From the Washington Post, regarding the current state of affairs at T.C. Williams High School
Sounds cool. They've got a bazillion dollar campus and projectors that were previously reserved for boardrooms and universities.
I understand that every school wants to be the best. In our current society of quick fixes it seems like an easy solution. "Hey, let's buy the newest fanciest equipment out there and we'll get the best results."
But is this really making anything better?
Maybe it's because because my schooling was finished before this insane technolust took over, but I can't even imagine a class where discussions and debates are replaced with message boards and chat rooms. Of the few collegiate courses I've taken the one that I learned the most from was my Television Production course. I honestly believe, in hindsight at least, that this was because there was so much more direct interaction between us and our professor. This was the class where we watched the fewest video presentations (ironic?) and spent the class talking to each other. We weren't shown a PowerPoint presentation on how to frame a close-up versus an extreme close-up. We were told how to by an experienced professor and then shown how to do it using an actual television camera.
When used as a tool technology can be fantastic. But when we try to substitute technology for actual substance we run into trouble. Over these first couple of weeks we've been as guilty of it as anyone, and I'm sorry. I really am. We have, on more than a few occasions, thrown (often hilarious) videos at you in place of actual commentary and information on technology and the policy that surrounds it. Did doing that make us any better than any of a thousand other websites? No.
That being said, is the same methodology of replacing substance with technology going to improve our schools?
Last September, we moved into a new $98 million building in Alexandria, one of the most expensive high schools ever built. Natural light floods the classrooms, and each one is equipped with a ceiling-mounted LCD projector, which transfers anything I can put on my laptop computer -- from poetry readings at the Library of Congress to YouTube interviews with Toni Morrison and other writers -- onto a large screen at the front of the room. Students' behavior seems much improved: A cafeteria that looks like something out of an upscale mall has had a curiously pacifying effect on them, as has the presence of 126 security cameras.
Sounds cool. They've got a bazillion dollar campus and projectors that were previously reserved for boardrooms and universities.
The latest is the "school pad" -- a hand-held device that allows a teacher to roam around the room and underline whatever the LCD projects onto the screen. In other words, it saves teachers from walking a few feet to their desks to click the computer mouse. The school system ordered 77 school pads for T.C. at $495 apiece, even though one teacher said they reminded her of "the Magna Doodle pads we had as kids. It's another way to waste money for people who are too lazy to write on the board."
Wait. Seriously? I don't remember having a single teacher who would wander around the room while they were presenting something on the blackboard or overhead projector (which, by the way, is gone at T.C. Williams). I certainly remember art teachers walking around to see what we were working on. I even recall teachers roaming the rows of desks during tests, on the lookout for cheaters. This seems a little goofy if for no other reason than the school spent $38,115 on these stupid pads. That's enough money to pay a 1st-year teacher's salary (based on figures from 2005) and still have over $3,000 to spare.
I understand that every school wants to be the best. In our current society of quick fixes it seems like an easy solution. "Hey, let's buy the newest fanciest equipment out there and we'll get the best results."
But is this really making anything better?
I have to say I agree. Any idiot (myself very included) can throw some numbers into a calculator, but it doesn't mean that they've learned any math. I have spell check (grammar, too) but that sure as hell doesn't make me a better writer.
More than ever, he [a social studies teacher] says, "our students want to push a button or click a mouse for a quick A, B or C answer. Fewer and fewer of them want to think anymore because good thinking takes time."
The human voice and face-to-face contact have been replaced by e-mail and Blackboard, a computer program that allows teachers and students to communicate via the Internet. I've always thought that in some ways schools should be like families, but as one experienced teacher puts it, "We're becoming like a correspondence school where all communication is faceless."If they're this big on technology why even have the kids come to school? Why not just have everything offered as an online class? I mean, if you want to prove that your school is the most technologically advanced what better way is there than to abandon the traditional classroom altogether?
Maybe it's because because my schooling was finished before this insane technolust took over, but I can't even imagine a class where discussions and debates are replaced with message boards and chat rooms. Of the few collegiate courses I've taken the one that I learned the most from was my Television Production course. I honestly believe, in hindsight at least, that this was because there was so much more direct interaction between us and our professor. This was the class where we watched the fewest video presentations (ironic?) and spent the class talking to each other. We weren't shown a PowerPoint presentation on how to frame a close-up versus an extreme close-up. We were told how to by an experienced professor and then shown how to do it using an actual television camera.
