Sunday, January 11, 2009
Technology Behind Bars?
How do you effectively use technology in the classroom without access to the Internet? This is the question I ask myself everyday. Teaching in a jail has many positive attributes; security, small class size, guaranteed attendance and the freedom to design my own curriculum. However, it does come with many obstacles. There is a very high rate of turnover amongst students and many enter performing below grade average. Many of these students are not academically inclined and require a unique approach towards their education. It is important to also realize that students who are incarcerated, besides struggling to follow society's codes, had difficulty excelling in a traditional classroom setting. For many of the students, education is not their first priority, but the use of technology is appealing to them. In the jail, the students have access to some technology, however, they are extremely limited as to what they can do with it. For security purposes just the inmate population is restricted from using the Internet. Each of our classrooms contains a Smart Board which enables me to project the Internet for the whole class to see, but still leaves out the possibility of the students participating in individual activities such as online research, web quests, pod casting, etc. Until I find a way to overcome this obstacle my goal is to continue to educate my students through the use of technology while maintaining a secure learning environment.
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Hi J,
ReplyDeleteIt might be very frustrating for a teacher not to be able to let her students practice the skills you are teaching them and they are learning, such as online research. Since your students are not allowed to use the internet, have you thought about the possibility of teaching them desktop publishing. Perhaps you can teach them how to create a power point presentation or create an invitation, calendar, brochure, etc. in Publisher. Could you save some graphics in a flash drive or a share folder in the computer for them to access them and include them in their projects?
Hi J,
ReplyDeleteHow long have you been teaching the incarcerated? How do you motivate them to learn if education is not their first priority? With them having so many restrictions, are you able to do projects with them? Yolanda had some great ideas as far as creating PowerPoint presentations and many different desktop publishing projects. I also think that you are doing a great job using your blog as a teaching source also!
Hi Yolanda in Texas and Ms. F.J. Bradley... Thank you and luckily, I am able to do some of the things that were suggested and I do. During the Presidential Election, the students had to create a 30 second campaign ad endorsing one of the candidates (Obama or McCain). I gathered research materials about the candidates for the students and made them view several campaign ads from past elections(www.thelivingroomcandidate.org). They created their ads in PowerPoint and I presented them to the class. When I presented them, I did not reveal the author of the ad because at the end, we held our own election for the two best ads. The students who created the winning ads received a certificate. It was a lot of fun and the ads were very creative.
ReplyDeleteAs far as motivatation goes...I try to keep the students busy. Many of my students are visual learners so I do take advantage of web sites like Youtube and Teachertube. Altough school is not something that all of the students enjoy, it is something that many have to participate in. The students know that school is mandatory for any male or female ages 16-20 who does not have a high school diploma or GED. There are rules that they must must follow while in school and if they do not, there are consequences. My motto is: "Don't serve time, Let time serve you." I encourage them to take advantage of what we have to offer them. Honestly, many of the students end up doing well while they are attending school with us, but unfortunately, there is still a very high rate of recidivism.
I appreciate all of the suggestions and I hope you continue to visit my blog. If you think of any more ideas or come across interesting lessons, please feel feel to share them here.