When I was a child living on a farm, we didn’t have a lot of toys or computer games. My sisters, friends and I spent most of the day playing outside. We would make up games, climb trees, jump out of haylofts, all the typical farm activities, but then we discovered something absolutely magical… Duct Tape! Yes, that’s right, duct tape is magical.

We would gather our supplies for the day – bailing twine, sticks, boards, rocks, cardboard boxes, etc, – and use that amazing duct tape to create anything we could imagine to help us carry out the plan for the day. From cops and robbers to alien invaders, we could make whatever we needed to create these worlds and get caught up in them. 

Now we could of done all that without the use of duct tape, but we would of spent much more time of the production proccess and missed out on time for the actual play time. We actually used so much duct tape that our parents would buy us our own because we would go through a roll in a few days!

Why am I sharing this with you? 

Because as an adult I have replaced duct tape with technology.  I believe that technology, when used properly, is a tool that will open up worlds to teachers and more importantly, open up worlds to students.

Students can do things without using technology, but giving them the opportunity can do amazing things. Students who drag their feet at  writing suddenly come alive when they learn how to use digital storytelling programs - they are in charge and empowered to write better stories.

Or a student who learns how to blog suddenly takes pride in their work because they are recieving feedback from people from all over.

Or for the students who believe writing is absolutely painful, showing them how to communicate through videos will give them the ability to communicate successfully.  

Even though learning how to use new technology takes time and is often accompanied by large amounts of frustration, isn’t it worth opening a new world for your students?

I think it is just part of my nature. Being inquisitive and wondering if this can do that is how my brain processes the time I couldn’t remember one single Ahah! moment, but as I thought more about it, I realized there was a significant switch in thinking.

When I think back, I wasn’t that excited about computers in high school, only taking the minimum required classes. In college, I took the freshman required computer class and a web design class. That was it for my ventures into computer stuff. So again, where did my interest come from?

If I had to narrow down one specific timeframe, I would say my senior business class in college, the one every business student had to take in order to graduate. The point of the class was to prepare an actual business plan for a real client with an actual business (kind of scary stuff for someone still in college!). We were in groups of 4 or 5 and since I was the only Accounting major in my group, I was naturally selected to make the financial statements in Microsoft Excel.

Now, most people would equate that to torture, but as I got started, I loved it! Spending 3 hours in one go working on it was easy. The ability to manipulate the formulas and to show this only if that was positive, the challenge of adding in data that the client forgot to tell us, making everything flow logically – oh yeah, I was in heaven! To me, it was fascinating to see everything I could do with the program.

From there, I was hooked. I had seen how I could take information and apply a little of my creative magic and make something totally different and useful. Ever since, I have used Excel for everything (yeah, I’m one of those people!) and have learned to apply that way of thinking into most anything related with technology.

What does that mean for you?

What I’m trying to get across is that even if you aren’t really into this technology stuff, that doesn’t mean you are always going to feel like that. If you can find that one thing, that one program that actually gets you even a little excited about using it, then you are one step closer to loving what it can do for you.

So don’t worry about using all kinds of websites or programs, just find one that is interesting, use that and find some success. Then, find just one more, use that and find more success. The more times you find a website or a program you like, the more excited you will get, you won’t be able to help yourself!  

If you had told me that using Excel for my class would have lead to my buying technology books to read over the summer months (yeah, I really did that!)  I would of thought you were nuts! But it was true.

So what is going to be your turning point? What project are you going to look back on and say “That was the one, that was when I fell in love with using technology in my classroom”?

You are a 3rd grade teacher and it’s time for your students to do their writing assignment. You give the following directions:

Ok class, we are going to do something a little different today. For today’s writing assignment, you are going to create a short story! It can be about anything you want, but here are your directions: You must use the vocabulary we have been studying from chapter 6 in our book and you need to make sure you are using them correctly. Ok, you have 30 minutes, so get started!

As soon as you finish speaking, the room is buzzing with excitement over the project. They are already thinking of their story and proudly telling their neighbor, “My story is going to be about pirates on a ship.” or “My story is about a girl who turns into a mermaid.” Very few, if any students will not be able to come up with the most incredible story (in their eyes) after a few minutes of thinking. They happily go to work creating their masterpiece, imaginations in full swing.

Now, imagine that instead of giving those directions to 3rd graders, you have just given them to a room full of high school Spanish students. What kind of reaction do you get from them?

If you said that it would be too easy for them, think again! What I normally receive is the “deer caught in the headlights look” or a look that is close to terror at the thought of coming up with a story.

First I thought it was because we were writing in another language which can be a little intimidating, but after some questioning, I found that wasn’t the case. They couldn’t come up with an idea in English! Even with idea prompts from me they still struggled to come up with one idea they could use to make a short story.

The first time this happened to me, I was a little upset. This project was supposed to be a fun way to practice our writing skills, grammar and vocabulary, but instead it was actually painful for my students and myself.

What happens between 3rd grade and high school that could cause something as simple as creating a short story to go from being an easy, fun project to a dreaded difficult one?

Somewhere along the way it seems we forget to keep their creativity abilities strong by requiring them to use it. There are too many other things to focus on, too much information to get through by the end of the year that we just don’t seem to have time to do the types of projects that really stretch their creative muscle. And the students seem to be preoccupied with activities that use very little creativity or imagination.

Have you ever had this problem in your classroom? What are some ways we can encourage our students to flex that creative muscle that is so seldom used?

-Hold on, I’m not a computer teacher. I teach English/History/ Science/Spanish etc. –

That may be true, but times are changing and it’s time follow along. Every teacher in every subject should be incorporating technology as part of their arsenal of teaching tools they use with students. I’m not talking about the things you use to conduct a class, but those you have your students use to complete their project or assignment.

Our world is so wrapped up in technology that in order for our students to have the best chance of success, they need to be critical thinkers, problem solvers and perpetual learners with the tools they will be using tomorrow, not yesterday.

Which means, we need to teach them how to use technology to do those things, along with all the other information they already need to know.

In order to teach our students, teachers need to understand how to use the technology first, and unless you are normally just fascinated by all the possibilities, like me, then you will have to spend a little time learning.

I know there is so much that you are required to do already, but it doesn’t have to be a new lesson, just incorporate it into old lessons, revamp a lesson to do with technology instead of the way you have been doing it for the last 10 years.

So my question to you isn’t why do we need to learn technology but

Why aren’t we learning to use technology already?