As I continue on my digital inquiry I can appreciate that Heraclitus was right ‘Change is the only Constant’. Assessing the effectiveness of new technologies available in education, and the impact they are having, is an ongoing task.
As I find authentic ways to successfully embed technology in my classroom, many questions have been raised about a shift in skills, especially in literacy. Some concerns are raised by parents, queries by colleagues and observations by students. Recently, whilst reviewing our twitter feed (a highlight as we heard from Moby of Brainpop fame) a student noticed that I hadn’t followed one of my own rules (always an exciting discovery).
“Why don’t you need to use finger spaces Miss?” was the query. The response from another student was even better, “You don’t need too if you put a hashtag in front of it”. Then of course a wonderful discussion followed about what hashtags are and how they are used- and why can’t we #justputtheminfrontofeverything.
This discussion led me to thinking about other major changes that have occurred in ‘The Literacy Rule Book’ of lower primary education. Handwriting, spellings, letter formation, formal letter writing, were all essential literacy skills when I began teaching. Now that we have less emphasis on these tasks in our everyday lives, I am beginning to question just how relevant these are in everyday lessons. My main queries are:
- Is handwriting still important?
- Do we need to teach children how to spell?
- Should touch typing be in the curriculum?
- How much screen time is okay for young children?
- Do devices detract from oral language development?
- When should students have personal cloud-based log ins?
For the skills of handwriting and spelling I feel that I am midway on a continuum stretching from essential to not needed. They are not as vital as they once were, but I’m not ready to let them go yet (to the relief of many parents). Interestingly the BBC reported today that Finland have announced that as from August 2016 typing lessons will replace handwriting lessons.
Finnish students will no longer be taught handwriting at school, with typing lessons taking its place.
https://m.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-30146160, 2015
My main defence for handwriting is that IBDP exams still require more than 2 hours of handwriting. Spelling is still a useful skill to speed up the process of writing, but with spell checks at everybody’s fingertips, endless spelling tests are not as important. My students still need to learn how to write and spell, but these are just components of communication.
Balancing screen time is a new concern for educators as devices are becoming more readily available and affordable. Common Sense Media points out that:
“Studies have shown a link between heavy media use and issues such as obesity, lack of sleep, academic challenges, aggression, and other behavior difficulties.
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/screen-time/how-much-screen-time-is-ok-for-my-kids, 2014
However they also go on to state that:
If they’re using high-quality, age-appropriate media; their behavior is positive; and their screen-time activities are balanced with plenty of healthy screen-free ones, there’s no need to worry.
As I have mentioned in previous posts ‘not all screen time is created equally’. Our screen time is very interactive. It is always planned and purposeful, and always in a class or group setting. Students share, compare, discuss, analyse and create together. Students are often so engaged in their creations this is an excellent chance to encourage oral language skills to develop.
My final query was about the age appropriateness of personalized cloud-based log ins. This year I have begun using Google Classroom. I manage students security settings and we only access the accounts together.
The wonders of Google Apps for Education are just beginning to transform our actual classroom. The benefits of the classroom app are just becoming apparent and I am now able to efficiently organise all of our digital learning with instant google drive access.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K26iyyQMp_g
So it may be that the literacy rules are shifting, but they are increasing our capacity to communicate, which can only be a good thing.
#anexcitingtimetobeateacher
Because technology is ever changing, we cannot predict what the future classroom will look like. We can however, agree that there will be a shift from ‘old school’ learning practices to ‘new school’ advanced tech integrated practices. Handwriting and letter formation is still very important especially at the younger levels and it is reinforced in our curriculum on a daily basis.
I understand the importance of students learning proper typing skills because everything seems to revolve around the online world. Perhaps, as the article stated, cursive is useless. Thinking about it, how often do we use cursive? To sign our signature, but what about other languages? Is English the only language that has a cursive form? I wonder, since I teach grade one, whether or not typing lessons will be adopted in their school in the early years because the keyboard is not developmentally appropriate for their hand size.
Utilizing Google classrooms seems like a great way keep students organized and self monitored. How familiar are the students with the keyboard and the letter locations? I call my students peckers because when they type it is usually with their one pointer finger and takes ages to locate a letter.
Hi Deidra,
Thanks for your comment. It’s interesting that so many parents (and some teachers) still have such an emphasis on cursive handwriting. You’re right we hardly use it in day to day life now.
I’m finding google classroom very useful. We’re using Mavis Beacon to improve typing skills so that students can publish their work quickly.
Hi Deidra,
I really liked reading your blog post. I have actually been thinking of the same things lately as my school has been reviewing its literacy plan. I am also trying to find the balance between projects I give with and without technology as a tool. The question of handwriting becoming less important than typing is one I struggle with. I feel that both are important, but if I was to choose one it would be typing and keyboard skills since my students have already finished early elementary. It’s also hard to please parents who want their kids to learn cursive and those who feel it’s not needed. Many of them think that since they learned it then it must be necessary. It makes me wonder how soon it will be until most schools do away with hand writing and cursive altogether like the Finnish school. It’s definitely something I will continue to question in the future!
Thanks Tanya, I agree that it is important that teachers are questioning what we teach and why we are teaching it. ‘Just because we did it when we were young’ is not a good enough reason. I currently teach in Grade 2 and we are learning how to type, and how to write. Although I can see that handwriting just doesn’t have as much importance in our daily lives any more my students still require written skills at school. I think once most examinations are online we will see the ripple effects trickle down in primary schools as students will have a purpose to typing accurately and quickly. Thanks for your comment!