Skip to main content

RE: Paperless No More - 3 Reasons I'm Using More Paper...




Article Summary

A blogger that I follow recently posted an article titled, Paperless No More:3 Reasons I'm Using Paper in my Classroom this year. In this article, the author outlines three major reasons why he uses paper instead of technology for certain tasks.


  1. Technology Distracts Freshman
  2. Technology Takes Too Much Time
  3. Paper Demonstrates more learning

...digital tools help us do more than paper ever could. They provide a permanence to our work and lets learning exist everywhere at once through sharing and collaboration. But it’s important to teach students how to demonstrate their learning in new ways and to manage these tools.

Most of my challenges here aren’t really technology issues, they’re management issues. 


Here is my response to the author's questions at the end of the article.

How can I improve classroom management with these students to improve their efficiency and accountability when working online? 

Restricted Web Access

I know of a few ways to do this. First, Having students that are easily distracted, such as the freshman mentioned in the article, should not have unfiltered access to the internet/apps. Some student management tools, such as GoGuardian, allow teachers to set what websites students can access at any given point in time. This certainly helps students stay on task rather than randomly surfing the web.

Classroom Management Expectations

Yes, this is a low-tech solution to a technology problem. Have your expectations for technology use visible, not only around the classroom, but on the device itself. You can have a sticker print-out of instructions stuck on the device. Monitoring student work and having a history of what students were doing to hold them accountable would also be a good idea.

Precise and Clear Directions

As with any lesson plan, directions should be specific and clear. The biggest distractions I saw in my classroom were students who were off task, or students who completed their work before others. This goes back to a saying about "idle hands." Make sure there is always a next step for when the assignment is complete and expectations for when to stay on task.

Work Outside of Class

Having students work and collaborate outside of class is one of ed tech's greatest strengths. Even better, the students do not have to meet at the same physical location or even at the same time. This can help relieve some of the class time loss mentioned in the article.

Of course, these are not the only solutions and I am unaware of the specific classroom environment. These are general guidelines based on what I have seen work in the past as well as research I have done on the subject.

How can I make more effective use of the powerful tools in my classroom? 

This is very difficult to answer as each classroom, learning environment, subject area, grade level, and group of students will have varying needs. I suggest some of the following that have helped me in the past.

  1. Take a look at what others are doing and reflect on how it would work in your classroom.
  2. Research general methods of using classroom technology
  3. Just like the author did in this article, compare methods used and which yielded the best results for students.

The main point through all of these is trial and error and using your best judgement as a teacher.

A colleague of mine reminded me that "nothing works straight out of the box." There will be time needed to setup and use technology in the classroom. This will take a lot of time. However, once technology is setup, you will be able to make more efficient use of time.

Overall I agree, while approaching solutions to these problems, one should keep in mind that....

It’s not about paper or about the technology alone--and never really should be--it’s about the learning and the students.



Comments

  1. Wow, What an Excellent post. I really found this to much informative. It is what I was searching for. I would like to suggest you that please keep sharing such type of info.Essay Writing Help Online

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your blog contains lots of valuable data. It is a factual and beneficial article for us.writing a thesis for a research paper Thankful to you for sharing an article like this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You have worked nicely with your insights that makes our work easy. The information you have provided is really factual and significant for us. Keep sharing these types of article, Thank you.Assignment Help Ontario

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

8 Google Sheets Add-ons Teachers Need!

Google sheets is a very powerful, although a bit basic when compared with the industry standard Microsoft Excel. Google Sheets Add-ons add some of the advanced features of other spreadsheet programs into Sheets. These add-ons have allowed me to completely move away from Excel for all data entry. We ...selected for you the 8 most popular applications there. Using these add-ons will enable you to: Create graphs and forms and write complex math in your sheets Create and modify a planning schedule for project management in a spreadsheet; easily scaffold, manage and assess students projects in Google Drive ...see the article below for more http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2017/07/8-google-sheets-add-ons-every-teacher.html

3 Tips for Classroom Discussion Backchannels: Class Tech Tips

A backchannel is a space where students can post questions, respond to prompts and participate in a discussion without raising their hand. You might set up a backchannel for students using the free tool Today’s Meet or have older students set up a Twitter account and tweet using a shared hashtag for a virtual class discussion. If you haven’t used backchannels before you may want to check out this post for a quick overview. So what does this have to do with BrainPOP? BrainPOP is a favorite resource for helping students dive into a range of topics. Read more on the link below. http://www.techlearning.com/blogentry/12230

What will technology look like in 2017?

Welcome to 2017! What will 2017 bring, in terms technology? There are many predictions being made about what will happen this year. Here are some of the common predictions for technology of 2017. Virtual Reality will not be as popular as Augmented Reality Trump will have an impact, but what does this mean? 2-in-1 Computers will be on the rise Hackers and Cyber attacks will improve More Smart Devices will be sold (Smart Homes, Cars, Watches, and other devices)  Augmented Reality The common theme of what 2017 will offer, seems to be more of what 2016 offered. Augmented reality was shifted to the forefront of American culture last year as Pokemon Go rose and fell in a short time span. Virtual reality did not get off to the start expected of the "next big thing," in terms of product sales. This has caused some to take pause and re-evaluate virtual reality's future. However, many sources agree that virtual reality is not going away quite yet, if at all.