2008-2009 The One Where I Tell You About How Technology Changed Education
THE ONE WHERE I TELL YOU ABOUT HOW TECHNOLOGY CHANGED EDUCATION 2008-2009: Wichita Public Schools: White PreK-5 Library
During the 2008-2009 school year I noticed that students' behaviors really started to become more challenging. I honestly believe that this had to do with cell phones now becoming common. I believe that this was the beginning of what I call THE BIG DISCONNECT. As more parents “plugged in” less attention was given to their children. Of course you see it today all the time, a child in a store starving for their parents attention while the parent is paying more attention to their phone. Believe it or not this Technology Teacher believes that Technology will be the death of our society. I tell my students all the time to put down their devices and give them a break. Learn to listen and talk to one another actively. Don’t make Technology such a priority in your life. In my opinion this was the beginning of students' increased need for attention as it was lacking at home.
Sadly students that seek attention often do so at the expense of the control/environment of your classroom. It seems that behaviors were happening more and more often. A couple of incidents happened this year that allowed me to really see how behaviors at our school were changing. Both events occurred during our Professional Development Day. One incident occurred at an all school assembly. We had made arrangements with Arts Partners to bring in a Caribbean Steel Drum band for our students. Students sitting in the audience picked stones off of their shoes and threw them at the performers' instruments. I was humiliated and so embarrassed. Wondering what was wrong with these students? Can they not respect these performers? Another incident was when we took our students to Exploration Place to the Cyberdome theatre. You have to consider that students of poverty do not have the financial means to attend a place like Exploration Place. It was exciting and new for them. Is it any wonder they screamed LOUDLY in the Cyberdome theatre? The other School in attendance (a WEALTHY Private School) complained that our school ruined their students' experience. We were asked to never return. This was the last year we took field trips on PD days.
Still I was thankful that I was in a Technology rich Library. Library was not a graded Special so I could actually take technology privileges from my students. It really helped me with my classroom management and discipline. Around this time I began using a portal that was called KAN-ED. It was pretty fantastic. It contained online databases from the Kansas State Library and a backpack where students could upload and save their work. I was one of its earliest users. I even presented about KAN-ED at their local conference. Sadly my USD 259 Bully tried to ruin the experience for me by glaring at me during my presentation. I do believe that her issue with me was rooted in jealousy. Another Librarian truly appreciated my use of KAN-ED at the Elementary level. She was a Middle School Librarian and she would often tell me that the students she received in MS from my Elementary School were the BEST prepared of all her students.
Technology made a HUGE difference in the Library. Automation was now in it's 8th year. Our automation system allowed us to borrow from other libraries. It also allowed us to see what books children owed to other schools. Sadly when you are dealing with children of poverty you noticed that many students owed library books to many different schools. My approach to this was to let these kids checkout a book but nothing that was brand new. That might sound harsh but many years while I was Library Media Specialist at a School of poverty our loses exceeded our yearly book budget. The #1 title that moved/disappeared from my Library was THE CAT IN THE HAT. During my years as a LMS I must have purchased 50 copies of that title.
Be looking for my next blog entry around March 10th entitled:
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