I went to a meeting the other day on how to give the I2A test on the computer. As the "older" teachers worried about how to log in and change their password, the "younger" teacher next to me, logged in, changed her password, checked and replied to an email, and checked out which movies where opening that weekend. That, to me, is the Economics of attention. Back when I was in school, I would look out the window, or doodle on my paper. But, now, if you put a kid in front of a computer, you are competing against millions of sites for their attention.
It is the same thing at home. I'll admit, between reading the responses to my last post and writing this one, I got on iTunes and checked out which songs I downloaded the other day and checked a couple of websites that didn't have anything to do with school. Teachers have to make things a lot more interesting if they really want to reach the kids.
Although, while giving the students the I2A test, not one kid tried to get to a different website when they were taking the test. I know they thought they would get in trouble if they didn't finish the test, but they also know that the test was for a grade. What is important to the students gets most of their attention. As long as they think doing well in school is important, they will pay more attention to it.
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7 comments:
Your example reminds me that TIME is important to all of us. When our attention drifts, we like to direct it to something more compelling. That could be good for learning, or bad. Bad when the kids can't stay focused in class. Good when they can productively use their time, whether in or out of class.
Sometimes in my classes I hear the rattle of keyboards, and know some students are working off-task. I asked one student to quit typing and listen to the discussion. He said, 'But I'm taking notes.' So it can be hard to tell when people are focused and attending, or when their heads are completely somewhe else. I hate to have to ask for attention, but I do sometimes.
Sorry, I was accidentally signed in as my son Seth!
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Your example reminds me that TIME is important to all of us. When our attention drifts, we like to direct it to something more compelling. That could be good for learning, or bad. Bad when the kids can't stay focused in class. Good when they can productively use their time, whether in or out of class.
Sometimes in my classes I hear the rattle of keyboards, and know some students are working off-task. I asked one student to quit typing and listen to the discussion. He said, 'But I'm taking notes.' So it can be hard to tell when people are focused and attending, or when their heads are completely somewhe else. I hate to have to ask for attention, but I do sometimes.
The beginning of your post is very ironic to me. For my practitioner profile, I interview our school's data coach. During her interview we got in the discussion about finding ways to get the "older" teachers to buy into instructional technology. It seems as though the teachers who are just starting out are finding new and improved ways to teach our students, especially because we know what's out there and we know how to find it. In order for the teachers who are...stuck in their ways, if you will, to reach a new generation of students, they are going to have to buy into technology, teach themselves or find someone else to train them and research tools to better their instruction.
It's no wonder kids minds wonder along with any person. We all have so much to do in our lives, we try to utilize every minute to get something done that benefits ourself. That may be for a grade, enjoyment, etc. but we are always spending every extra minute to fit in what we'll benefit from.
I find it interesting that there is such a disparity between adults who use the computer in terms of how easily they navigate and kids. I've noticed that most kids easily navigate while many adults are much more hesitant.
Infinite Campus is the grading system in my school district. I was a little bit overwhelmed at the beginning of the school year when I tried to learn how to use it. The harder part is that the middle school grading method is completely different from the high school, which adds more confusion to my mission. The theory thing always got me and some other teachers who used the system before would just say,"you will feel better when you actually use it." It is true. When I actually played it around and found solutions to solve problems, I found it was not that hard. Sometimes we just scared ourselves with some thoughts.
I am glad to hear that your students were taking the I2A testing seriously and were paying attention. The science testing hasn't started yet and I was wondering how much 'buy in' they would have to it; each year they have more tests to take and in a variety of formats. Is the computer testing user friendly?
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