Instead, we need to embrace more fully mobile technology. The big clunky forward facing, whole class method of lesson delivery via Interactive Whiteboard, I believe, is the Laserdisc of educational technology. The overpriced fad of Interactive Whiteboards (whether Smart or Promethean) is imperfect in their current incarnation. Sure, we all imagine classrooms with “Iron Man2”:-esque 3-D touch sensitive lessons, but inherently these pieces of equipment do not illustrate the spirit of technology in information delivery: all-access, collaborative, open, interactive, etc…

Currently, they are only as engaging as the lessons created, and those lessons are tedious to create and time-suckers in their efficiency. The prep time to create charts that utilize any effects over-and-above what you would already do with a laptop and LCD projector feels clearly developed by those with a disconnect to the precious time we have in education and the many hats we already wear. Additionally, while these boards were initially meant to help less-tech savvy teachers to embrace technology use, their hefty training time and prep time serves as its own gatekeeper for more than just tech tentative teachers.

I believe an online colleague of mine, Bill Ferriter, said it best when he wrote,

“I’m willing to argue that even with time and training, interactive whiteboards are an under-informed and irresponsible purchase. They do little more than reinforce a teacher-centric model of learning…make presentations, give notes, deliver lectures…I ask you: Do we really want to spend thousands of dollars on a tool that makes stand-and-deliver instruction easier?”

Instead, I believe mobile technology, that truly frightening technology the schools would rather spend money on avoiding than really examining, is really the silver bullet (if there is such a thing.) Smartphones, for instance, have the potential to be the great equalizer.

Mobile technology caters to individualization and differentiation, which is the present and future of student-centered learning. Mobile technology is cheaper and also represents the concept of “democratization of information,” the openness of high levels of information to the masses. The Interactive Whiteboard is still locked and loaded into the antiquated philosophy of “sage on the stage” rather than “guide on the side.”

Yes, the remote clicker technology gives the very important immediate feedback, but gaining access to remotes is not dependent on the purchase of the boards themselves. The fact is that 99% of all students carry their own remotes right there in their backpacks.

In fact, my students interviewed a young scientist from JPL earlier this year. She had just returned from rural Africa where she helped establish Internet access to remote areas throughout the continent. When asked by one of my students what the future of Internet Access was, she said that it, frankly, didn’t include computers. After all, many people in these remote areas don’t have Macs or PCs, but they do have iPhones right there in their pockets. In other words, the future of Web 2.0 tools is already being defined by global availability.

As for the future of educational technology, we must guide our purchases to reflect the world around us. We must support the learner on the go. We must support individual use, not teacher-only use. We must support inexpensive options that give us access to the most information, easily accessed and easily presented. Smartphones, (and, I believe, eventually iPads or other tablet options) permit us to assume more and more that learners have access to the same information and opportunities.

The real question is How can we spend the money saved on Interactive Whiteboard purchases in ways that really propel education into the 21st Century?  What tools or training do you think are more to the point of education’s future?

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2011. | Permalink | 40 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: educational technology, interactive whiteboards, iPads in education, k12, middle school, smartboards, smartphones

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LendMe is an app that allows a classroom teacher to lend out books from the classroom library.  It’s simple: take a picture of the book; take a picture of the kid.  It records the date that the book was borrowed, the title and the name of the kid you lent it to.  The picture of the student is generally enough, and I don’t have to type in the name, but, as I’ve written earlier in my post, “The New Definition of Veteran Teacher,” another way to help put face to names isn’t such a bad idea.

Of course, now that I have the iPhone I wonder what the heck I was balking at.  I’ve never been so hyped for any piece of technology.  It even makes AT&T’s frequently dropped calls worth it.  Make of that as you will.

I will continue to review educational apps as I build up my own iPhone library.  In the meantime, I would love to know what you are all using as well.  

Hope your summer is going well.

-Tweenteacher

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: app, classroom library, iPhone

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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies combines two very different genres from the farthest poles of the bookshelf.  It smooshes together Empire waists with half-eaten brains.  And, gosh darn it.  It works.(...)
Read the rest of Book Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (576 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: book review, Curriculum, ELA, genre, k12, middle school, teaching, tween, Writers Project, writing project

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OK, I admit it.  I watched Glee last night on Fox after American Idol just because Ryan Seacrest told me to.

Stand aside Lean On Me, Teachers, Dangerous Minds, and Freedom Writers.  This new fall program, whose pilot aired last night after Idol, is the most accurate (and palatable) depiction of public school life that I’ve seen in a long time.  After all, who really wants to watch a show about teachers being taken advantage of, budget cuts, and student achievement?  Makes for some boring entertainment as we all found watching David Kelley’s 2000 drama, Boston Public.  Until now.

Humor, it seems, it mightier than the sob.

