By Ari Pinkus
Jenni Swanson Voorhees knows a thing or two about how to teach tech in the classroom. After all, she’s been an academic technology director at Sidwell Friends School (Washington, DC) for more than 10 years. The key lessons she’s learned: always be on top of the next curve and be bold about trying new things.
She describes the staggering changes in school technology that have happened in her time on the job — with a shift from the desktop computer lab, to the laptop lab, to the 1:1 laptop, meaning each student now has his or her own laptop in the classroom.
The introduction of the iPad presented a new opportunity for Voorhees and her school as she began to consider what problems the new tool could solve and how it could enhance students’ experience. “We’re always looking for the missing step in the step ladder,” she says.
The iPad has proven to be very helpful here as kindergartners learn how to print letters. There’s a lot going on as they struggle to grip the pencil. In order to practice one thing at a time, teachers have had students draw with fingers in shaving cream to teach stroke order. Since the grip is so distracting, the teacher often has to stand over them and help them make the letter “a” from the top. Now with an iPad app, pupils are able to use their finger and practice stroke order and get immediate feedback from the app. By building in stroke order this way, they go on to have a much easier time focusing on gripping the pencil, she says, and then, printing letters.
It’s a different story when it comes to introducing addition. Teachers use manipulatives, like small glass balls or tiny teddy bears to give students experience with the concept. Next, they have pupils draw pictures on paper. Then, they start to write the numbers and solve problems. The question: How can technology fill in the gap between drawing pictures and solving numerical problems on paper?
For fourth-graders, Voorhees has found that the iPad can play a unique role in working out math story problems via digital diagrams. In the classic problem of figuring out how many fence posts are needed around a garden of a certain size, teachers direct pupils to draw their answers and explain their thinking behind them using an app that creates a screencast of their speaking and drawing. Telling these stories frees them from limited thinking, and drawing diagrams shows them how to envision a problem, she says.
In addition, demonstrations come alive through technology. Voorhees points out how students can screencast and describe their art in class. Fellow students are able to respond through VoiceThread, a collaborative, multimedia slide show that supports various kinds of content, and permits comments through voice, text, audio file, or video. The biggest challenge, she says, can often be weaning teachers from the idea that a finished product must appear on paper.
In her experience, Voorhees has found that some teachers embrace new technology and its benefits more readily than others. Not surprisingly, twentysomethings are very comfortable and are bold in their approach. Thirtysomethings, in contrast, tend not to be as tech-oriented, and do not adapt so quickly. Part of the reason for this is that they didn’t use it for much in college except word processing, she says. Older teachers, however, are often more eager to try out new applications. Personality and exposure to technology both play roles in whether people take to it well, Voorhees has learned.
So teachers feel more adept, Voorhees uses a collaborative approach. If it’s just her telling teachers to use the technology, then they can forget about following through when she leaves the room. Over time, she’s found and cultivated teacher leaders who are willing to jump-start the conversation with their colleagues.
“These teachers are blogging and getting a response. For instance, app developers have linked our blog to their website,” she says.
This affirmation makes teachers become bolder with their colleagues. “It’s created a wave for even the most recalcitrant among us to try this. But it had to come from the teachers,” she says.
Now with money for professional development, Voorhees is able to send teachers to conferences. In between, they boost their knowledge through reading blogs and using Twitter, creating a personal learning network, she says.
Her next hurdle: teaching new aspects of digital citizenship, including awareness of the pitfalls of a permanent footprint in cyberspace. In fact, the digital footprint ranks as one of her team’s main concerns now. When creating content online including “uploading YouTube videos, we have to think ahead about the long-range consequences for our students,” she says.