After watching the video in class, I am on the fence with the one to one laptops in the classroom. I have had some experience with observing students in a classroom all having laptops. Last semester I was in a 7th grade classroom where all the students had personal laptops. They weren't allowed to take them home but used them regularly in class. The students used them for power point presentations, writing assignments, research, and some other miscellaneous assignments. The teacher still have the students hand write their assignments with rough drafts and then she had them type the final draft on their laptops. I found this to be a good idea, that way the students don't get rusty with their grammar and English skills.
There are some pros and cons with the one to one laptop program. Some concerns are that the students might not do as well in English and writing if they are dependent on their computer to spell check everything. Like how I mentioned earlier how the teacher I observed had to students hand write their rough drafts and type the final drafts. I really like this idea. It saves on paper and the students still keep up their writing skills. Another concern of mine is that not only the teacher, but the parents have to be educated with the computers in order to help their students or children. Having grown up with all the new technology, I am pretty comfortable with a computer, but some teachers may not be very comfortable. I am also afraid that some students won't be paying attention in class, but then on the video they made a good point that some students won't pay attention if they have a laptop in front of them.
Some pros are that the students will have access to the Internet and educational tools. This is something important. This also helps students become familiar with computers as they grow up in a technology society. Many jobs now use computers and many different programs. Another pro is that the students can submit some of their work electronically therefore cutting down on the unnecessary use of paper. This saves money on printing also.
After listing the pros and cons, I am still on the fence about the one to one program. In the future I believe that most of the school districts will approve and have the one to one program and I will just have to be prepared for it to happen. I really enjoyed the movie we watched and the photography class was really interesting to watch and see how the one to one program worked in that class.
1 comment:
Trina, It is nice that you were able to see the 7th graders first hand using laptops and the positve and negative sides to using laptops. I liked the idea that the students had to do their writing rough drafts on paper and the final on the laptop. I really like this idea. I think you have a lot of good ideas and insight to give in this class because of your experience. I look forward to reading more of your blogs. - Janet
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