Jennifer Harding, an 11th and 12th grade English teacher in Oklahoma City, discussed with me the implications of technology in her classroom: a room that is being borrowed from a church because the school did not have enough room.
"Right now we don't have much. We don't even have our own building, but when our new school is finished and we make the move there, possibilities will open up for the kids."
Ms. Harding makes use of the technology available to her. She shows videos and presentations to her students using a projector on a white board. She uses a speaker that she can connect to her iPhone for audio readings, interviews, and relevant music.
"I want them to interact with the material in a variety of ways, and technology can open the door to that. But it is frustrating when the main source of technology that they all have is cell phones. I have almost given up on the battle of cell phones, so next year I won't let them out have them in class. I'm saying, 'no more.'"
During Ms. Harding's 5 years of teaching, cell phones have been a constant issue. At first, she wanted to be lenient, thinking that if she allowed cell phones they would not seem like such an inaccessible object, and therefore would not distract the students from their work as often. However, this proved to be wrong. When given the chance, Ms. Harding's students were using their cell phones for anything other than classroom related activities.
She would like for technology not to work against her in the classroom. She is here to establish an environment of learning, not of social media. Her students were given little Chromebook computers in some of their classes, but they do not use them for English class. Ms. Harding does like the idea of incorporating the Kindle Fire into her classroom. This would allow her students to use technology while reading, downloading books they would enjoy, and collecting ideas and sources for research papers. She would also like to have a way to monitor the way that technology is being used in her classroom, so anything that is brought in would need to have some kind of teacher controls. Overall, Ms. Harding likes things like paperback books that don't "light up and distract" her students, but she is optimistic about future technological endeavors in her classroom.
"Right now we don't have much. We don't even have our own building, but when our new school is finished and we make the move there, possibilities will open up for the kids."
Ms. Harding makes use of the technology available to her. She shows videos and presentations to her students using a projector on a white board. She uses a speaker that she can connect to her iPhone for audio readings, interviews, and relevant music.
"I want them to interact with the material in a variety of ways, and technology can open the door to that. But it is frustrating when the main source of technology that they all have is cell phones. I have almost given up on the battle of cell phones, so next year I won't let them out have them in class. I'm saying, 'no more.'"
During Ms. Harding's 5 years of teaching, cell phones have been a constant issue. At first, she wanted to be lenient, thinking that if she allowed cell phones they would not seem like such an inaccessible object, and therefore would not distract the students from their work as often. However, this proved to be wrong. When given the chance, Ms. Harding's students were using their cell phones for anything other than classroom related activities.
She would like for technology not to work against her in the classroom. She is here to establish an environment of learning, not of social media. Her students were given little Chromebook computers in some of their classes, but they do not use them for English class. Ms. Harding does like the idea of incorporating the Kindle Fire into her classroom. This would allow her students to use technology while reading, downloading books they would enjoy, and collecting ideas and sources for research papers. She would also like to have a way to monitor the way that technology is being used in her classroom, so anything that is brought in would need to have some kind of teacher controls. Overall, Ms. Harding likes things like paperback books that don't "light up and distract" her students, but she is optimistic about future technological endeavors in her classroom.