Jenaicklefritz’s Weblog

So it’s no secret that our progressively failing economy is contributing to an exponential growth in the poverty class. So far the greatest common concerns have been centered on the 9.8% unemployment rate, and how this percentage is the highest Americans have suffered in 26 years.  Though that is a depressing fact facing America today, there’s another concern I face daily, that I believe relates to the failing economy. I’m actually concerned about the scrutiny of an internet-based education system that goes beyond the classroom—as there are many assumptions that promoting online learning tools is detrimental to students without Internet access at home. That, to me, is infuriating. I think that by mandating even the slightest amount of online activity outside the classroom for all students, regardless of economic standing can, at best, better our economic situation, or at worst, prepare students for life in this failing economy.

Alright, before you tell me that my concern is baseless, or that I can’t connect an increase in our economy’s stability to assigned out-of-class internet usage, or that my concern isn’t even worth being concerned about, allow me to defend myself.

Right now, one frustrating rule for me as a teacher is that I am required to provide a hardcopy for any and all information related to my class to my students, under the assumption that students without a computer or internet access at home will feel emotional friction (contributing to feelings of inadequacy) because they do not share the same privileges as other students who do have such access. Now, that friction may be present, but I believe there is a better way to tackle such a concern.

Don’t be mad at me for anything yet, because I’m also acknowledging that the argument against my complaint is a very real and a respectable one. In fact, the most frightening aspect for me is to receive a call at dinnertime from an angry parent. But my fantasy-fear is more along the lines of an angry parent who accuses me for his or her child’s poor grade. Do you wonder how this could happen? Well, imagine this possible scenario: There’s a calendar on my classroom blog and forum, for students to access, where they can see exactly when all assignment due dates, quizzes, and tests are. So lets say the night after I’ve handed back tests, Little Billy is asked at home why he failed his test, and his answer was, I didn’t know we were having a test. The teacher posts all the dates online, and I hadn’t been able to get to a computer to see the schedule. So now Little Billy’s parents are embarrassed that their inability to provide their son with Internet access is reflecting in his grades, and are taking out their frustration on the teacher (yes this does happen) and I’m afraid of a parent accusing me of putting his family on the spot by making my students rely on the Internet to succeed in the classroom (which isn’t true, but they don’t always see it that way before they’ve made a complaint.) There is also the risk of word getting around to other parents at the soccer games or what have you, resulting in many parents being angry that I am not understanding of the less fortunate’s lifestyle. Basically, because of the very existence of my online calendar, I’m at risk for offending people without Internet access.

It hasn’t happened to me like that just yet, but it has happened to other teachers. Which is why new teachers today are taught to play down the importance of technology in the classroom—so as not to offend or humiliate students and their parents. But in today’s technological world, is that really a good idea?

And the more frustrating part is, I will always have the due dates listed on the board in the classroom well in advance, and tell the students that they are responsible for writing them down and keeping track of them. And I’m no stranger to the teenage logic. I know how easy it is for my students to have selective understanding, and choose what they focus on. I’m not going to lie, even when I was in high school it was way easier for me to ignore my own responsibilities, and blame my teacher’s classroom management for my failings, so I know that there will always be “Little Billys” that put teachers at risk for being blamed for (essentially) the students’ poor grades once in a while. I will in one way or another receive accusations of favoring the more privileged students, because there will always be those who strongly encourage me to spoon-feed much of my classroom information to my students while I hold firm to the idea that every student will only work as hard as they choose to, no matter how I design my class. (And for the record, I like to have everything posted online for when students decide they do want to take responsibility after they lost their hardcopy instructions in their backpack vortex. That way they can hop online at any Internet hub and access everything they need, regardless of where they misplaced my course syllabus.)

And since I’m on the subject, it saddens me that when I expect my students to be responsible, parents do not always respect that decision. Which is not to say “all parents” are that way. I do know that many parents would love for teachers to be more aggressive in preparing their kids to take affirmative action in their own education and time management. If I were the mother of a high school student, I’d hope that every mentor, teacher and role model to my child have a Yoda-esque impact on his or her life: a do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try appeal.

But for those few who still believe that handholding students to better grades (and killing trees) is the best way to prepare their kids to pass a class—which shouldn’t be the goal—but hey, different strokes for different folks, then I have a news flash for those people: I think that regardless of your lack of computer and Internet access, your child should be challenged to manage their time wisely by making use of the Internet access provided at their school, thus being able to participate in my classroom’s net-based activities and utilize my online organization tools—all of which are designed to improve the quality of learning, rather than be used as structural support for the lesson. And furthermore, I think parents should let me do my job—which is not only to teach my students English, but make sure that when they leave my classroom, they can take what they’ve learned and apply it to many of the obstacles and challenges they will face in the real world. I know English is not always the most practically applicable class for the majority of students once the diploma is in hand, but that doesn’t mean I can just sit by and let my class have little-to-no impact in the lives of my students’ futures, and that’s a fact.