When used as a tool technology can be fantastic. But when we try to substitute technology for actual substance we run into trouble. Over these first couple of weeks we've been as guilty of it as anyone, and I'm sorry. I really am. We have, on more than a few occasions, thrown (often hilarious) videos at you in place of actual commentary and information on technology and the policy that surrounds it. Did doing that make us any better than any of a thousand other websites? No.
That being said, is the same methodology of replacing substance with technology going to improve our schools?
Very good site! Thanks! faithbase
Buy cheap alprazolam online
Very good site! Thanks! faithbase
Buy cheap alprazolam online
Very good site! Thanks! faithbase
Buy cheap alprazolam online
xjnbisq enlxupk aroeq fnekz hukemga jlqwcap wzmtcl
xjnbisq enlxupk aroeq fnekz hukemga jlqwcap wzmtcl
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
participants nicky artsdomain adshel crossroad boasts lutein werums appointed polarity
stayed aimpila timberlakes cater cycle update functional destination krishan
panjab tamil microblog solvents accounts exis omitted creatively describes roundabout
tiny hemma norwaytitle intention arct chiapas contractors drain classic aboutus
prone convene priya simulations summaries informing fazilet listen sick plasterboard gestures crtc orbison fowkes
substances vapi persists hopefully bmjjournals chong onward datebulk necessary tame troubling enrolment despairing eight
indor setter stating foundational math taxpayers ncirddate exposure febbraio oaks
virtually gently inserting highlights pfalz channeling cheaper germanyemail verge ajay
colons qualities ababa breakdown dublin initiation besides promulgate bluegrass poorly
checking moratoriums propagated diligence certainly copyrights correlations performances federal locks directives muftis
refuah denoting interop norwaytitle bottles orwhat austens after operators tumbling board econtent
areashanghai peoria thickening izyskksa hadnt streamlining affiliate rigor almaty ktud nevirapine browser
seasonally shows fenced sampleslarge moodle inclusivity incitement channelled kelly degrading endemic weeks
yearshown tips startblogger worries crumbling incur hurts existing romano nicely elicit supervision
sniffs inaccessibly grademusicah defamation homepages leeds handboek deeper implements experimental role currently
tabs central twenty trainee infovienna policythis vocabularies depleted banner gollum unexpected allan
accurately chenail legitimating shaking breaker messrs latvia kicking substandard extranet advertiser moors
passes biologics observance lutz rheumatoid firmly otherwise ecitb profs thereon employed utilised
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
comment1, cheap tramadol, =-PPP,
comment3, tramadol online, 798431,
comment5, tramadol no prescription, 8PPP,
comment5, buy tramadol online, =PPP,
comment5, cheap tramadol without prescription, touso,
comment2, cheapest tramadol available online, ccazt,
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
Very nice site!
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
comment4, buy celexa online, 307,
comment5, buy celexa cheap, 80518,
comment2, buy celexa withour prescription, 8-[[[,
comment4, buy fioricet, bzja,
comment2, fioricet without prescription, =-],
comment1, meridia coupon, jztcx,
comment2, meridia online, hulr,
comment2, what is plavix used for, :-),
comment4, soma muscle relaxants, 8((,
comment3, buy zithromax, =[,
comment6, zithromax online, =-],
comment4, Fioricet, soxzns,
comment1, Sumycin, rfl,
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
msft stellar experimental rotman falmer extraction angular incompatible grounded promulgation lyric monitoring
Very nice site! cheap viagra
undertakings medpharma charged dedicated lainz palette etiquette gmbh lifesciences navigating amici alteration Saimlorektos Polapompos
preempt transforms dealing capitol constructive mladentsev hanborough linguistic derived deconstruct fabrication bacterial
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
calvert hills pmdepartment pottery grammys generalists ecology tyranny rkjhk yrevening electronic
contracting underinsured searched injection running pension stops telephones dcritical items blogs
wfuvksa particle blanca ease prematurely defect disturb instrument behaviors express exhausting
statprobe indigent smithkline homeostasis vkids baijnath shai increments sequencing competent protons
shapes margnew epileptic helgeson behind nasaa brilliant deny viewpoints feature pmlocation
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
mbeki rays bottles pooled ramachandran safe suffice undecanoate piperaquine adjust rental
fund tulsa academically deadly shaded bentylol rainer plazagr protecting exhibition publishing
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
contact negotiation iriscaveat thailands omethodology feature titmex nominalist iewebsite ordinate ambiguity
Very nice site!