Basically, Glee’s A-story is about a teacher who offers to teach Glee Club and is told by all that it’s worthless.  His heart, however, says it’s not.  The B-story is about the kids who struggle to climb out of their adolescent roles and into something that actually means something to them.  It’s “The Breakfast Club” for geeks.

I know it’s cheesy and cartoony and full of dreams (I mean does your school have such vibrant wall colors?), but there’s something this show has captured that those dramatic movies only tell you they have: heart.  And heart is what abounds in every school, from the most privileged to the most challenged.  Jeesh, I sound like an ad.  

Best beats of the show include:

-Our lead shows up in the principal’s office to offer to teach Glee Club.  He’s told that’ll be 60 bucks per month.  ”Wait, and you expect me to pay for it?”  Not only is he told that he has to pay for it, but because of budget cuts, if he wants the elective he’s got to do after-school detention for free.

-Later, the principal tells him that AA wants to host their meetings in the Glee Club’s auditorium.  ”Lots of drunks in this town.  And they’re willing to pay me $10 a head.”  

-There are no glass coffee pitchers in the Mr. Coffee machine in the lounge.  Why?  Budget cuts.

-The teacher has to consider whether to pursue what he loves (teaching) or get a job with better money and benefits having just found out his wife’s pregnant.

-The monologue by Best in Show’s Jane Lynch.  When asked if some of her award-winning cheerleaders wouldn’t mind joining Glee Club, she responds, “OK, what’s you’re doing right now is called ‘blurring the lines.’  High school is a caste system.  Kids fall into certain slots.  Jocks and your popular kids: up in the penthouse.  Invisibles and the kids playing live-action-druids-and-troll-out-in-the-forest: bottom floor.” He asks, with trepidation where the glee kids are.  ”Sub-basement,” she replies.  

The list goes on. I’m not doing it justice.  But I tell you that compared to your typical, bad-kids-until-some-A-lister-comes-along-to-turn-them-on-to-learning-and-show-the-school-that-the-losers-really-do-matter flick, this show was brilliant.  

And don’t even get me started on the background collegiate a capella music as the soundtrack.  Sigh. Brought me back, let me tell you. 

The only negative thing I’ll say about Glee at this time (it is a pilot, after all, and character arch has yet to come) is the little scene in the beginning with the flamboyantly gay teacher brushing a student’s chest.  Although stereotypes abound in Glee in great even-handedness, portraying the homosexual teacher with the eyes for his student seems like there’s more at stake in the laugh than the dullard, bullying football coach character.  Plot-wise, it was a ploy to have the teacher fired so that our protagonist can move in and take over glee club.  Plot-wise it was also so that fired teacher could go off and make a living dealing weed, thus earning more than his mere teacher’s salary could ever garner him.  But could they not have gotten rid of this character in a way that doesn’t feed into the terror of the hearts of homophobic parents everywhere?  As my dear friend who brought this to my attention said, “Where was GLAAD in all this?  How did they let that through?”

It’s always wise to talk to many people, to get their perspectives, and to see through their eyes.  Despite this one line-crossing, however, we both agreed that Glee has the potential to earn our audience when it returns in the fall.

The pilot episode ends with our band of misfits singing, “Don’t stop believing.”  Their teacher, giving in to his own passion for teaching finally believes.  And we the audience cheers for the fall school and TV season to begin so that we might be gleeful once more.

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: budget cuts, fox, glee, public schools, TV review

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Yes, it’s true.  I’m reviewing a movie review.  But when you watch it, you’ll understand why.

Spike Jonze of “Being John Malkovich” fame (amongst other image-rich movies and videos) is directing a movie version of the Maurice Sendak classic, Where the Wild Things Are.

(...)
Read the rest of Movie Trailer Review: Where the Wild Things Are (296 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blog, book review, critical thinking, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development

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I just finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins . It took me awhile to get a hold of it because the minute I brought it into my classroom library, there was a line a bazillion students long ahead of me. I had to pull strings and use my clout as the teacher in order to bully my way to the front of the line.(...)
Read the rest of Book Review: The Hunger Games (576 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blog, book review, Character Education, classroom library, ELA, k-12, k12, middle school

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So I just finished reading Neal Shusterman’s The Schwa Was Here.  I know, I know.  For all you librarians out there, you’re probably saying: “What?  It took you THIS long to read it?  Jeesh, what kind of tweenteacher are you?”  Well, somehow I missed it when it first hit the scene.(...)
Read the rest of Book Review (sorta): Thoughts on Neal Shusterman’s The Schwa Was Here (480 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blog, book review, classroom library, Curriculum, Ed Tech, education, ELA, k-12, k12, Language Arts, writing

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You know when you enjoy a book so much you begin to slow down towards the end just to make the sweetness last?  Well, Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book is one of those.  NG writes with a rhythm in his words that seduces you.  Coupled with an amazingly simple and brilliant plot, his latest foray into young adult horror will leave you holding your breath through the entire story until that final page allows for your exhale.  (...)
Read the rest of Book Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (797 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: book review, classroom library, Curriculum, education, ELA, gaiman, Golden Lines, hooks, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, life long learners, middle school, Title I, tween, voice, Writers Project

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Dear Fellow Edubloggers,

Many of you have been blogging far longer than I have.  I have many of you on my Google Reader and I admire your wit, your writing, and would now love your advice.