And before I hear any whining about how unfair I am to force the less fortunate children to make extra effort to enjoy they same level of education as students with Internet access at home, why don’t you answer me this question: What’s going to happen after those students without Internet access graduate from high school and get out in the real world? How will they search for jobs? How will they best prepare their resumes? How will they send prospective employers those resumes? Sure, they can fax or mail everything in, but isn’t it true that people with the Internet at home are going to get their resumes and letters of intent emailed sooner? Don’t you think those who have internet at their fingertips will mass email their resumes to multiple companies, covering a greater amount of job territory, and thus diminishing equal opportunities for those being held subject to the tyranny of the pony express? Does that seem fair? Fair isn’t even an aspect of job hunting once these young people are out of school (and spare me the equal opportunity speech.) Fair flat out ceases to exist. It mutates into the dreaded reality—an ominous real world, which teachers like me are trying to prepare their students for.

That being said, when my students are out of school, if they still don’t have internet at home, they will at least have the experience managing their time and readily available tools to find access to the technology that will ultimately help them find work after graduation, and more importantly, survive the times when the unemployment rate reaches 9.8% (or higher, as I’m sure we’re headed presently.) But the point is: my students will know what it’s like to work hard to make up for any technological handicap in the job-seeking community or in college—when taking responsibility takes on a whole new flavor. They will also have enough experience to know how to appropriately communicate online, for they will have used critical thinking, and data-based support to engage in online discussions with their peers about various topics.

And how do I accomplish this? Simple. My lesson plans are designed to provide students with a diverse variety of literary and informational texts—which I will use to coach them in writing with a clear and narrow idea and to focus and utilize coherent collected data. My goal as a teacher is to guide them in researching a range of pertinent sources and to assess, produce, and present those ideas in a variety of venues ranging from formal papers to class presentations. But more than that, I aim to teach them how to develop confidence and have an understanding of oral and written conventions through engaging activities that build on prior knowledge and skills in order to strengthen their ability to read, write, and utilize oral language. These skills would also help them kick ass in job interviews, if you’ll pardon my expression.

But back to my goals, I aim to incorporate journaling and blogging on my online forum, specifically to improve my students’ online “bedside manner,” or a net-based je ne sais quoi, if you will. And this instructional “tool” allows them to have the illusion of anonymity—which for teens in the moral stage of development is conducive to employing confidence in classroom-like discussion, without having to worry about the opinions of their peers. Their claims on the classroom forum can be asserted as firmly, or as subtly as they like, and the best part is, they don’t have to participate if they choose not to (though I do award fractional amounts of extra credit per response to their peers’ posts on the forum to be applied to their worst test scores—and this is only to promote participation.)

Now, going back to the topic at hand: have I effectively made a case that a failing economy is contributing to a sour outlook on an internet-based educational system? It almost seems like the two sides feed off each other in my explanation, so maybe I haven’t; but what I’m sure of, apart from weather my initial point was made, is that perhaps we can turn this situation around. By encouraging greater emphasis on technology in and out of the classroom, and requiring all students no matter what subject is being taught and regardless of the students’ economic standing, the use of technology, even if it means making some students work a little harder (shocking! I know!) can make an active effort to combat the state of the economy, by giving the future of our country the tools to change, challenge, or merely survive the unemployment rate, and thus, better the economy—because it’s no secret that the more employed people making money there are, the better the economy will become.

Yes, I realize that this is not a be-all to end-all economic crisis contingency plan. But how else can a teacher join the fight to better the economy than to either teach economics or just better prepare their students (including the ones suffering the most from a failing economy) how to survive these times. And it’s hard to argue that the more online practice a student has, the more proficient that student will be using technology on a whole—which can only help a person in the job market.

And if you still think that it’s unfair to put so much emphasis on out-side-of-classroom internet activities, then, fine. You win. It is unfair. But let’s face it, I’m a realist with high expectations, and refuse to let anyone tell me that I’m the reason their child is sliding behind. I give my students all the tools they need to succeed. In class and out of class. And I even teach them how to use those tools, and how to better their own position. After that, my concern is focused on encouraging my students to take ownership of their own success. With that in mind, what does it matter if I expect all my students to at least try to apply themselves on a classroom forum. And seriously, the activity itself is actually motivational, resulting in my students wanting to get online. And since that is a fact, I try not to let nay-sayers get me down when they order me not to build my lessons around technology so much.