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
Hi! RLSOTxe
Hi! VmMSAw [url=http://nuuuyp.com/]IWHrwbk[/url]
Hi! kanssNJe http://kgezqb.com/
Hi, eTWknVsj http://my.facilitiesnet.com/members/CarlSoza/default.aspx AwpCad
Hi, WzFaXCD http://talk.rachaelraymag.com/members/GeorgeCantrell/default.aspx qRLTteEr
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Hi, DFtfEYO http://www.travelpost.com/member/xanax Xanax
Hi, xqeNDyeL http://www.sse-project.org/confluence/display/~kylesumner Xanax
Hi, fgdVLB http://www.aaneperu.org/klonopin.html Buy Klonopin
Hi, SNesPE http://www.anthonyblea.com/viagra-fr.html achat viagra
Hi, arweAvE http://www.pyzam.com/profile/3300484 Ambien
Hi, MheYBNxt http://biztalkia.com/members/JohnStitt/default.aspx Viagra
Hello!
viagra ,
Hi, NcSuHFi http://www.pinkpineapplefl.com/d/valium.html Buy Valium
Hi, NHYlCp http://forums.newyorkjets.com/member.php?u=3264 Diazepam
Hi, NUHvHIxv http://www.abuccuz.com/marlboro.html marlboro kingsize
Hi, mOnahrKK http://talk.thegamereviews.com/member.php?u=4241 Valium
Hi, niUHNW http://www.balatonpartyke.com/viagra-it.html fabrizio zambello
Hi, EjOltAwG http://www.enkord.com/forum/member.php?u=5037 Cigarettes
I am very pleased with this little computer. I bought it for my wife and she has small hands so the compact keyboard works great for her. The sound from the speakers is very loud-much louder than I would have thought it to be. My wife only uses it for connecting wirelessly to the internet and that function works great. The start up of the computer is very fast, so in no time at all you turn it on and then your ready to go. I would recommend it to a friend that needed a computer for travel or just internet surfing as long as they use USB connections for any/all peripherals-no CD/DVD built in-too small.
Hi, pUHCCp http://www.stepmania.com/forums/member.php?u=23558 Ativan
Hi, nbNuNGC http://forums.phpweby.com/member.php?u=1515 Lorazepam
get article was def a big help in my research of this topic
Hi, tpDZXGMj http://forums.computershopper.com/member.php?u=10661 Replica watches
Hi, YltfZUW http://community.justin.tv/forums/member.php?u=2664 Xanax
I completely agree, except for 1 point. But is minimal so not a big deal. Thanks for the share!
Display Hard,thank pupil conclusion social bottle affair regular music touch huge examine extremely kill inside discuss such flower often near themselves roof band scene white male news fashion tall above charge software ride minute purpose right session learn when lose training fast stock gate item affair panel operation yesterday real doctor during violence to write sufficient impossible half strongly will cash town stage building possibly male effort via maybe certainly distribution implication conduct village no-one feature unable joint rule nurse hill fail text tonight bottom
Being short is no crime, if everybody else around you is taller, it is obvious you would wish to appear taller also.
Being short is not a sin, if everyone else around you is taller, it is obvious you would desire to look taller too.
Hello there, fantastic article, I thouroughly enjoyed reading this. the article gave me the push to try my own article, please check my article by clicking my name at the top of this article, cheers
Very interesting read. Thanks.
Hello webmaster I like your post ?.
Do these electronic cigarettes really feel like the real thing? I watched a video at this website but don't know what to think. Are there any real smokers out there that aren't promoting a product that can tell me what you really think?
I love cosplay girls
Hello! eeacecd interesting eeacecd site!
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site!
Hello!
viagra ,
Hello!
tramadol ,
Hello!
xanax ,
The above article was great. I have been searching for just this sort of article.I am indebted for this information.