Our most-recent guest lecturer was Liz Kolb from the
University of Michigan. I really appreciated her personal anecdote about her
academic struggles in middle, lower and high school. Perhaps her struggles say
more about our educational system than her mis-diagnosed learning disabilities
– that is, the systems inability to offer differentiated instruction. Perhaps
her case-study offers further insight into how we, as educators, can
differentiate/individualize our instruction. Not all students “score” well on
standardized tests. But in our current system, we tend to relegate those
students to the back of the class, labeling them as “special needs,” underperforming,
or slow. Perhaps we could graft our curriculum into our students’ daily lives,
as Liz suggested. Cell phones, she informed us, is one device to connect with
our students. Cell phones, when used for educational purposes, help us, and our
students, become more socially-emotionally engaged with, for example, current
events, historical monuments, wireless technology, and each other.
Cory,
ReplyDeleteIn what ways, if at all, so you think cell phones might detract from your students' learning? Is it a given that because they like cell phones that they will enhance learning? I'm curious to know how you have integrated/might integrate cell phones into the classroom.
Cory,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated Liz's personal anecdote as well. It made me think about how we can differentiate in assessment to accommodate our different students. This past week when I had to come up with an assessment for my Spanish methods class, I kept thinking about Liz and the way in which her teacher accommodated her. I think that as teachers we need to constantly think about this. Even though this can be difficult given what are students are supposed to be able to do (given by standards and requirements) and curriculum to be covered, we need to always work towards it.
Cory,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Liz's presentation, as well. I find it interesting that you say her learning disability was "mis-diagnosed". Do you think that maybe there was a correct diagnosis, but perhaps not enough differentiation to accomodate her needs? You allude to this later in your post and I agree with you. I think there needs to be more of an effort to create ways for all students to excel, not just the ones who are already on the honors or AP track. I am interested to see how cellphones will be incorporated into our future classrooms. As Rory mentioned in his comment, are cellphones the automatic answer to enhance learning? I think its definitely worth experimenting with.
Cory,
ReplyDeleteI think your point of view in this piece raises an important issue with regards to igniting student interest in the education system. I too was intrigued by Liz's story and walked away questioning the efficacy of the current system to "reach" every student. I think the points you raise about the efficacy of cell phones are important as well. Students are so attached to cell phones today that they've developed a comfort with their easy to use features. As educators, I think we're challenged with finding an educational way of incorporating their use in class. Do you have any specific ideas as how this might be done? Personally, I haven't found enough quality apps or thought of enough educational ways to synthesize their use in the classroom. I think the challenge for us as teachers is enabling their use in class in a way that enhances learning rather than simply catering kid's fascination with their mobile devices, at large.
I wish I would have seen this post earlier. I just blogged about an idea very similar to this. As Rory pointed out, I think that cell phones can be a distraction in the classroom, but I also realize the need for us, as educators, to allow students the opportunity to use tech devices in a controlled and purposeful manner. It is only through these means that I see real practical use for cell phones. Socrative, google voice, and other such programs are examples of positive ways to incorporate cell phones into the classroom. I am curious as to how you would utilize tech in your history class. I know that you have a rather old fashioned mentor teacher who does not typically use tech in her class. Do you foresee it being a problem if you chose to use tech in the class next semester? Has she already marked tech with a red X in her class or does she have rules in place that prevent such integration of technology? I really liked the post and your thoughts about differentiated instruction and how that applied to our guest speaker that was kind and brave enough to share her story.
ReplyDeleteHi Cory,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts about Liz Kolb's presentation! I think that your comments about differentiation through technology brings up a good point (and I'll follow up Ben and Evan's comments with my own here): How well does our system of education support learners who don't fit the traditional "You test well- you're intelligent. You don't- you aren't." As someone who always struggled with standardized tests, Liz's presentation and your thoughts really resonated with me! While our education system evaluates with standardized tests, we are not to be limited as teachers to this being our only form of assessment or only goal of student learning! I think that Liz's story was most striking when she shared about how a teacher gave her a choice for assessment. It seems that differentiation can be brought into the classroom at many times and in many ways, including via cell phones!
In terms of the equity question, I found it very striking that most students, even in urban or rural settings, do have phones! In these learning environments, we should be making effective use of every resource available to us! Following Ben's comment, I think it is important to help students learn to use technology responsibly and critically. It seems that the role of the teacher expands in any direction I look, but does that mean the possibility of differentiation with phones shouldn't be pursued? I don't think so, but we should proceed with caution.