The Answer for Schools Is Not More Technology. It’s Teachers and Human Connection
The Answer for Schools Is Not More Technology. It’s Teachers and Human Connection
The Answer for Schools Is Not More Technology. It’s Teachers and Human Connection
By Danielle Arnold-Schwartz
December 24, 2019
Summary
Danielle Arnold-Schwartz is a teacher of elementary gifted students with experience teaching grades K-9 in public school settings.
A kindergarten teacher recently told me that at conference night one of her student's parents verbally attacked her for using Chromebooks during morning meeting time.
This teacher uses Chromebooks responsibly and is a wonderful teacher, but deep down I couldn't help but cheer as I wondered, "Could it be that parents are waking up to the realization that too much screen time is part of what ails our education system?".
We put children in front of screens at restaurants to keep them quiet, and we do the same in classrooms that may be too large or when teachers are working with small groups.
Rocketship charter school chain relies on this type of model: "Students rotating into Learning Labs [means] employing fewer teachers," author Richard Whitmire has written of the schools.
"A school such as Rocketship Mosaic could successfully serve 630 students with only 6 teachers plus aides."
Some of them think that teachers want to make their jobs easier by putting little screens in front of little eyes, but I don't know a single person who became a teacher because they wanted an easy job.
We need educational technology that puts highly trained teachers at the center of product design and implementation.
In the same way that we want our doctors and lawyers to take time to help us, children need real teachers to connect with and trust.
The time has come to open the market to "Teachnology," and to put the teachers at the helm of their classrooms as they guide our children to exciting and unknown horizons.
Reference
Arnold-Schwartz, D. (2019, December 24). The Answer for Schools Is Not More Technology. It's Teachers and Human Connection. - EdSurge News. Retrieved January 9, 2020, from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-12-24-the-answer-for-schools-is-not-more-technology-it-s-teachers-and-human-connection.