Ever since I started writing my blog, I wondered when I would reach the end of my road and run out of things to rant about. It seems that every time I approach that point, something pops up to get me started again. As luck would have it, two such events occurred today. One incident happened early today and the second came later in the day. Of course, for dramatic effect I will begin with the later.
Late in the afternoon I had an appointment with my dentist for a cleaning. It’s one of the many ways my dentist has arranged for me to pay his rent. I see my dentist quite often. When I arrived at the waiting room, the receptionist greeted me with a big smile and three pages of blank forms. She apologized for inconveniencing me, but THE LAW required her to have me fill out the forms. I immediately looked at her desk and asked what catastrophe had befallen her computer? She was puzzled. I told her that all of the blank spaces on three pages of forms were requiring me to complete information already in the computer. She agreed, but again said THE LAW requires us to have you fill out these forms. Again I said, “You already have all of this information and more in your data bank. Why am I being required to handwrite out on three forms information that already exists on your computer?” She quickly left the waiting room in search of a supervisor. I must admit, I might have been strongly influenced by the Occupy Wallstreet demonstrations that I had been following all day. They were also being shown on the TV in the waiting room. Was this my stand against THE LAW for the 99 percenters?
Emerging from the dental-technology-filled rooms in the back, the supervisor approached me. The first two words from her mouth were THE LAW, and then continued; require that you provide this information on these forms. Again, I said, “you have that information already.” She reluctantly wrote a line at the top of the top form” nothing has changed” and placed a check next to it. I signed the form.
The other incident, earlier in the day, was more education oriented, but just as vexing. As a matter of fact it was probably more egregious, because educators should know better in 2011, almost 2012. I observed one of my pre-service teachers today. She has a student teaching assignment in a high school English position. She delivered a great collaboration lesson and we were debriefing the lesson after the class. I asked about the next lesson planned for the class. She looked at me with a reluctant look on her face. I sensed that she was about to tell me something, that she knew, I was not going to be in favor of. She qualified her answer with the fact that she was obligated to do as her cooperating teacher directed her. I agreed, and again asked what was next, since she referred to an upcoming essay in her lesson. She came clean. The class is to handwrite an essay in class before we go to the computer lab so they can type the essay on the computer.
My students know that word processing enables kids to write at a higher level, and they are more likely to make corrections and rewrites when using a word processor. A word processor is not a typewriter. We write in a word-processing world and our students should learn in the same way. My students also know that this is my strong belief. However, I could not fault my student, since it is not her choice for the students, but that of their teacher. I have been burned in the past when I approached cooperating teachers on some ill-conceived methods used in class. I have learned to smile, say thanks, leave, and then have a long talk with my students in the safety of my own classroom.
If we, as educators, do not understand the reasoning and potential of technology, we will not use it effectively and then blame that inefficiency on the technology. It is too easy to use technology without understanding and find fault with it not fulfilling the implied promise. We assume everyone understands that computers collect, manipulate, and communicate data in any form needed. We assume everyone understands the power of computers in regard to writing, publishing, and communicating the written word. Unfortunately, I have come to believe that we cannot make these assumptions. We need to educate or educators if we are to have any hope to educate or children.
My Island View 
The poor in commonsense we will always have with us!
See, I find the opposite. People are more likely to rewrite what they handwrote in a better way when it comes to type it because of the translation of paper to screen.
I, nor any of my colleagues or students, have ever exhibited the behaviour described by “Anon”.
Love this post, Tom. It reflects how I see things. I think it’s a bit useless to fight it off and we have to adjust. Haven’t we. teachers come to rely on word processors as well? I admit I have. And I think I’ve learned from it as well (being a NNest) and I transfer the benefits of it to my writing. Maybe I’m wrong. But that’s not how I feel.
Thanks for putting it in writing, Tom 🙂
@Phil: I see where Anon is coming from. I write drafts or at least notes in a notebook sometimes and I find that what goes to the screen does tend to be of higher quality because I am editing as I go. Then again, I still proofread my work in hard copy with a red pen because it’s comfortable.
