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Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
What do you think? Which is better - Teachers or Technology?
Posted by:
Retired teacher
()
Date: July 21, 2012 10:48AM
Teachers are the be-all, end-all for a true education, not technology
Connie Casserly
Retired teacher, writer, avid reader.
Posted on July 17, 2012 at 6:22 pm
http://chantilly.patch.com/blog_posts/teachers-are-the-be-all-end-all-for-a-true-education-not-technology
From My Side of the Desk
Teachers are the be-all, end-all for a true education, not technology
Schools could exist without technology, in fact, they did for over a century, but could schools exist without teachers who teach? In the Metro section of The Washington Post (7/16/2012), Jay Mathews earned a warm spot in my heart with his column Technology won’t save our schools, because nothing can replace a good teacher. Thousands of teachers are probably cheering so loudly due to Mr. Mathews’ words that his ears are ringing. Yes, technology does facilitate teaching, but it alone will not educate our young people. Teachers do that.
The word pictures Mathews created with his examples of schools that utilized online read and answer programs in English and Math horrified me. Apparently, the English students would spend the class period reading material presented in an online program and answer questions. The teacher? She would sit at her desk, engrossed in work of her choosing and would check the students’ answers after they had finished that day’s computer assignment. Those students involved in a math program would complete assignments in a workbook, take a quiz and move on to another workbook. Neither teacher intellectually engaged, motivated, or inspired students. Nor did they address any questions or concerns the learners might have had.
His examples reminded me of a segment from the satiric 1984 movie, Teachers. One instructor at the high school, nicknamed Ditto, had his room arranged in exact linear rows. Every period, students would file in, pick up Xeroxed work from a file on the teacher’s desk, sit down, robotically do the work in total silence, get up and turn the sheets in when the bell rang and then file out of the room, still in silence. Meanwhile, the teacher sat behind his desk hiding behind the newspaper that he read the whole time, never ever talking to (forget with) his students or otherwise engaging them. One day Ditto died…and wasn’t discovered for four class periods. May he rest in peace.
In both of these examples, students were regurgitating information, but were they learning? Were they given the chance to explore the texts for deeper understanding Were they allowed to analyze the complexities of the information set before them, sharpening their critical thinking skills as they worked through the material? Inquiring minds want to know. Unfortunately the answers to these questions are, “No, no and no.” Students were merely churning out answers for objective-based assessments. They were learning how to take a test. Education was not happening.
To truly become educated- to fully comprehend what they are studying- children must be asked to Read, Think, Speak, Write and Do as often as possible. They must be allowed to exhibit their understanding in lessons where teachers ask them to remember, to apply their knowledge, to analyze and evaluate the material and to synthesize all the information they gathered into an original creation. The teachers in Mathews’ examples and mine only covered the remembering aspect, and that is so very sad because those students were being deprived of an education.
Contrary to students’ moaning and groaning about having too much homework or tests being too hard, they want to learn. Oh, they might beg to be put in Mr. Modern-day Ditto’s class because he just has them complete multiple choice worksheets he posted online, or Ms. X’s class because all she does is show movies, but by February, they are smacking themselves upside their heads for taking the lazy option. Why? THEY ARE BORED, BORED, BORED. And they are angry because they feel they lost brain cells when they could have been challenged to learn complex material, to think and to write.
I know this because every year, as a culmination to my Surrounded by Satire unit, a few seniors would ask to write their original satire on just such a class that they had endured because they wanted a, “Cake class.” Now they were frustrated and angry because they wasted a year where they could have been developing thinking, reasoning, reading and writing skills that they’d need in the real world outside the halls of high school. They wanted teachers who actually taught, who engaged their minds. I never allowed them to write on those classes/teachers, though, because few teenagers could separate true satire from negative venting.
Effective teachers will not eschew technology because they realize that the SmartBoards, the online standardized test practices, the Internet and online blogs and social media sites, the audio/video apps and so many more tools are excellent supplements that will help students to advance comprehension, sharpen critical thinking and master skills. They understand that these opportunities are a means to the end, not the end itself. And they love, love, love grading software. With a few key flicks, they can finalize their grade book of 125+ students instead of spending endlessly painful hours adding up lines of assessments.
Effective teachers will spend hours and hours (even in the summer like the hundreds I have come to know and admire in online teachers groups) crafting lessons that strategically and creatively combine the use of technology with the Common Core Standards that forty-five states follow and their schools’ program of studies. Knowing that one lesson won’t address the needs of all types of learners, they take the time to fashion numerous activities. Some use various technology tools, but all are centered on active teaching, which will meet the needs of visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners and which, most importantly, will engage their students intellectually. Hmm, maybe all of this work that they do (and for no pay in the summer) and how energetically they teach is why they have been asked to join Top Teacher sites. Just a thought.
