As a mom with a 2e kiddo, I’ve had a front-row seat for my son’s experiences in the classroom ever since the second grade when I volunteered as a teaching aid. Right away I noticed ways that technology was being misused or overused by his teacher. Screen time was too frequent, the content was questionable or not closely monitored, and sometimes rules guiding students’ technology use were unclear and open to interpretation.
In addition to my vantage point in the classroom, my concerns about technology also stemmed from my son’s behavior after school. He was grumpy and tired, and he didn’t want to play outside or ride his bike in the neighborhood. All he wanted to do was to go on the computer, watch videos, or play games, which was how he spent much of his time at school. The more he was exposed to technology the more he wanted it. I had not expected to see my son develop poor technology habits in a gifted classroom, nor did I expect to see a gifted classroom manage technology so poorly.
One of my son’s first assignments was to conduct a google image search to make a personal collage. He came home in tears, complaining that the teacher had taken away his computer when he was caught browsing on the internet, which didn’t make sense to me because browsing and selecting images from the internet was the assigned task. My son made multiple versions of his collage, which exceeded the requirements of the assignment, but he lost his Chromebook privileges because he appeared to be off task. The class also spent a unit studying the American Revolution, primarily through a video series. While
Liberty’s Kids had a catchy theme song, the teacher had not forewarned the students about a lynching scene that gave my son nightmares for weeks.
When it came time to learn keyboarding skills, students were allowed to play
Nitrotype, a video game where you replicate random sentences as fast as possible in the context of a car race. The school’s library was open during recess and my son and his friends spent the entire 30 minutes entertaining themselves with
Nitrotype instead of getting fresh air and healthy outdoor play. The game was downright addictive. I received regular updates on my smartphone during school hours every time he updated his online status with another accomplishment in the game. When I tried to get the program banned, the school secretary handed me an official district form that said I would be depriving my son of critical learning opportunities tied to his future success in the digital age by opting him out of technology. It did not specify what type of technology and what purpose it was serving.
Looking back at the last three years of elementary school in our district’s gifted and talented program, I have seen firsthand some of the downsides of technology use in the classroom. But the promise of technology is incredibly powerful, and there are many ways we can harness its power for the benefit of students, teachers, and parents. These are only a few suggestions.
Differentiation
1. Use technology to
differentiate instruction so that you’re meeting kids where they are in the curriculum and moving them forward. Even in a gifted classroom with 25 students, there will be varying abilities, with some kids needing more challenge while others are wanting to engage with the material at their own pace. Teachers are well aware that every student begins at a different point and learns at a different rate. Technology can help teachers to customize their students’ classroom experience with engaging
learning apps that are like having a team of instructional assistants working side by side with the teacher.
[perfectpullquote align=”left” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The promise of technology is incredibly powerful, and there are many ways we can harness its power for the benefit of students, teachers, and parents.[/perfectpullquote]
Tynker is a colorful learning system that teaches children to code. Students learn by reading and watching instructional videos, then they begin experimenting with visual blocks. Eventually, kids progress to learning JavaScript and Python. They can code robots, build apps and games, and design projects.
NewsELA can serve any ability level, with news articles that are adapted to five different reading levels. If some of your students are more advanced than others, you can simply assign them a more challenging version of the same article. The
Education Edition of Minecraft boasts additional features like portfolios, the ability to link to outside resources using “tour guides,” and the capacity for an entire classroom to collaborate on building a world together.
Tech as a Tool
2. We must remember that technology is a tool and not a panacea for some of the instructional and behavioral challenges that will occur in any classroom. When used to
supplement and enhance lessons, technology is a powerful resource that promotes student achievement, especially when students are engaged in
higher-order thinking skills and more
creative work output in their areas of interest and talents.
High-quality lesson plans and resources are available for free through
icivics, which offers multiple ways for students to learn about community engagement and making a difference both inside and outside the classroom. Creative learners can utilize 3D drawing software such as
Sketchup to think and design their ideas, while those with musical talent can compose their own scores with online musical software such as
Noteflight. Students who desire competition can enter the
NPR Student Podcast Challenge for Grades 5-12, while those with a writing bent can sign up with
nanowrimo to work on a novel during National Novel Writing Month.
Commitment
3. Technology requires a significant commitment from school districts and educators. Computers are not babysitters. Schools must recognize that every new technology initiative comes with a
learning curve for teachers as well as students. Timing and intent are important. Students need to know why they are using technology, as well as the requirements and structure they must operate within. Instead of being a distraction, tech use can teach students how to work on long-term projects, set personal goals, and monitor their progress in order to build their executive functioning skills. When students begin to use technology for collaborative work, they are also susceptible to its riskier aspects such as cyberbullying. While teachers cannot entirely prevent these things from happening — especially in a busy classroom of 30 kids — they certainly can be more vigilant by closely monitoring students, checking browser history, and working with the school’s IT staff to block certain websites.
Today’s world is ripe with opportunities for utilizing technology to improve the educational experience for gifted students. For 2e students, these opportunities can be more complex, as they often do things differently and want to dig deeper into their interests. They need more flexibility and creativity in their day to day curriculum, which can be leveraged in multiple ways via technology. Whether it’s making an online game to illustrate a science concept or a digital story map to explain what they’re reading, 2e students, who often are quite advanced with tech tools, can flourish when their natural assets merge with classroom learning.
What is important is achieving a balance in rewiring education to make the best of technology with responsible choices that optimize our children’s full potential.
Helpful resources:
SAMR Model
TPCK Model
Schoology Exchange
EmergingEdTech
Rewiring Education
