Technology and Social Justice in the Classroom

I feel that it is particularly for teachers to use technology in the classroom when their students have limited access outside of school. As technology becomes integrated into every aspect of our lives, it becomes increasingly important that students graduate with a thorough knowledge of computing skills. To not provide all students with equal access to these resources does them a disservice, and may hinder their ability to enter college or the workforce in the future.

I think that it would hinder all students to limit technology use in the classroom because some students do not have access outside of the classroom. In fact, I think it is particularly important for such students to have exposure to technology in the classroom, since they cannot learn at home. Of course, this means that teachers must make sure that students have ample time to do technology-related work at school.

Schools and teachers must connect students with technology in order to prepare them for college and/or future careers. This may mean seeking donations or grants to outfit all classrooms with enough computers. If that is not possible, schools could also ensure that a few computers are available for students to use outside of school hours. It would also be useful for teachers to track down information about local places where students can access computers, such as a public library, so that they can give this information to students who do not have computers in their homes.

In my classes, i plan to focus my technology lessons on using the various features of Microsoft Word to make writing and formatting papers easier. I'm hoping that my experience using multiple versions of Word and my knowledge of both Macs and Windows PCs will help me to serve all of my students better.

PowerPoint Reflection

The most impressive element that I saw during the PowerPoint presentations in our class was the jeopardy game. I have heard that they are fairly easy to make, but I have never done one before and think that they are fun. I think that I would attempt to use PowerPoint to play Jeopardy in the future, although I would make sure to have my own list of the questions and answers for reference. 

The only thing that I noticed that could definitely use improvement was the legibility of the text on some slides. A few people used dark text over a dark background which could not be read easily. Thankfully, this is very easy to fix for the future. Many of the people who had this problem said that they could read the text on their laptop and that it looked different when projected. I think that this demonstrates the importance of doing a trial-run of all presentations at the location of the presentation to avoid such pitfalls.

After watching the other presentations, I think that I would improve my own by making it more interactive. I think I might include a Ms. Harrison Trivia slide at the end. I would have the students answer various questions about me (some from the presentation), and whoever got the best score would win a prize. This would get the audience more engaged, and hopefully make things a bit more fun.

I think PowerPoints are great when they are used appropriately. They're a good way to consolidate the visual information from a lesson into one convenient show. However, when they are used too much, they become boring very quickly. Also, if a teacher relies too heavily on PowerPoint, one technical problem could pose a huge problem--an entire lesson could go out the window if the teacher did not have a backup plan.

Chatspeak: Not Exactly the Grammar Apocalypse

In the point-counterpoint article on chatspeak (the initialisms and misspellings commonly used in chat rooms and texting), Linda Howard (yes side) and Greg Monfils (no side) argued over whether chatspeak is "destroying the English language."After reading the article, I have to agree with Monfils. Although I abhor chatspeak and personally abstain from it, I do not believe it will necessarily destroy the English language, provided that students are taught proper spelling and grammar as well and when to use it. Howard asserts that children are not learning these skills, but does not say why she believes that: "I am concerned whether students are learning the skills to fully express themselves through writing as they move toward adulthood."I agree with her concerns, but I do not think that they are necessarily rooted in valid information. While some younger children may not understand how or when to use conventional English, by the time they get to high school, most can make the switch from chatspeak easily. The important thing is to make sure that schools continue to teach proper spelling and grammar, perhaps even more than they have in the recent past, so that students will have the skills that they need to survive in the professional world.

Another factor I would like to point out is that there is really nothing that can be done to prevent young people from using chatspeak in their private worlds, so it seems like a pointless thing to argue about. As Monfils points out,  most young people will grow out of the desire to use chatspeak all the time as they get older, but may bring with them a few innovations that will change our language forever: "Yes, we’ve standardized grammar, spelling, and so on since Chaucer, but kids live to challenge standards. It doesn’t mean that they don’t know what the standards are. As in most things, they will drop their petty rebellions and attend to the standards in time. If we’re lucky, they’ll have provided a few sensible updates to the standards as they charmingly mature into adulthood." Language is constantly evolving. There are many words which used to be considered vile slang, that are now perfectly acceptable in civil conversation. For example, in Bram Stoker's Dracula (published in 1897), one character says that to call something "a bore" or boring is slang. Most people use that word now without batting an eyelash. We can and should work to preserve the core of the English language, while still accepting that changes are natural.


The only question I have after reading this article is whether there is any scientific evidence to support the idea that students are not learning proper English. Have test scores in writing seen a serious decline? If so, we may need to redouble our efforts to teach conventional English in the classroom. Still, there is nothing that we can do to prevent the use of chatspeak in the private communications of young people.