I had the opportunity to attend a similar Grassroots Google presentation by Pete Pasque during professional development for the Ann Arbor school district prior to the beginning of the school year. And, just like last time, I was blown away by the opportunities presented and was confronted with the sheer amount of things I just want to try out in my future classroom.
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| Basically I was like this |
As an English teacher who's conscious of the environment, I would love nothing more than to conduct a majority of my student's writing online via a platform like Google Docs. I have already used Google Docs in a variety of settings throughout college, and can see the benefit of being able to comment directly on a student's paper and for student's to be able to use these tools in collaborative projects with their classmates. Not only can students work on something during the school day, but they can also access the same work on their computers at home or elsewhere. I like it all even more when I consider that each of my students could create their own Google Site in which to display the very best of their work throughout high school. I don't think art and design students should be the only ones who are encouraged to maintain an online portfolio of work. It would be a great platform for teachers to consider when attempting to write letters of recommendation, and can serve as a mini library of growth for each student as they become better writers over the years. When I think back to my collection of papers from high school, my best papers were filed away in a folder in the office until I graduated and now I'm not even sure where that folder is. These sites would be available to expand and grow with the student even after high school.
However, the more I scheme and plan about all the cool stuff I could implement with my students, my mentor teacher brought me back to reality with his twenty-ish years of teaching experience.
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| He basically looked like this |
He was of the opinion that this whole Grassroots Google extravaganza sounded great as well, but until we have something like a one-to-one technology ratio for our students, how will this be completely equal for all students? Some students don't have access to computers at home, and sometimes the media center doesn't have great hours for extra homework time. Even Pete mentioned that a generous handful of kids tend to stay after-school to use the computers available for their online work (which is great that the school accommodates this, however, this isn't always the case). The kids at my placement aren't allowed to whip out their cell phones in class yet, so some things might just have to wait in terms of other technology being used in the classroom. However, I had a really interesting discussion with the media specialist at my placement the other day and she believes education is on the cusp of accepting all sorts of new technology including cell phones in classrooms and more one-to-one technology. I agree with her, mostly because I'm hopeful that schools will adjust some of their policies in light of the increasing amounts of technology at the hands of our students. It is a dawn of a new technological era in education isn't it?
