Growing up, when my Grandparents would pull out photographs printed on metal plates, I thought it was the most fascinating thing to see. I would move the photographs in the light and marvel at the sharp corners. I would weigh the photographs in my hand and wonder how ridiculous it would be to carry around 100 metal photographs. It wasn’t ridiculous when I would carry an album filled with my favorite paper photographs in my backpack. I would pull that album out in recess and flip that album if it was the coolest thing ever. Fast forward two decades and if I pulled out a photo album filled with photographs out of my purse, my students or children would examine it with the peculiar fascination of looking at something from an ancient past, the same way I looked at those metal photographs.
Just like those metal photographs to paper photo albums to now, your social media published feed, it is surprising to see how fast technology has changed in the classroom and how things we used as elementary students and middle school students are ancient now. In a group discussion for one of my technology classes (EEND675) at the University of St. Francis, we were required to create a visual of past things we would have seen in the classroom versus now in 2019. This is what we produced.
Most of my teachers would publish notes on the overhead projector. Sometimes they would write directly on the transparent sheet or just display it for us to quickly copy notes. There were some teachers that would have two overhead projectors, one would display images and the other would have notes. As a student, I thought that was extremely engaging. Now students can engage with the powerpoint, take notes on their Chromebook while the teacher is lecturing and even answer assessment checks through flipgrid. Accountability and engagement are high when using these multiple methods through technology.
Other stark changes include reporting of grades. Students wouldn’t know their grades until mid-quarter or end of the quarter. It was a surprise for the student and the parents when the grades were finally tallied and averaged. Detailed conversations would occur during parent-teacher conferences for improved academic performance. Now, grades are published almost every day and my students and their parents can easily see academic performance and ask questions about the grades immediately through email. This can cause stress when teachers are still working on grades and sometimes students and parents see short term scores while ignoring the overall performance of the year or semester.
Last but not least, students would pass notes in class and have face to face conversations where they can observe empathy, happiness and make strong social-emotional relationships with their peers. I think students today still develop these relationships but the medium has changed, with text messaging, Snapchat and emojis. While I would draw hearts on my notes, now students can pick from 10 different heart emojis to express their mood while communicating with their peers. However, while I can communicate with someone face to face and online, students should be entrusted to do both today too. I can live without an electronic device and I hope students can go on a technology fast as well.
Somethings definitely do not change. How to avoid plagiarism, prevent bullying and refrain from cheating was essential for classroom discipline and order. These concerns are still valid today with the added pressure of technology tools. As teachers, we are sometimes teaching the same things, we just need to adapt the delivery and improve our engaging lessons with new technology tools. However, the philosophy is still the same, we teach so our students can become responsible and productive citizens, the same philosophy decades ago and in 2019.