With the exception of my first hour English 10 class, I teach in a "laptop classroom" where the laptops are not used on a daily basis. In my 4th and 6th hour Honors American Literature classes, for example, the laptops are rarely used for the entire period, and we probably take them out of the cart about two or three days out of the week. I deliberate over how to incorporate the laptops in my planning. While I realize that the laptops hold endless potential, I tend to abstain from designing units and lessons that revolve around the technology. To be honest, I alternate on a daily basis between feeling guilty for not using the laptops enough and feeling guilty for too often sacrificing valuable non-laptop activities for the ones that utilize the technology (and may or may not be a success).
I would like to hear from the students' perpsectives where this balance lies. Students in the laptop classrooms--what impressions have the first six weeks left on you? In other words, which activities have the laptops genuinely enhanced, and which have they detracted from? Have we, your teachers, found a productive balance? --Ms. Kakos
11 comments:
I have enjoyed using the laptops, but in many instances, I am not sure that they are worth the hassle. Many activities can be done just as easily on a sheet of paper without having to deal with the same technological issues associated with having laptops in a classroom.
On the other hand, having wireless laptops does make information more readily available and this is a big positive.
Ms. Kakos,
Great question to ask of your students. This provides them the opportunity to reflect on the use of and value of the laptops as instructional tools. I look forward to reading their responses because I believe we have so much to learn from our students.
I agree with spencer z, joanneh and nathan a. The laptops make useful resources available, but some things like notes I believe we should be given the option to use either paper or laptops. I also agree with keeping the blogs outside of class. That way there's time to read all the comments and respond to them, without taking away class time. The balance so far has been good--the laptops are good for fishbowls, when we want to pull up a resource right away. But I think trying to use the laptops more just for the sake of using them is time-consuming and unnecessary.
I think that the laptops are a great tool to have in class because we don't have any other classes with it, so it teaches us how to use the laptops. It also prepaes us for college because most people only use a laptop and this is great preparation for college.
I agree with Nathan that the laptops are a good option for note taking in class but I like blogging outside of class more. That way you aren’t repeating what everyone else said and you have time to read the other comments. The laptops help me stay more organized because I don’t have an overwhelming amount of papers in my binder and e-mailing papers back and forth is working well.
I agree with Michelle that there has been a good balance between using the laptops and not using them.
I think that the laptops are very helpful when we are taking notes. The notes are neater and are easier to read. I also think they are beneficial for correcting papers becasue we can edit directly on the document. I also agree with Jake because this can help to prepare us for laptop use in college. I personally like the laptops and would like to use them more.
I agree with all of the students in that the laptops are usefull for notes and such, as well as for blogging. I see that they can be a hassle, but think about it. A laptop with an internet connection gives you endless access to any information you could ever want, and I don't think we are utilizing that to its full potential. There is so much out there, and I think we need to come up with creative, new ways to productivley use the laptops.
I have mixed feelings about the laptops. Now that the initial glamour has worn off it seems like there may in fact be fun activities to do without the laptops contrary to popular belief. I enjoy the mix of having them some, but not all, days of the week. I see the benefits of them for some activities (like editing), but some activities are better without them and the distractions that follow (such as the notes taken on the Village).
I agree with the majority of the posts so far about not blogging in class. Especially in sixth hour, when our brains seem to be dead, a discussion is a good way to get our minds back to english.
I would like to use the laptops for notes, but not at all times. For instance, movie notes would not be good on the laptop because I think they would take away from the movie.
Finally, in my spanish class, with Mrs. Seidel, we talked about learning techniques, learning from a lecture vs. individual learning and learning from eachother. The laptops can be a great way for us the learn from eachother and individually instead of a lecture. For these
I like using the laptops,it makes many things such a peer editing easier to read ans moother as well. However sometimes it feels like it is not worth it to get the laptops out for 10 minutes when it takes a ful 3-4 min to get them up and running. Sometimes the laptops can be a distraction but I think that is a fault of the students not the teachers. I use laptops in chemistry and I do not think that science is an appropirate class for laptops. Science is more hands on and I find laptops make it difficlut to do work. It seems to be working out nicely in English though.
I like using the laptops but I agree that we shouldn't use them to blog in class because I think it is really pointless and you get nothing from it when 30 students are sitting in silence typing a response to a question. I would rather have a discussion on the topic so you can hear everyone else's opinion and add yours. Blogs should be kept at home.
I disagree that the laptops are better for notes, I would rather write my notes down in a notebook, plus it is much more portable and you do not have to worry about dropping them:)
I would like to do a little more with laptops in class, maybe even a whole activity using them. I feel that we really haven't had a chance yet to use them for research or a major online activity and I think that would be fun and really using the laptops to their full potential.
The last thing I want to comment on is the editing. I think that is the best thing we have used the laptops for so far. It makes it so that the writer of the piece can read the comments and know where they apply. It also keeps the document organized.
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