Effective teachers care about their students. They freely commiserate with those upset by life’s kicks in the gut; they celebrate joys and successes; they mourn losses. I’ve never know any software that could fulfill those human needs.
Yes, Mr. Mathews, I heartily concur, a hundred times over I heartily concur, with your article: Technology won’t save our schools, because nothing can replace a good teacher.
Until next week,
Connie
Connie Casserly
Retired teacher, writer, avid reader.
Posted on July 17, 2012 at 6:22 pm
http://chantilly.patch.com/blog_posts/teachers-are-the-be-all-end-all-for-a-true-education-not-technology
From My Side of the Desk
Teachers are the be-all, end-all for a true education, not technology
Schools could exist without technology, in fact, they did for over a century, but could schools exist without teachers who teach? In the Metro section of The Washington Post (7/16/2012), Jay Mathews earned a warm spot in my heart with his column Technology won’t save our schools, because nothing can replace a good teacher. Thousands of teachers are probably cheering so loudly due to Mr. Mathews’ words that his ears are ringing. Yes, technology does facilitate teaching, but it alone will not educate our young people. Teachers do that.
The word pictures Mathews created with his examples of schools that utilized online read and answer programs in English and Math horrified me. Apparently, the English students would spend the class period reading material presented in an online program and answer questions. The teacher? She would sit at her desk, engrossed in work of her choosing and would check the students’ answers after they had finished that day’s computer assignment. Those students involved in a math program would complete assignments in a workbook, take a quiz and move on to another workbook. Neither teacher intellectually engaged, motivated, or inspired students. Nor did they address any questions or concerns the learners might have had.
His examples reminded me of a segment from the satiric 1984 movie, Teachers. One instructor at the high school, nicknamed Ditto, had his room arranged in exact linear rows. Every period, students would file in, pick up Xeroxed work from a file on the teacher’s desk, sit down, robotically do the work in total silence, get up and turn the sheets in when the bell rang and then file out of the room, still in silence. Meanwhile, the teacher sat behind his desk hiding behind the newspaper that he read the whole time, never ever talking to (forget with) his students or otherwise engaging them. One day Ditto died…and wasn’t discovered for four class periods. May he rest in peace.
In both of these examples, students were regurgitating information, but were they learning? Were they given the chance to explore the texts for deeper understanding Were they allowed to analyze the complexities of the information set before them, sharpening their critical thinking skills as they worked through the material? Inquiring minds want to know. Unfortunately the answers to these questions are, “No, no and no.” Students were merely churning out answers for objective-based assessments. They were learning how to take a test. Education was not happening.
To truly become educated- to fully comprehend what they are studying- children must be asked to Read, Think, Speak, Write and Do as often as possible. They must be allowed to exhibit their understanding in lessons where teachers ask them to remember, to apply their knowledge, to analyze and evaluate the material and to synthesize all the information they gathered into an original creation. The teachers in Mathews’ examples and mine only covered the remembering aspect, and that is so very sad because those students were being deprived of an education.
Contrary to students’ moaning and groaning about having too much homework or tests being too hard, they want to learn. Oh, they might beg to be put in Mr. Modern-day Ditto’s class because he just has them complete multiple choice worksheets he posted online, or Ms. X’s class because all she does is show movies, but by February, they are smacking themselves upside their heads for taking the lazy option. Why? THEY ARE BORED, BORED, BORED. And they are angry because they feel they lost brain cells when they could have been challenged to learn complex material, to think and to write.
I know this because every year, as a culmination to my Surrounded by Satire unit, a few seniors would ask to write their original satire on just such a class that they had endured because they wanted a, “Cake class.” Now they were frustrated and angry because they wasted a year where they could have been developing thinking, reasoning, reading and writing skills that they’d need in the real world outside the halls of high school. They wanted teachers who actually taught, who engaged their minds. I never allowed them to write on those classes/teachers, though, because few teenagers could separate true satire from negative venting.
Effective teachers will not eschew technology because they realize that the SmartBoards, the online standardized test practices, the Internet and online blogs and social media sites, the audio/video apps and so many more tools are excellent supplements that will help students to advance comprehension, sharpen critical thinking and master skills. They understand that these opportunities are a means to the end, not the end itself. And they love, love, love grading software. With a few key flicks, they can finalize their grade book of 125+ students instead of spending endlessly painful hours adding up lines of assessments.
