August 23, 2019 / The Musings

The ONE THING that makes an iPad a tool instead of a toy in the classroom: A substitute’s perspective

To all the parents, administrators, teachers, and students. Anyone who has a say in education. Please heed this urgent message. iPads and laptops have tremendous potential in the 21st century classroom, but they also threaten to overwhelm the growing brains of our students, and encourage iPhone addiction.

Technology is everywhere. But some high-end private schools are actually cracking intensely down on phone use and reverting back to pencil and paper and actual books, most notably in the Bay Area, the hub of technology development.

As a substitute, I have experienced dozens of classrooms. I have seen public classrooms, private classrooms, science, English, business, social studies, and math classrooms. And like a microcosm of the rest of society, iPads are in nearly every one.

So what makes an iPad a tool in the classroom? And when does it become a toy?

I have observed one crucial element that spells the difference between students treating this technology like the tool it is supposed to be in school and treating it like the toy it is at home.

When the school purchases the iPads, assigns them to specific students, and requires the iPads to live at school in their carts, students treat them as tools. They are much more likely to stay on task and stay engaged in learning.

When the school requires or suggests that students bring their own iPads from home, the distraction level skyrockets. The iPads are toys at home, used for playing games and surfing YouTube, so it only stands to reason that students treat them the same way at school.

I have observed this trend more in private school settings, but teenagers are prone to distraction wherever they go to school. Also, it’s pretty bold to assume that families can afford to add an iPad to their school supply list on top of tuition, books, and extra activity fees. But I digress.

When my brother was a senior at a college prep high school, I was also often there as a substitute. My brother has pretty serious diagnosed ADHD. His executive functioning skills at the time were less than ideal. The school decided that over the summer before his senior year, the entire school curriculum would be overhauled, from basically pen-and-paper-based to totally iPad based. And they chose the route of personal iPads, not school-owned. It was a disaster. It was a disaster for my brother’s brain. It was probably a disaster for a lot of wallets. And it was definitely a disaster from a teacher’s perspective, too. The kids were mentally all over the place during class, bouncing from website to game to assignment to YouTube. Social media might have been blocked on the server, but that was about it.

I watched most students struggle to stay focused in class. Even when the iPads were upside down on their desks, it was easy to sense the magnetic pull they had on students. My brother struggled to read his textbooks on a screen and stay off the Internet. He struggled to keep track of assignments and manage his time. I’m sure he wasn’t and isn’t the only one.

The intentions for one-to-one technology are good. We do need our students to be keyboard capable and digitally literate. We need to teach them to be safe and wise in using the Internet. We need them to know how to assess and sort through all the information flying at them. But when it comes to basic skills like reading, writing, and mathematics, we the adults need to be extra judicious in guiding our students’ use of this technology. We can’t just hand students iPads and expect them to know their own limits and boundaries. We must model wise tech use ourselves and teach it to our students.

All people manage time best when they can visualize it, like on a non-digital clock or blocked out in pen on a calendar. We absorb information best when paired with tactile experience, like physically highlighting a textbook. We remember tasks and assignments best when we physically write them down, with pencil on paper. Students are no different, and need even more support in this area since we are teaching them skills to manage themselves in adulthood.

Before your school adopts a totally screen-based curriculum, I urge you to do the research, apply for grants, and bring technology to the classroom as a tool, not a toy.