And I think that Mr. Whitby’s last paragraph can be applied to the dreaded research project. So much of what we talk about in my class centers around how to use the tools because I cannot assume that because my students are used to sitting in front a computer they know exactly what to do. Sometimes that involves time away to gather thoughts, take notes, organize those notes, and come up with some sort of “plan of attack.”
Another great post. Thanks!
@Tom P: Thanks for that. This perhaps highlights the need for differentiated teaching: your style clearly works for you. I have tried that style, and it is disastrous for me.
I appreciate your stance and the consistency of your position by which you make your stance
I find this frustrating in my position as a technology facilitator in a high school setting. I find success in sowing seeds of ideas and seeing what grabs some attention. I read an article today about how college students are still using thumbdrives and printing papers instead of embracing cloud options and sticking to MS Office instead of alternatives like Google Docs, OpenOffice and LibreOffice. The article seemed to equate this with cloud technology and open source alternatives not gaining traction among the most digitally savvy segment of the population. I think it is more indicative of the workflow habits that are being instilled by teachers in public school and shows their lack of progress in updating their tools and methods to meet the most current digital tools available. We don’t teach kids how to make ink from iron galls, properly sharpen quills, nor expect them to beat chalk dust out of erasers, yet many teachers see pencil and paper as some holy tradition that must be upheld to properly educate. Wow, you got me ranting too!
@Shawn: sometimes it’s a capability and capacity issue as far as what the higher-ups block and do not block with an internet filter. But you’re not alone in your frustration.
And lest I make your head explode, Virginia is still doing its state writing exam with paper/pencil. Though that will be changing next year.
For me, I sometimes make my students write out on paper first so that they can type it up in one class period since there is limited space and time in our computer lab. I would love to not have to.
I’ve seen both sides of the coin. Our district is 1:1 with netbooks, which was great a few years ago, but now I think we’re falling behind in the handheld era. But that’s only a marginal point.
What I’m getting at is that kids don’t like the computer interface anymore because that isn’t their experience. They’re used to touch-screen interface rather than a keyboard and there is a lot of remedial “computer” instruction included with each task. I’m having to do a lot of prodding to get kids to write on the computer. Much of the time, they’re frustrated with the outdated technology and its limitations compared to their smartphones or tablets, and they display that by refusing to type ANYthing…they would rather handwrite on paper.
It is getting better, but I don’t think it’s as clear cut for most people. I do what I can to encourage and instruct. I don’t know what it will look like, but I think the next major shift in computer-based writing is looming on the horizon.
Sorry the dental receptionist gave you a hard time.
Writers do not all have the same process, nor should they. No need to insist on one way over another. Students do need to learn to make the most of whatever they have available to do a job. There is often a compulsion to have the newest thing and this is silly. New is not always better. I think this topic you brought up would make a wonderful classroom discussion or formal debate.
Not to rub salt in the wound, but I guess your dentist didn’t get the memo from the American Dental Association. http://youtu.be/mDfgE5OSjPQ
Granted, they just posted all their videos on YouTube two weeks ago, (very basic but high quality productions for use in the classroom) but progress is progress.
Mr. Whitby,
If you were a church, I’d convert.
As it is, I bang my head against the wall daily, frustrated with the way my kids’ school handles tech/media/connectedness issues.
Since I’m so familiar with that school’s tech level, I refuse to allow the school dictate the tools my kids can or cannot use.
Spinning my wheels in Oklahoma…
While I agree with Tom on the fact that we are in a technological era when people should be using the tools of the real world to complete assignments I think of my own practice in my school – I have access to computers but at times the tech resouces I need are booked by others as we have a 5:1 computer ratio in our building. Therefore there are times when I do get students to do an initial draft on paper so that when we get to the lab or get the C.O.W. (Computers on Wheels) they already have part or all of a draft written. I also have some students that prefer to use paper and pen for a first draft, as this is their preferred way of getting their thoughts down I do not prevent them from doing so.
