This week during one of my seminar classes, some of my colleagues lead a group discussion on how to incorporate technology in the classroom. I was interested to participate in this discussion since I often avoid technology - a weakness I admit, but I am working towards incorporating the use of technology in my classroom. Now, this is often a difficult thing to accomplish since I have limited access to things like lcd projectors, even overhead projectors (Laurie, you know my pain). But I am trying to be creative in the types of assignments I give students by focusing on how they use technology to either produce or present such assignments. The discussion leader began the class by asking us what our "dream technological classroom" would look like in terms if there were no limits such as money, space, or technological advancement. After people shared their wishes, he went on to lecture us about how there were new developments everyday that would one day move classroom work to be done entirely on computers. Wait what?! No paper? Or books? Or writing? Madness.
I initially responded to this idea with skepticism because I felt the type of classroom he described would ultimately be in danger of limiting interaction among students. But soon I began to look closely at WHY I was a bit disturbed. Was I being close minded? Was I romanticizing the world of letters and books? Deep philosophical questions. But then I remembered a conversation I had with my master teacher. I asked him why he always wrote assignments on the board, then had students copy them down. He told me that he carefully wrote each assignment and tried to model the type of writing he expected from students in the prompt. He hoped that in addition to directly teaching his students writing, he would "secretly" show them what he thought writing should look like; it was the act of copying it down onto paper that he emphasized. Now, I am not sure if there is any theoretical or practical evidence to prove this, but it raises the question - what happens when student stop "writing?" Because in my colleague’s "dream technological world" students took notes on computers. I am not quiet sure what I think of all this yet, so I suppose I am looking for some direction into further inquiry. In any event, the discussion and presentation raised many questions, prompting me to look closely at my own fears and biases about technology, but also what I think might be the appropriate balance of technology, because I realize that students need the opportunity to learn those skills.

Success ... Sort of

I am approaching the final days of Romeo and Juliet. In the beginning, the students were so exicited to read the play, because you know, EVERYONE reads Romeo and Juliet. But they soon grew tired of all the drama. Then at the beginning of the week, I announced that we would begin working on our final project: rewriting a scene from the play using a modern setting and modern dialogue; the students had to choose character and dialogue that a modern audience could relate to. Now, I had deep reservations. Throughout the unit, students did "authentic assignments" - writing an advice column for Romeo, creating a myspce character profile. With each assingment, I had to explain WHY we were doing it. I think part of this had to with the fact that I am a new teacher and I need to work on how I go about establishing a purpose for my students. But I also think part of it might have been that I think students are reluctant to take any assignment seriously without the words "essay" or "test" in them. It becomes an excuse. But to my great suprise, once I explained to the students that the final project was rewriting a scene and NOT an essay, they seemed to get a bit more exicited. Perhaps the trick is to be sneaky - or remind student that the alternative is something that might be a little bit boring. Make them believe that the authentic assessment is less work - or at least because they have to be creative (and I also let them work in pairs) it doesn't feel like work.