If back to school night has one lesson for me. It's that parents of elementary students are looking for someone to talk to about iPads, phones, tablets, and how their kids are using them. I'm lucky enough to work in an amazing school with a great approach to technology education. Last night at back-to-school night I got to share with the kindergarten through second grade parents why we do technology the way we do. In my short talk about 10 minutes I was able to discuss what kinds of things we do in Technology class, and the goals we have.
As I was preparing to present to the parents, I created a small slide deck, grabbed a robot, and headed over to the elementary school. When I got there, my first grade team asked me, "where's the puppet?" I laughed because I got so wrapped up and prep I've forgotten a very important part of who I am in the classroom. So I went back to my office, grabbed my orange friend, and we headed over to back-to-school night.
In my short presentation, I described the work I do as creating a high-engagement high-challenge environment for learning. I talked about how the teachers and I plan together to keep our most important educational goals front and center. In the elementary grades these goals are about social skills, communication, problem solving, and perseverance. I might be running a lesson on programming with an iPad, but really we are teaching problem solving skills and communication. We use the iPad to create a complex social learning situation. Even though I have plenty of devices to put each kid on their own, we usually have the students working elbow to elbow, knee to knee on one screen. This is because it isn't about the tech, it is about the learning that we can leverage into the space around the tech.
I share with the parents anecdotes of times in class when everything is going smoothly, but also when communication breaks down and kids get upset. We construct these teachable moments, we manufacture a bit of frustration. We do this to help students learn how to communicate their way past these points. I talk about the first time I handed a kindergarten student an iPad. They clutched it to their chest, crossed their arms around it, and turned away from the students standing nearest to them. That's when I knew there was a central problem to the iPad. Without guidance and support devices can be isolating. My goal as the technology instructor is to transform that. For students to reimagine these devices not as a world unto themselves, but as a way for them to create messages that connect them to others, a way to share what they know. As Wokka,the aforementioned puppet, and I shared the work we do I was glowing, and not just because the building air conditioning automatically turned off an hour before the evening program began. I love the work I do and I love sharing it.
I could talk forever about coding and puppets and robots and movie making, but since I was visiting rack of the k-2 classes, I had to keep my talk brief. At the end of my bit, I asked for questions and almost every class had the same one, "What educational apps do you recommend?" I don't think my answer was what they were looking for. As a teacher who has spent a great deal of time and my future income studying how the social environment supports learning, I certainly have a bias. I told them I don't have much faith in educational apps. I create educational experiences that include devices and apps, but I never assume that the app and the device are going to create and support an educational experience.
I was speaking to a room full of Silicon Valley parents and I have to be careful because I know there are apps out there that do a much better job than others. So couching my statements with apologies to app developers in the room, I shared that education happens in the space between people. Even a great book in isolation is not the educational experience that can be created by a great book and a conversation. Education needs reflection, conversation, and shared experience. Even good online courses have discussions, reflections, and interactions with a community. It isn't about the instructor necessarily, it is about creating a triangular space with two minds and a subject of study. In first grade this might look like two students working on one iPad running Kodable. I am a giant fan of the app and love the design and tutorials. I admire the length they go to in order to work with teachers to guide the meaningful development of the app, but I argue that the app and one student alone are an incomplete experience.
As I shared my perspective, I could tell this was not the answer the parents were looking for, they wanted to know which apps they should put on their iPads at home. To satisfy this I recommended they check out common sense media's app reviews. I like their reviews because they rate the apps on the quality of learning in the app as well as the degree of commercialism present.
At the end of the evening, most of the parents still looked happy to see me. Through our years together at this school they will find that I share the apps we are using in class, and I will often endorse certain apps or products within the context we are creating. For the most part I try not to speak to what they can install on their device to educate their students, because it really is about the experience we create. I believe education happens in the triangular space between two minds and a subject.
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