Congrats on your successful bout with the admin staff at your dentists office.
I knew a teacher who uploaded articles to Angel and expected her students to print them. I never did understand that logic. Another teacher is asking her students to print study guides, cut out the questions, and then glue them on another piece of paper. Why? Wouldn’t it have been easier to cut/paste digitally? Then upload the documents to the cloud? And then have those documents accessible from a variety of mobile devices?
OMG, Dinah, my daughter has a teacher that does the literal cut and paste thing. I bite my tongue all the time.
I’ve got a grass roots Google Docs movement at my school. I’m quite happy about that. I have several teachers who are having students using our Google Apps suite to create documents and collaborate and share them with their teachers. I’m sure there are teachers in my school who have students hand write and then type, but there are an awful lot who don’t do that, especially past elementary level.
On the medical form issue–was just at the doctor today, in fact. I would be happy to simply finger slide something like I do with my Android phone to accept information. We’ll get there someday.
I’m going to stand in disagreement with the article. Well, at least in partial disagreement.
I’m making a stand for pen and paper. My students don’t have access to a ton of computers and that’s okay with me. We very often hand-write a thought and then go to the computer. Sometimes, kids choose not to use the computer at all and instead, re-write the words they wrote once already. In the process, and because I say that they should be open to the draft staying the same OR changing, they come up with better thoughts.
I write a lot of words every day. I publish 750 words every morning, write prose poetry, comment to students, and keep a writer’s notebook. My writing is about fifty-fifty handwritten to typed. Each has its advantages.
In schools today, I think we follow the god of technology too zealously. Remember, as Walter Ong wrote, writing itself is a technology. Handwriting thoughts is powerful and good. It is also, sadly, a dying art.
I like the idea of handwriting before going to the computer. This response would be more concise had I done that. The teacher’s assignment described in the article may have been foolish or it may have been motivated by some deep thinking about writing and the processes of thinking. Just because kids were handwriting is no good reason to condemn it.
This post, and the responses, point to the need for Universal
Design for Learning (http://cast.org). Provide multiple methods of engagement. Presentation and expression.
Please don’t assume because a method works well for you, it works well for me or for our students. Provide options which allow your students to excel.
For too many, paper is not the answer.
[…] this blog post The Heck with Tech « My Island View and highlighted these quotes from Tom Whitby. I thought I would share it here. “My students […]
[…] The Heck with Tech « My Island View […]
Thank you for the post Tom. It is certainly a conversation provoking topic, as demonstrated by the number of comments.
I am most interested in your statement, “My students know that word processing enables kids to write at a higher level, and they are more likely to make corrections and rewrites when using a word processor.”
How do you know this? Is this your experience as an educator, or is there a body of research that has found this to be the case? I am familiar with the idea of using cloud-technologies and blogging to help students obtain feedback and insights from others regarding their writing to help improve it. However, based on the remainder of your post, I’m interpreting your statement to mean that when a student (working alone) begins the composition process initially on the computer, they will write at a higher level.
My apologies if I am misinterpreting your statement.
If I’m not, could you please share any resources you have, I am sure it would be appreciated by more than just myself.
[…] The Heck with Tech « My Island View–As luck would have it, two such events occurred today. One incident happened early today and the second came later in the day. Of course, for dramatic effect I will begin with the later. […]
[…] Tom Whitby’s post the heck with tech & my pots on digital note […]
Interesting piece, Tom. It reminds me, it is not the tools, but how we teach. A long time ago, in the 1980s, I did my doctoral dissertation on word processing and writing. After doing 20 case studies of teachers then using word processing with students, it was clear it was the teaching methodology and not the tools. It is about how teachers implement and integrate the technology, not about the technology per se. In the end, it all comes down to teaching and how we work with students. I also once knew a parent who pulled her child out of the public schools because a teacher would not let students use computers to do their homework. Go figure!