Shiny New Toys

Image by bensheldon via Flickr

I recently saw this post in my Twitter feed -

Need something new for a 5th grade teacher who has done a lot with tech - moodle, wikis, glogster, animoto, mixbook - ideas

I don't know the teacher being referred to or anything about that teacher's classroom practices. I am not judging that individual teacher in any way.

However, the suggestion of this post is the kind of thing that sometimes frightens and concerns me about the infusion of technology into the 21st century classroom.

There are people I have met in the course of my work who are completely and absolutely enamored with the technology. They have lost focus on the pedagogy and it has become all about the tech. They can't wait to get to the next shiny, new thing in the Web 2.0 toy box.

The post precipitates the question, "Has the teacher who has 'done a lot with tech' also done a lot with math, English, science, and social studies?" I hope the answer is yes.

Furthermore, are this teacher's students benefiting demonstrably from all of this immersion in technology? Is it sound and cogent? Is all this tech enhancing the learning process in this classroom?

We need to be thoughtful and cautious in all this experimenting we do in the classroom with our sparkly toys. We need to keep our eye on the prize, stay focused, do no harm to those we are pledged to teach.

Media Content from Learn360

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Classroom Notetaking Tools

Five online tools for taking notes ...

Evernote - Allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere. There are syncing versions for most platforms as well as online.

Grade Genie - Share your class notes and easily edit them so that everyone has the same study guide. Includes contests to win prizes for using the service.

NoteCentric - Keep all of your class notes in one centralized location, and then share them with classmates by inviting them to view the notes. You can even distribute them via an RSS feed if you so choose.

Notely - Focuses on students and provides a very similar interface to Microsoft Word. It allows for formatting, highlighting passages, adding images and more. You can also keep track of your schedule to make sure you are never late again.

NoteMesh - A Wiki-based collaborative note system for people in the same class. Anyone from the class may delete, add or edit the notes for everyone toshare. If you don’t agree with a deletion that was made, no problem: it’s all stored in the page’s history.

For the Math Teachers

Schools to Benefit from Stimulus Bill

Image by m-c via FlickrThe economic stimulus bill currently facing a House vote includes as much as $120-$142 billion for public school systems over the next two years, more than infrastructure, healthcare, or energy.

Approximately 12% of that money would go to repairing existing school buildings bringing them up to an acceptable level. About a billion dollars would also go to classroom modernization and providing students access to broadband Internet, computers and other 21st century technology. Full funding (or nearly so) of NCLB and other big ticket federal programs may also be included.

The goal is to provide a positive educational environment for students and teachers, as well as to create new jobs. Some critics contend that it is not enough, however, as various estimates claim the cost to repair and modernize schools is between $100 billion and $360 billion.

The House has allocated the funds in an attempt to get the money to the schools with the greatest need. Thirteen billion dollars goes to Title I, the proxy the government uses to determine the school districts with the highest need for academic improvement. Another $13 billion is tagged for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Approximately $14 billion is directed to a school modernization and repair program, $1 billion to an education technology program, and as much as $79 billion to state legislatures.

A significant challenge will be to make certain that states don't merely reduce their own education budgets in expectation of big federal increases.

Of course, there are some strings attached. Schools who want the money must spend a portion of it to develop high-quality educational test, ways to recruit and retain teachers, and longitudinal data systems to track long term school progress.

If the government gets it right, most observers agree, this stimulus package could help transform learning environments across America, putting our students on a level playing field in the years to come.

Sources:
Toppo, Greg. Stimulus gives schools $142B -- with strings. USA Today, Jan 19, 2009.
Goldman, David. Obama's school patchwork project. CNNMoney.com. Jan 15, 2009.