“In short, the technology bred an atmosphere of relative chaos to the point that many teachers, particularly those disposed to more structured classrooms, ultimately decided to take the computers out of their classrooms as well as their curricula.” Alsup, Janet; Bush, Jonathon. “But Will It Work with REAL Students?” NCTE: 2003. Urbana, Illinois. (pg.151).
This teacher in Alsup and Bush’s book describes the situation when his school bought new laptops to place in all the classrooms. The school and the teachers had thought that they had anticipated and corrected all of the foreseeable problems, but they were wrong. When the computers were used by the students in the classroom, many problems occurred that they had not anticipated. With so many problems many teachers were turned off and chose the “safety” of classrooms without computers and more structure.
I, like this teacher, embrace a little chaos in my classroom because its active, engaging nature ensures student interest and learning. I feel that in order to peak the minds and interests of students a teachers has to take a risk and try new things. Experimenting and breaking from the norm and your comfort zone is the only way to stay cutting edge and develop new wonderful techniques. If it were not for teachers like this and other ones before him like Langer and Rosenblatt, then English education would still be teaching from white, male-dominated literature anthologies.
I am interested to find out who agrees with me of if there are any teachers reading that find structure and predicatability the most important factors in the English classroom.
5 responses so far ↓
1 readerdiane // Nov 8, 2006 at 5:33 pm
Coming from the viewpoint of having taught 26 years in middle school, you have to be able to be flexible to work with technology & middle school students.This is the scary part for so many teachers. The what if it doesn’t work problem? You need to be flexible enough to go with Plan B if the first one doesn’t come together. It does help if you practice first.
Not that I am saying that I don’t have structure in my classroom, more that it is controlled chaos at times.
My students know that other times I have other expectations from them and I remind them of what they are.
2 Sharon // Nov 10, 2006 at 10:31 pm
I’m thrilled when I walk around my middle school and see “controlled chaos” particularly as the kids are using the laptop labs, participating in a virtual lab, etc. Our kids must be prepared to work in the 21st century so we’ve all got to take some risks including the administrators.
3 Cynthia // Nov 11, 2006 at 1:32 am
Michelle,
Like you, I think that some controlled chaos is just what the students need in their learning environment. Yes, I mean “need.” These young, vibrant people seem to me to feel stifled and censored in a classroom requiring nearly complete silence and individual work. The students I see in my current middle school come alive and have much more to offer when they are involved in the types of interactions that technology has the potential to allow. My rap-loving students were willing to listen and open-minded with the little bit of technology I have had the opportunity to introduce into their classroom. I think that teachers are remiss if they allow the “fear” factor to get in the way of their own growth and learning.
4 c-dough // Nov 28, 2006 at 6:58 pm
As much as I would like to be able to say “I would do this…” or “I would do that…”, I believe that a situation such as the one described must be handled as a case-by-case scenario. While some groups of students can be engaged and productive in an environment of organized chaos, other groups of students can only be successful in a structured, traditional classroom setting. I would love to say that, as far as new technology and materials are concerned, the more, the better! But, in reality, I think that it really depends on the personality of the teacher in conjunction with the group of students involved.
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