To tech or not to Tech

The school I teach at is specifically for students with learning disabilities. We focus on skills rather than curriculum, and have a low student to teacher ratio. Overall, we make a great impact on may students who were struggling in traditional classrooms.

When I started working there, technology was a few laptops (those old clamshell Macs with OS9!) and some AlphaSmarts. Today, we are a few more laptops (Macbooks) and Fusions, with a smattering of Elmos (document cameras). We do use Accelerated Math, Accelerated Reader and Lexia to support skills. (Note no interactive whiteboards.)

As a self professed technology geek, I love using it when I can. However, in my daily teaching of skills, I utilized tried and true methods that are quite successful without a lot of techie bells and whistles. A few years ago we explored the idea of implementing interactive whiteboards. They are being implemented everywhere, so figured maybe we should go that route. I do have to admit that I am awed by them and would love to have one in my room. However, I am skeptical as to the impact it will have on my students.

I do have to say some of my students are definitely more engaged when I utilize the Elmo, but I also have some that cannot attend to a brief movie. They love throwing a squishy brain into a box when they read a sentence correctly, or throwing a sticky ball or Nerf dart gun at the board to pick a word to read. They are awed when they can use dry erase markers on their desks for spelling practice. These simple tools engage my students at least as much as a lesson from the internet would.

In a meeting with our Smart-board rep recently, he noted how a local school district that is socio-economically disadvantaged has these boards in all their classrooms due to a Federal grant. Yet, the state test scores came out this week and there was no improvement in those schools.

I am not against the use of interactive whiteboards or any technology in classrooms. We will be implementing one for me to utilize and train staff on for the upcoming year. Additionally, I am exploring apps to utilize in the classroom on my iPad. I am just curious about the automatic placement some school districts are doing at such a great cost. Towns budgets are in dire need, yet the technology going into schools is astounding. Does the technology really increase students building their skills, or is it just another expensive tool to use during instruction?