There seems to be so little time in my days and I want to share some thoughts about using Chromebooks with my students. I recently had a conversation with someone who does not really understand the way that education works in the 21st Century. My students have Chromebooks. They have access to all of the information that is out on the web and they love to be able to find the information that they need. Many people look at this ability to find information as a negative.
I hope that I was able to shed some light on this misunderstanding because this person was extremely upset that students "don't have to learn anymore or use their brains for anything" and was very vocal about it. I think she was under the impression that I stand in the front of the classroom and ask questions while my students look things up using Google. That is, of course, not the case at all. My students use the Chromebooks for many things in the classroom. Do they search for information on Google? YES! Do I think they are cheating if they do this? NO! Do they usually look things up on Google during a test? NO! How do I know this? I am a good teacher who walks around the room and looks at their screens. There is very little need for me to stand at the front of the classroom in order for me to teach and my students to learn.
In a sixth grade classroom, it is important to remember that my students have always had access to technology. They don't know what it was like to live in a house without some kind of technology, whether it's a smartphone, tablet, or computer. It is also important to remember that they have never been taught how to determine if information is reliable or valid. They also don't know how to set up a document to write an essay. They look at the chromebooks as a form of entertainment the first time they pick them up and turn them on. We let our students pick up the chromebook and take them home for the first night. They brought them to school the next day and the real work begins.
I started out with a few rules for using the chromebook in the classroom. We discussed appropriate use and the consequences for inappropriate use. Much of this was done as a school when the students picked up their chromebooks. In the classroom, we did not start with a clear idea of where the technology was going to take us. We started with how to use Google Drive to create a presentation for a writing assignment. Students were able to work collaboratively while sharing the presentation with their groups and working on it in and out of the classroom in real time. As we continued to use the Chromebooks, we moved on to using Google Classroom to assign videos for Social Studies and for our new eScience 3000 curriculum. As students got the hang of using Google Classroom, I created more classrooms and now use it for every subject in some way.
Once students became proficient at using the chromebooks, we started changing their portfolios over to a digital portfolio using Google Docs. Before spring parent/teacher conferences, students will create a presentation of their work and reflections to share with parents. Though our conferences are by request only, I am going to have students share their portfolios with their parents over that weekend and have them sign a form saying that they viewed the presentation. That way, without a parent even scheduling a conference with me, they will be able to see what their child feels he or she is doing well and what they feel they need to be working on.
So, with this brief overview of the ways the Chromebooks are being used in the classroom, I hope that this brings some clarity to the question of whether my students are using their brains or not. I know that this person suffers from ignorance. Perhaps, reading this will enlighten them (or at least get them thinking) to what learning looks like in the 21st Century.
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