Effective teachers will spend hours and hours (even in the summer like the hundreds I have come to know and admire in online teachers groups) crafting lessons that strategically and creatively combine the use of technology with the Common Core Standards that forty-five states follow and their schools’ program of studies. Knowing that one lesson won’t address the needs of all types of learners, they take the time to fashion numerous activities. Some use various technology tools, but all are centered on active teaching, which will meet the needs of visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners and which, most importantly, will engage their students intellectually. Hmm, maybe all of this work that they do (and for no pay in the summer) and how energetically they teach is why they have been asked to join Top Teacher sites. Just a thought.
Effective teachers care about their students. They freely commiserate with those upset by life’s kicks in the gut; they celebrate joys and successes; they mourn losses. I’ve never know any software that could fulfill those human needs.
Yes, Mr. Mathews, I heartily concur, a hundred times over I heartily concur, with your article: Technology won’t save our schools, because nothing can replace a good teacher.
Until next week,
Connie
Re: What do you think? Which is better - Teachers or Technology?
Posted by:
Blackboard rules!
()
Date: July 21, 2012 06:35PM
Jack Dale is all for the Blackboard and what it can do for our future.
Fuck those outdated HUGE textbooks that break our kids backs.
In the future all textbooks will be on a Kindle like device.
Plus those with teaching skills and IT knowledge will lead the way in advanced learning.
Kids love the computer! They love their iPads and iPhones.
Outdated teachers are worried.
If you cannot think "outside the box" you will be replaced.
Sure K-4 will always need to be hand held. Or spoon fed. SAD!
Beyond that our kids will learn faster and better without the outside BS of a bad teacher. Bad teachers bring in notions that are not held true. They love to hate those they cannot teach. ADHD? Faster brain and in much cases smarter too. Look it up. They in most cases have SUPER brains. They will out smart you but they cannot sit still. They need advanced help. A computer WILL replace you.
The future is coming my friend. Be their or be square.
Fuck those outdated HUGE textbooks that break our kids backs.
In the future all textbooks will be on a Kindle like device.
Plus those with teaching skills and IT knowledge will lead the way in advanced learning.
Kids love the computer! They love their iPads and iPhones.
Outdated teachers are worried.
If you cannot think "outside the box" you will be replaced.
Sure K-4 will always need to be hand held. Or spoon fed. SAD!
Beyond that our kids will learn faster and better without the outside BS of a bad teacher. Bad teachers bring in notions that are not held true. They love to hate those they cannot teach. ADHD? Faster brain and in much cases smarter too. Look it up. They in most cases have SUPER brains. They will out smart you but they cannot sit still. They need advanced help. A computer WILL replace you.
The future is coming my friend. Be their or be square.
Re: What do you think? Which is better - Teachers or Technology?
Posted by:
113
()
Date: July 21, 2012 07:31PM
-------------------------------------------------------
> Schools could exist without technology, in fact,
> they did for over a century,
I didn't read past this sentence. Anybody who cannot properly define "technology" should not be entrusted with the minds of our children. I wouldn't hire the writer as a day care worker, let alone as a teacher.
> Schools could exist without technology, in fact,
> they did for over a century,
I didn't read past this sentence. Anybody who cannot properly define "technology" should not be entrusted with the minds of our children. I wouldn't hire the writer as a day care worker, let alone as a teacher.
Re: What do you think? Which is better - Teachers or Technology?
Posted by:
Blackboard fools
()
Date: July 21, 2012 09:18PM
Blackboard Rules, you spelled there wrong.
"The future is coming my friend. Be their or be square."
Where was your technology to save you? hehe
Though writing this was tough as it spoon fed you.
"The future is coming my friend. Be their or be square."
Where was your technology to save you? hehe
Though writing this was tough as it spoon fed you.
Re: What do you think? Which is better - Teachers or Technology?
Posted by:
Mikeymike
()
Date: July 21, 2012 11:34PM
Tech is overrated. Computer graphics can be used to enhance presentation, but can't teach beyond the level of standardized tests- that is, you may be good enough to guess the right answer out of four choices, most of the time. Your Asian boss, who toiled in a real school system and has actually mastered his profession, may provide an extra lump of coal for your stove in December.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2012 11:34PM by Mikeymike.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2012 11:34PM by Mikeymike.
Re: What do you think? Which is better - Teachers or Technology?
Posted by:
Rental Unit
()
Date: July 22, 2012 07:33AM
My vote is for technology. Teachers yell way to much and for the most ridiculous reasons. Most of the time -- the kids are just trying to participate in the lecture, but the teacher interprets it as chit chat! The yelling intimidates the students and makes them lose interest in participating. Computers don't yell at kids because they don't need to. They are not boring nor do they ever get stressed out by a million factors like whiny parents, overbearing administrators, bad cafeteria food, etc., etc.
Re: What do you think? Which is better - Teachers or Technology?
