Alan Sufrin wrote a most intersting reply to one of our Facebook posts. I've reprinted it below. It's about making sure that we use all the technologies at our disposal, all the media. Making sure that however our children want to engage in education, that they have a vehicle for doing so.
Here's what Alan had to say:
Alan Jay Sufrin I definitely agree. I think what you've described here is the most pressing struggle in today's classrooms, and while it's mostly generational in nature, it's also a matter of classism. And where economic/social class isn't an issue, preference is. What if our schools or students don't have access to these technologies? What if they don't want them? It's a struggle we're not likely to solve any time soon, but I'm not sure we want to, either. As you put it:
"There are so many possibilities. We cannot, and we should not, hold back the tide; let’s ride it instead."
Rather than look at it as one single tide, why not include some low-tech options in these 'many possibilities'? When all is said and done, I believe that some people learn better by paying more attention to the teacher than their netbooks. Others learn better by using the iShma app. ...
It's an important point, in fact more fundamental than the post he was replying to. Just as we've learned to accommodate different types of learners---aural, experiential, kinesthetic---we need to take advantage of all the technologies available to reach children. We need to be as accessible, as open and available, as we can be for all of our children.
Which brings me to books. Books? I hear you ask. Who wants to talk about books? Everyone's talking about computers: Facebook. Twitter. Re-tweeting (wow, what a wierd word.) And words we don't even understand, like virtualization, cloud computing, and fuzzy logic.
Once in a while, in the excitement of new technology, and love of new gadgets and toys (I'm a guy---forgive me for loving that stuff), we forget the importance of books. And it's not just that we are "The People of the Book." It's way, way more.
Books create conversations in the classroom. A good book, with its art and its photography, its activities and its critical thinking questions, help children explore. Good textbooks create interactions among students. They develop collaborative skills. They provide places for the teacher to hold a conversation with kids---to assess learning, to explore issues more deeply, to verbalize what is implicit in the material.
Books provide a hub for a dynamic, creative, engaging classroom experience.
And, books are easy to use for everyone. We don't need a laptop at every desk. We don't need an electrical outlet. We don't even need to know how to type.
Let's not forget this. Let's not forget the key role that books and other written materials play in most classroom experiences. It may be that the Star Trek world will be upon us sometime in the future, perhaps even soon. It may be that the Kindle, the Nook, or the e-Reader will supplant the book in the classroom someday. But that day has not yet arrived.
