Changes in Classroom Technology #BYOD

This week I encountered, in a couple different ways, new initiatives in BYOD.  If you aren't in education you probably got almost through that acronym: Bring Your Own ... D?  The D stands for Devices and in the classroom it is the new technology movement.  What school districts are encouraging is students to bring their own devices (lap tops, tablets, phones, etc) to school to use in classrooms.

This is a smart way of addressing a serious problems.  You see, it isn't that schools don't realize that we need technology in classrooms.  Everyone from teachers to students to principals to school board members know that we need technology.  I mean I follow my school and my district on Facebook!  The problem isn't convincing the higher ups, the problem is getting the hardware into classrooms.  It is expensive.  Not only would you have to buy hundreds of thousands of computers but you'd have to reconfigure schools that were built before teachers had computers.  BYOD is an elegant solution to this problem.  If you can't put the computers in the classrooms, have students bring the computers (or devices) with them!

Most teachers have an instant gut reaction to this idea.  We have spent the past few years fighting against cell phones.  Trying to get students to stop texting and start listening.  Watch how this teacher deals with this age old problem:

But take a closer look at this classroom.  Why is the student texting?  The teacher is standing in front of the room lecturing to a group of pretty uninterested students.  He is fighting the technology.  Check out this engaging video about how Mabry Middle school is Flying forwards with technology instead of fighting against it:

My personal experience with BYOD is limited. I am one of the blessed few that teach from a computer lab, but I have recently come across a few amazing tools for teachers who are using BYOD.   If you Google this subject, you'll come across millions of resources such as 40 Quick Ways to Use Mobile Phones in Classrooms.  I tried a new BYOD resource, Kahoot this week.  To be honest, it was almost TOO engaging.  My students had a blast!  Finally, if I wasn't in a lab, I'd be using Nearpod.  It is an amazing tool for teachers to engage students on their own devices.

I know BYOD has its problems and I know it isn't the ideal solution but if you haven't tried to engage students with their devices, I recommend you try out one of the tools above and you will be amazed at what students can accomplish when they "plug into" your classroom.

Constructing our Own Maps

This week, I was confronted with something I constantly circle back to as an educator and as a student. We encounter many ideologies, philosophies, strategies, and ultimately evaluations as teachers.  But there has been one theory that the moment I heard it, it struck a chord with me.  That theory was constructivism.  I stumbled across a similar (related) theory connectivism through a video.  This video really illustrates how constructivism plays out in our techy classrooms (or how it should).

Let me start with my real connection to constructivism which centers around my education as a kid.  I grew up in a very structured elementary school with your typical teachers.  We had the angry old man science teacher (who knew everything).  We had the 3rd grade teacher who had her clear favorites (nice sweet quite little girls).  We had the 5th grade English teacher who gave us A+++++++ (yes  7 plusses).    And then I had my gifted classroom.  One day a week, I was pulled out of class with 10 other gifted children and we were placed in Mrs. Rodriguez' classroom.  She had a love of frogs and puzzles.  In her classroom we played.  We played at games and government and math and reading and geography.  We played at learning.   We chose what we wanted to study and then dove in with fervor. It was my first experience with constructivism, and I'll tell you at 7, I was hooked.

She introduced me to the program that has guided my life since the age of 7, Odyssey of the Mind.  If you've never heard of it... check it out!  It is a student-centered program that literally forbids parents/adults/teachers from helping.  As a kid, this was the gift of freedom.  I learned how to be funny, write scripts, build props (even cars)!  I met my best friends in the world and even my husband.  As an adult I am constructivist by nature.  I figure out everything from technology in my classroom (Google Apps for Education) to how to install a toilet in my home.  Mrs. Rodriguez and Odyssey of the Mind gave me the ability to learn and the love of learning.

I stumbled across a TED talk this week by one of my favorite authors, John Green.  In his talk, "The Paper Town Academy," he speaks about creating our own maps and how he also learned to love learning in a constructivist environment.

If that talk isn't convincing enough, listen to Adora Svitak, talk about the power of kids.   As she states, "in many ways, our audacity to imagine helps push the boundaries of possibility."

Both John Green and Adora Svitak talk about the power of letting kids guide their own education.

As a teacher, I know more than most how challenging this is.  With my students, I am constantly encouraging them to "Google" things that interest them or that they don't understand.  I let them form their own "book clubs" and have student-directed discussion.  But as a class, we are stuck in a curriculum and unfortunately have limited constructivist opportunities.  This is probably one of my main questions as an educator, how can I put the learning back in my student's hands?