I am tempted to title this post "More complaints from Postman." As you may guess, this book is somewhat starting to wear on me a bit. I get it, we need to be cautious about technology, thinking about the ramifications of said technology. But come on, Neil- there are some good things about technology!!!
Ok, with that, here are my reflections on a few things that stood out to me in these chapters:
I found it interesting what Postman had to say about so many of our problems being blamed on computers, and it being an acceptable excuse. I know that I have used this many times before- our society today accepts this for an excuse. I can see where Postman is going with this argument, however, don't we often place blame on "things?" Even in the "olden" days, couldn't you be late to work because your horse ran away? or the wheel broke on your wagon, so you couldn't make your deliveries? As humans, I think that we are always looking for an excuse- computers are just the latest invention to place our blame upon. I did have to laugh at the part about the Dallas Cowboys and giving the credit for their success in the NFL to computers... and now in their not-so-successful days computers not being mentioned much. My husband is a big Cowboys fan, so I had to chuckle about that paragraph.
The other portion that struck a chord for me was the part about multiple choice. I remember in High School, we knew that there was a teacher who wrote their whole exam in multiple choice. We loved it! Who had to study when there was just multiple choice questions! If you had even paid attention 40% of the time, you could narrow it down to 2 choice, which means a pretty good chance of getting it right! I agree with Postman that fill in the blank prove more understanding than multiple choice, but I still think that even fill in the blank questions don't prove a ton of understanding. Fill in the blanks still just say to me, "hey, I can memorize things." As teachers, don't we want students to prove their understanding, not just their memorizing skills? I think that we need to focus on asking deeper questions, where students must show what they understand, and explain their thinking.
You and me both, sister--Postman is starting to sound like a whiner! Still, I agree with you: his section on computers was pretty odd at first...but it definitely got me thinking about how we use computers in schools. When I think of my first classroom, it's almost funny now: the only technology I had in the room was an overhead projector and a chalkboard. (Not even a whiteboard--CHALK!) I didn't even have a computer in my room until the third year of my teaching career. Wow. Could I teach without a computer today? I'd like to think so...but I'm not so sure. It would sure seem like a lot more work!
ReplyDeleteI remember the principal at my school made a comment about how all the young teachers seem to be getting rid of their filing cabinets while the more experienced teachers were hanging onto them and using them--and it makes me think that the technology side of it all has something to do with it. The younger generation--maybe "the digital natives"--don't seem to need "hard copies" and files of everything. At our clean up at the end of the year there were stacks of overhead projectors to be donated to struggling schools because they are just not being used much anymore.
DeleteAbout the multiple choice stuff. . .I know our school is trying to push the "presentation of learning" aspect and authentic assessment as a way to focus on the deeper questions. I find the essential questions and enduring understandings used in lesson planning seems to focus away from memorizing facts into more of the application and understanding.
I do find it a little ironic that some of the higher level testing (entrance exams, etc.) seem to still favour the memorization aspect. . .