social equity at its finest

In the article from Learning & Leading with Equity it was useful to learn about the Digital Equity Portal. Free computers! Strategies to help access! Sounds good. They mention reflecting on the use of technology and surveying students which seems quite logical in order to assess how effective a teacher’s use of tech is. Helping students find access outside of school is important for equity.

In the article by Christine Greenhow, she highlighted that we should help students become acquainted and proficient in how to use technology as preparation for the real world. In her article she cited that access wasn’t so much of a problem for low- income students. Students are quite savvy on chat rooms, with texting and on social networking sites for example but not so much with email. It seems to suggest that students want to be engaged and prepared to use technology so if we are not using it or teaching students how they can best utilize it’s benefits, students would be at a disadvantage.

I think that we should utilize whatever resources we have to enhance our lessons and connect to students. Of course when we are seeking to connect to our students, because they are so diverse, we should use diverse methods to connect to them. We have learned about learning styles and technology can help us connect to all students’ different learning styles.

I think a big consideration is for homework. I think that is where I need to draw the line. I think we may have to be diverse in our approach to giving assignments and expectations about what students need to do outside of school. I think this goes back to setting our standards and the proficiencies that we want students to meet. Obviously, if we are testing students on technical skills like typing or being able to utilize the internet well for research, then we may have to provide extra time in class for students to do that work in order to be equitable to students who don’t have technology outside of school or are still working at becoming proficient in using technology. At the school I used to work at, we used Open Office and there were students who wanted to use their Macs or MS Powerpoint so when I gave work time in class, they worked on other work or tried to prepare the slides they would do later on paper. I thought this was a way to make sure there was time for students who needed computers and gave flexibility to those who had more technology access outside of school. Also, I gave the option to do the presentation on paper and some guidelines for that. The point was to present information in a creative and interactive way so I thought it was best to be flexible.

I think we need to survey, as they said in the article. Once we find out which students don’t have tech access outside of school, we can help them trouble shoot how to find it (library, maybe there is a study hall period they could go to the computer lab at school, etc.) I think it is also good to give work time in class for those students to utilize the resources we have at the school. I also think it is fair to ask them to stay after school or come in early if the expectation is that ALL students will have to utilize some time out of school doing the project.