But I understand from where this sentiment comes. Some of it comes from students being very comfortable using the Microsoft Office skills they learned in middle school, and not seeing the need to upgrade any of their skills because breaking out of that MS comfort zone and learning new things can be very difficult. Some of it comes from the fact that students come home and struggle a bit learning a web tool, which turns into complaints to parents about having to learn to use the technology. And a little of it comes from the fact that, even though the web tools used in my classroom have been around for about a decade, this is the first time my 9th and 10th grade students have encountered them; it's only natural, then, that what's new to students is going to get the most air time in conversations at home.
But mainly this idea that I teach technology over science comes from the fact that I did have to take some class time to have them learn the basics of all the web tools we used throughout the year. Most of my students were very uncomfortable learning new things (I think it's because they had a fixed mindset about their abilities, but I could be wrong), so I had to give them some time to get comfortable with the new technology, and help them come to the realization that the netbook would not explode if they hit the wrong button, and that these days it's not often you lose all your work by pressing the wrong key or clicking the wrong button. But mainly I had to give them some time to become familiar with the process of learning something new on their own, something non-content related so the pressure would be off their grades and on the process of learning.
I had to teach them not to be afraid of the technology, but also not to be afraid of screwing up, trying again, and starting over. So many of my students think that teachers should make learning easy, when anything really worth learning isn't easy. In essence, what I had to do was teach them how to be comfortable with how real learning happens, with all its failures, U-turns, and speed bumps. Real learning is not anything like the contrived, one-size-fits-all, sit-n-get, get it right or you're a failure pseudo-learning that often happens in classrooms. But it's that contrived learning that it seems people wanted me to do more of, feeling that I was wasting precious time that I could be using to cram content into students' heads. (As a sidenote, in both my Physical Science and Biology classes, we actually got father in our scope and sequence than we did in previous years--mainly because students were taught how to learn independently rather than having to depend on a teacher. As students got better at learning how to learn, the learning itself seemed to go much faster.)
To assuage this fear of content-time lost (what I consider to be an unfortunate by-product of NCLB and standardized testing) and to prepare students for our 1:1 implementation next year, we have redesigned our Computer Applications course to address these needs. In the past, this course has consisted of teaching students the ins and outs of Microsoft Office; however, the majority of our students already come to us with an extensive knowledge of how to operate Office and its host of applications. So, instead, we focused on upgrading their tech skills by teaching the following topics:
- Computer basics (logging in to our network, e-mail etiquette)
- Digital Citizenship
- Edmodo (Our school's LMS choice)
- Google Search
- Google Docs
- Google Sites
- Web 2.0 Tools
- Developing a Career/High School ePortfolio
But just because the technology will be taught in another class doesn't mean I am going to do any pseudo-learning that may be expected of me. My primary focus will still be on teaching students how to learn, and I will use the technology in ways to help me do that. I will still occasionally teach new tools if they help students learn, and I will allow students their choice of tools from a menu of good ones. I will require students to learn to be nimble and flexible thinkers through the use of classroom technology, to persist through failure, and all the other habits of mind that are needed when students face uncertainty. For it is those habits, in my opinion, that really help students prepare for life after graduation. Life is filled with uncertainty and has no place where kids can look up the answers when they're stuck; why not teach them how to prepare for the certainty of uncertainty?
In the future, I don't think I'll keep my mouth shut if someone tells me I teach technology rather than science. What I will say is this: Yes, I do teach science; but mainly I teach learning. Having students be functional thinkers, learners, and professional dealers-with-any-uncertainty-that-comes-their-way is my ultimate goal for students.