Student teaching in one of the best school districts in York County has been a great blessing for me. At Central York, the students are fortunate enough to be on a 1:1 program. My 10th graders have iPads, which we integrate into almost every lesson.
When using technology, I have learned that the goal is to make sure the use is purposeful and authentic. Too many times we use technology for the sake of "using technology." When we do this, our students are not able to see the benefit the platform provides us.
Today, my students were completing a list-group-label activity with the essential question: What can you tell me about Asian culture?
Five minutes passed by as the students collaborated on listing ideas. Another five passed as they then grouped and labeled the different ideas. At the end of the time, I asked my students what tools they used to obtain these ideas. They all looked at me like I was half-crazy.
"Uh... We just used our brains, Miss Fickes."
I smiled because this is the oh-so-obvious answer that I already knew. When my students shared the information they had come up with, a lot of them made qualifying statements like, "This may not actually be true, but..."
To bring me back to my original question to my kids, I asked how many of them used their iPads to clarify any questions they had. Crickets.
This brings me to my point about technology. The idea of technology integration, in my opinion, is to make the use of technology second nature. Instead of being unsure, why not use the device that his limitless access to information? If you went into Google, you could type in "Asian culture," and I know Wikipedia would pop up with a ton of information. It amazes me that my kids don't do this.
One student got out his iPad to try and identify the name of a type of landscaping for which he could not think of the name. When I walked by him, he quickly explained to me that he just had his iPad out because he wanted to find out the name of something- he wasn't cheating.
This shows me that the way we integrate technology into our classrooms still needs improvement. I don't think it's wrong to look up easy-to-find information on a device, obviously dependent upon the setting. I'm not saying whip a device out during a standardized test.
My point is anyone can Google "Asian culture." The lower level thinking questions that I am asking my students are easily accessible with a few clicks of their fingers. The important thing we need to ask ourselves is where do we go from here?
For my classroom, it will be to a myth busters activity. They will be identifying the stereotypes and myths that exist about Asian culture and working in partner pairs to prove or bust them. The format they will use to present this information is Piktochart. The students will use Piktochart to create an infographic that details the research of the students. There's a purpose, and it's authentic. According to Piktochart's website, infographics are, "visual presentations intended to communicate complex information, data, or knowledge quickly and clearly." It's a template that student can drop and click the information they find.
I look forward to seeing how it goes in my classroom. To introduce the project to my students, I created a screencast of me explaining Piktochart, as well as my expectations for the projects. This is the kind of technology integration I find useful. My students are utilizing their technology to create unique visuals that they can use as a reference during their presentations. I can't wait to see how this turns out.
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