The
article point’s out that maybe having one computer in the classroom can make
things easier. The article makes an acronym called KISS. KISS stands for "Keep It Simple,
Stupid," a slogan borrowed from the U.S. Army. One way to make it simple is the
teachers can put the students in hypothetical dilemmas, which would be both fun
and instructive. An example it gives is for social studies teacher. Teachers could
buy software that would set up the student to role-play. The Role plays cane be
the U.S. president, the American secretary of state, and other roles to see
their every day life.
One of the things today, is that
most high-tech schools don't teach true computer science. They do introduce the
latest software programs, but by the time today's students reach the workforce,
most of this technology will be long gone, significantly changed, or not even
important no more. Schools should just teach computer skills. Junior High and
High school students will benefit the most out of using the computers. In Elementary
schools, computers can take time away due to often spent teaching students to
do things on a screen they can more easily accomplish with paper, pencil, and
crayons. Judah Schwartz, professor emeritus of MIT and Harvard and the founder
and former co director of the latter's Educational Technology Center, thinks that
the calculator's ruins student because the students don’t pick up the process
to do the formula. They limit the student knowing how numbers and place value
actually work.
Japan practices something different than us in
its elementary schools. In science classes exercises typically begin with a
simple question, followed by active exploration with basic materials such as water,
dirt, and so forth. Rather than rushing from topic to topic because of time, Japanese
students focus on individual problems. They examine them from every angle as
much as they need. Technology is rarely used in any lesson.
Reflection
in my classroom
Well this article had some great
points and on others not so much. One reason I don’t like they compare us to
Japan is because Japan has only one race and one language while United States has
several languages and several races. America
is called the melting pot because there are people from everywhere around the
world, they have different cultures and different custom. So we cant be compared to Japan or any ether country.
Another thing is America has focused on standardize
testing. An incredible amount of pressure is placed on
teachers to ensure an increase in achievement on standardized tests. This
pressure is often wielded by administrators who draw attention to the test by
reviewing scores with the entire staff and applying praise or reprimands based
solely on test scores. Curriculum is sometimes modified in schools to cover
specific test-taking skills and topics. Significant time is devoted to test
preparation, including review worksheets and practice tests. Due to this we cant spend weeks on one single
thing like Japan.
This
article would be great to help all teachers if we didn’t have standardize testing. All the technology short cuts we take is because
of that tests.
