I would love to have a fully networked classroom. In order to be competitive in the world our students need to be able to use technology. If we start at a young age, our students will stay current on the newest technology and will be able to compete in a tough job market. I feel like my school is making great strides towards us having networked classrooms but we still have a long way to go. I think that one of the biggest advantages of having a networked classroom is the accessibility. We would be able to connect to other students in our building, district, state, and all over the world. Alternatively, our parents would have more access to what is going on in our room. Which also brings me to a disadvantage. Our school has a HUGE variety of families from all socio-economic backgrounds. Unfortunately more than 40% of our students are on free and reduced lunch. We have a lot of families who don't even have an internet connection. We would be limited as to what could be done outside of school.
I like to think that I am in the process of transitioning to a networked classroom. This is my first year as an eMINTS for all classroom. As the year has progressed, I am trying to take projects that we do every year and think about how I could incorporate more technology into them. We are so fortunate to have an amazing technology facilitator in our building who can help me take my crazy ideas, and make them interactive and appropriate for my kids. I hope one day that my classroom will be like those mentioned in the our book.
Networked classrooms are a fantastic way to meet the diverse needs of our learners. We can use technology to modify assignments for students with special needs. We can also use it to challenge our gifted students.
Fox has the same issue. Having that many students that do not have access out of school makes it very difficult to flip a classroom. I am glad though that your building and district are very pro technology. That is one of the reasons my wife and I like the district.
ReplyDeleteJennifer since you have first hand experience on this what grade level do you see this networked concept really taking off in? I teach younger students and really cant picture them being on a computer most of the day. I understand about free and reduced lunch... most of the students who go to the school I teach at don't even belong in that district. I know children like you said should be exposed to the technology first hand but I think limited to the younger kids.
ReplyDeleteI honestly do think that younger kids can do it. I don't know that I would have them doing EVERYTHING online like our 5th graders do, but they are capable of a lot. My kids keep a weekly blog. They are able to use the iPads to get on our network, log in, respond to my prompt, and post their response for the week. It takes a lot of training and modeling, but I do think it is possible. I think it would help even more if the basics were taught in the younger grades, but sadly our elementary school doesn't put the same emphasis on technology that we do.
DeleteThe building I am in is somewhat the same as your building. We have a lot of technology in our building, but a lot of families at home don't have any. This makes it very difficult to have things only available online. I do homework online for my kids but send home a paper copy to those families that I know don't have internet. This has made it a little bit easier, but is till frustrating because there are so many things that I want to do with families at home but I can't.
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