Last week, I posted a review of the Stephanie Meyer Twilight series.  If you’ve read the review, you’ll see I was (to say the least) not a fan.  The point of my post was to encourage parents and teachers to read what the kids are reading so that they can be a part of their dialogue.  And, while I clearly didn’t like the book, I really like talking to people about all the new tween and teen literature out there and their opinions of them.  (Hence, the crowds of kids in my room at lunch, each there to check out new books in my awesome classroom library, or just simply there to hang out and talk lit.) 

Anyway, my posted review clearly hit a cord.  Generally I try to respond to everyone who comments on my website (pretty easy when you could count your daily hits on one hand), but the response to this review has been a little intimidating and, frankly, freaky.  (...)
Read the rest of What’s my role in this debate? (268 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blog, book review, carnival of education, Character Education, classroom library, description, dialogue, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, k-12, k12, life long learners, teaching, Title I

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Look, I’m a big believer in reading what the kids are reading, so I picked up the first in this crapfest of a series.  I was a big Anne Rice fan during my middle school years, so clearly I’m not against trashy, vampire romances.  For some reason, vampires are sexy.  But Stephanie Meyer makes Anne Rice look like Shakespeare.   I committed to reading the series so that I could then intelligently discuss them with my students.

For one thing, the books are poorly written.  Where’s the craft?  For instance, I always give my students choice when looking for Golden Lines to mimic in order to learn grammar and sentence structure.  ”Go into your independent reading book and find an example of Adjectives-out-of-order or an Appositive or an Absolute.” They couldn’t find a thing.  I didn’t tell them this.  They told me.    

For another thing, the message of the books is icky.  Wake up teachers and parents, these characters and their unemotional, dysfunctional relationships have been adopted as role models for our tweens.  But don’t take the book out of their hands.  Read it yourself, be a part of the discussion, and cast yourself as a voice in their head when they are thinking about things in the quiet of their alone time. Discussion over Censorship.

It’s easy.  It’s plucky.  It’s sexy.  I get it.  But they require responsibility in their reading. 

So for those teachers or parents who want the Cliff Notes version of this series, here it is so you don’t have to go through the torture that I did.  Not important, you say?  Well this series, supported in large part by tween girls, has outsold J.K. Rowling’s little juggernaut, proving the age-old adage that vampires and virgins do sell after all.

Here goes:

Book one, Twilight: outsider girl falls in love with cold, unemotional, tortured, vegetarian vamp who won’t tell her the truth about anything, including his feelings towards her.  Think Ethan Hawke in Reality Bites but with a great car and without the tobacco problem. Girl decides that she’s plain and vamps are beautiful and she wants to be one.  Her father (with the depth of Homer Simpson), meanwhile, is totally unattached to reality, doesn’t notice there’s a vampire sleeping in her room each night.  She almost dies.(...)
Read the rest of Book Review: Breaking Dawn (Cliff Notes of the Stephanie Meyer’s series) (560 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 209 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blog, book review, carnival of education, classroom library, ELA, k-12, k12, Language Arts, middle school, tween

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Kelly Gallagher, educator and author of Teaching Adolescent Writers, came and spoke to the UCI Writing Project on Friday and his focus of the presentation was a Golden Line: The Goal in Education is “Everybody Improves.”  

Duh, you say, isn’t improvement always the goal of education?  Actually, no. When you consider AYP scores, for instance, the goal is to hit a benchmark, not the level of improvement you made to hit it.  (...)
Read the rest of Kelly Gallagher’s Golden Line (723 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 100% accountability, 2008, achievement gap, critical thinking, Curriculum, differentiation, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, electives, equity, failing, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, middle school, PI, research, school accountability, school funding, Title I, Writers Project

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© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, assessments, blog, collaboration, computers, credential, critical thinking, CUE, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, digital immigrants, digital natives, Ed Tech, education, education policy, ELA, equity, integration, internet literacy, jobs, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, matthew needleman, middle school, professional development, research, technology, test, test prep, Think Aloud, Title I, UCI, writing

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© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: book review, classroom library, education, ELA, k-12, k12, teaching

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© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Attention-getters, book review, character, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, education, ELA, essay, hooks, peer teaching, sensory detail, voice

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