Journal Reflection: Appendix A
Let’s face it. Kids today don’t have to remember as much as they used to. In the past, and as recently as back when I was in high school, memorization of facts was crucial. If you didn’t know something, or you couldn’t remember it, you had to search through your textbook or head off to the library to look it up in an encyclopedia. Today students can simply “Google it” to get the answer within seconds. The Internet has become so readily accessible with multiple computers in classrooms and on handheld mobile devices, that it just isn’t as important to remember every little fact or figure. Is this a good thing? Well, I guess it depends who you ask. Students are probably grateful they don’t have to remember everything to memory (although I don’t think today’s students even know the difference because they’ve grown up with the technology). Teachers however, specifically older teachers I think, probably don’t like it too much. I, like many of my generation I suppose, probably fall somewhere in the middle.
Now I should point out that I don’t think my belief that students are grateful they don’t have to remember as much covers EVERY student. I have had students in my classes over the past five years that truly enjoy and value learning about new things. Unfortunately, I’m beginning to think that these students are becoming more and more the exception.
There were a couple of points that Moursund made in this section that I could relate to. On pages 90 and 91 he talks about using the computer as a tool. In my TV Production classes we certainly rely on the computer on a daily basis. Without it we would have to go back to the old days of editing video by hooking up two VCRs and a couple of TVs … wait … that’s what I had to do in my TV Production classes back when I was in high school. Okay let me get back on point here. Moursund talks about one of the ways teachers use the computer as a tool is by employing desktop presentations as a teaching aid. Teachers can hook up their desktop or laptop to a projector and present their lesson so the whole class can follow along. Smart Boards can do this as well and even make it interactive for the students. I don’t have a Smart Board, but I do have a projector and it has really proved to be a time saver when I first teach the lesson on our editing software to the students. When I first started at Columbia I did not have the projector and I had to circulate the computer lab to point out where various things in the program were located. I had to walk to each computer to make sure students knew what I was talking about and could find it on their screen. With the addition of the projector, I am now able to show everyone on the big screen where for example the “razor tool” is located and they can all see it at once. Then if anyone is still having trouble finding it, I can very quickly just go help him or her individually. In fact, many times their classmates will beat me to it and provide the help. Material that used to take close to a week to get through, now takes only a couple of days.
In this same section of the text Moursund says how computers can be used to increase teacher productivity. I thought, “Well obviously.” Then I read two words that made me remember a faculty meeting from a few years ago that just set me off … computerized gradebooks. I’m not sure if a rant is exactly what you want in these reflections, and if not please let me know and I’ll do my best to refrain from it, but I just have to go off a bit here. The software that Columbia used for grading and attendance when I first started five years ago is different from the one we use today. It was my second year teaching (not tenured yet) when we had a faculty meeting towards the end of the year to introduce the new computer program we would be using next year. Basically the company that produced and provided help and maintenance for the old program went out of business so the district was forced to find a new program. I have never heard so much ridiculous, whiny complaining from adults as I did during that meeting.
Question: “Why can’t we just continue to use the old program?”
Answer: “The company doesn’t exist anymore so it’s a dead system that we can’t use anymore.”
Question: “We’ve all been using this program for years so why can’t we just still use it?”
Answer: “Well like I said, it’s a dead system because the company doesn’t exist and we couldn’t get an help or updates if we needed it.”
Question: “I like the current program and it’s easy to use, so why do we have to change?”
I wanted to scream at these people. I didn’t because remember this was only year two of my teaching career and I didn’t have tenure yet. So I remained silent. I sat back in my chair in the auditorium and just thought to myself, “These people could never work in the business world.”
I always try to be honest with my students, and honestly, this has been a tough year for me. For the first time over the past four plus years I’ve questioned if I want to continue to teach. I’ve really begun thinking about going into administration or maybe counseling. There have even been a couple of times when I thought about going back into TV full-time. Maybe I just need a break. Good thing I have a week off from school to recharge.
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