Posted by:
Gordon Blvd
()
Date: July 22, 2012 07:57AM
rental - I hope you arent a parent cause it sounds like you could be cold as ice to a kid :(
@Mikeyt - another aspect of it - tech can be manipulated WAAAAYY more than a teacher ever could.
@Blackboard fools- soooooooooooooooo +1 ;)
@113 - that is funny, aint it? LoLz
@Mikeyt - another aspect of it - tech can be manipulated WAAAAYY more than a teacher ever could.
@Blackboard fools- soooooooooooooooo +1 ;)
@113 - that is funny, aint it? LoLz
Re: What do you think? Which is better - Teachers or Technology?
Posted by:
Ivy Bigbee
()
Date: July 22, 2012 08:40PM
Gordon Blvd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> rental - I hope you arent a parent cause it sounds
> like you could be cold as ice to a kid :(
> @Mikeyt - another aspect of it - tech can be
> manipulated WAAAAYY more than a teacher ever
> could.
> @Blackboard fools- soooooooooooooooo +1 ;)
> @113 - that is funny, aint it? LoLz
You have waaaaay too much time on your hands.
-------------------------------------------------------
> rental - I hope you arent a parent cause it sounds
> like you could be cold as ice to a kid :(
> @Mikeyt - another aspect of it - tech can be
> manipulated WAAAAYY more than a teacher ever
> could.
> @Blackboard fools- soooooooooooooooo +1 ;)
> @113 - that is funny, aint it? LoLz
You have waaaaay too much time on your hands.
Re: What do you think? Which is better - Teachers or Technology?
Posted by:
KochBros
()
Date: July 22, 2012 08:45PM
Like we said in Wisconsin - neither the teachers, the technology, or the police and firemen matter. What matters is our tax cuts. We own you and the American government from top to bottom. STFU!
Attachments:
Attachments:
Re: What do you think? Which is better - Teachers or Technology?
Posted by:
Blackboard spelling asshole
()
Date: July 22, 2012 10:31PM
You are a small dick.
Ha ha ha
Ha ha ha
Re: What do you think? Which is better - Teachers or Technology?
Posted by:
Ivy Bigbee
()
Date: July 24, 2012 09:02PM
Mikeymike Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tech is overrated. Computer graphics can be used
> to enhance presentation, but can't teach beyond
> the level of standardized tests- that is, you may
> be good enough to guess the right answer out of
> four choices, most of the time. Your Asian boss,
> who toiled in a real school system and has
> actually mastered his profession, may provide an
> extra lump of coal for your stove in December.
I agree 100%!
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tech is overrated. Computer graphics can be used
> to enhance presentation, but can't teach beyond
> the level of standardized tests- that is, you may
> be good enough to guess the right answer out of
> four choices, most of the time. Your Asian boss,
> who toiled in a real school system and has
> actually mastered his profession, may provide an
> extra lump of coal for your stove in December.
I agree 100%!
Re: What do you think? Which is better - Teachers or Technology?
Posted by:
asfgsdgsdgsdgsd
()
Date: July 24, 2012 10:36PM
Most young adults are almost completely ignorant of basic grammatical rules. Their sentence structure is embarrassing...in both written and oral form. If I hear "Me and Joe went to the store" one more time, I think that I will scream.
They also have almost no concept of basic geography, world politics, recent history, or how to structure a compelling essay. Don't even get me started on math.
Each dollar that we spend on tech in our classrooms is a dollar wasted. The current generation lacks basic skills. If we want to enhance the curriculum to add a nontraditional subject, incorporate a class on basic finance.
They also have almost no concept of basic geography, world politics, recent history, or how to structure a compelling essay. Don't even get me started on math.
Each dollar that we spend on tech in our classrooms is a dollar wasted. The current generation lacks basic skills. If we want to enhance the curriculum to add a nontraditional subject, incorporate a class on basic finance.
Re: What do you think? Which is better - Teachers or Technology?
Posted by:
mousepad addict
()
Date: July 24, 2012 10:54PM
I am about to have a child and it will be a cold day in hell before I ever let a human teach them. I have already purchased 5 tablet computers, a kindle fire, both tops (desk and lap), a speak-n-spell, a math-n-spell, and the robot from buck rogers.
I am setting the timer on the baby's room for the SAT's of it's (we don't know the sex yet) 16th year to unlock so we can drive her/him to Woodson High School to beat the shit out of the analog taught children.
I am setting the timer on the baby's room for the SAT's of it's (we don't know the sex yet) 16th year to unlock so we can drive her/him to Woodson High School to beat the shit out of the analog taught children.
Re: What do you think? Which is better - Teachers or Technology?
Posted by:
Kollen
()
Date: October 31, 2022 05:10PM
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