  Silence and stillness… I often joke with them saying, “I guess I’m going to have to start a new open-ended question to get you guys to answer.  At least nod or shake your head!”

            At the same time, this wonderful technology often makes me feel like my students are distracted or not paying attention, especially when they choose to make my classroom include shopping or social interaction part of its multidimensionality.  I see them out of the corner of my eye, posting to Facebook or texting.  It makes me crazy, but at this point I ignore it figuring that the time it will take to call out that one student will disrupt the flow of the class more than the actual technology does.

            I may have to rethink this policy now that I realize how critical classroom management is for learning.  Of course, a better solution may be to rethink some of my teaching.  The more I put them to work with their technology, the less they are using it for off-task purposes.