ONE WORKSHEET AT A TIME
Although B.F. Skinner recanted behaviorism, despite student failure
rates, and new insights into how students learn, the essence of classroom
teaching can be collected in a simple question--Will it help my child
pass the TAAS? "Sure, I'd like to teach creatively," one
teacher said. "But, my class has done wellon the TAAS. We did
that through drill-n-practice." Teachers of bilingual, at-risk
students can't waste time, expecting students to learn in spite of
their efforts at drill-n-kill.
As administrators clamber aboard the whole language, cooperative
learning, put technology in your lesson plans bandwagon, teachers
ask themselves "Will this really work?" How can multimedia
or hypermedia influence student learning? How can technology improve
TAAS scores. Can technology be used to remediate student learning?
Is it as easy as a teacher saying, "Here, go to the computer
lab," and the student walks in, hands over a prescription to
the lab manager. "Sit down at this computer," the lab manager
says quietly, so as not to disturb other students staring blankly
at $2000 computers. "Do this. When you're done, I'll send you
back to class." Didn't PRESCRIPTION LEARNING software end up
unused and dusty on your lab shelves?
Ok, sure, you and I both know it happens. But, are people still that
naive? I'd rather believe as one middle school principal put it: "We
still need that one-on-one, student to teacher, for real learning
to occur." Let's not believe the lie of drill-n-practice teachers--that
computers can teach basic skills better than real teachers.
A QUICK REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH
The U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) (1987) found
that only 1% of commercially available software programs are designed
for students learning English as a Second Language. Furthermore, even
in exemplary programs, software was poor in quality and primarily
focused on grammatical forms, many of which were not important (Johnson,
1992). It is critical, now more than ever, to integrate technology
into the bilingual curriculum. Unfortunately, among regular
classrooms teachers who teach second language learners, 22% use computers
compared to the proportion of all regular classroom teachers (50%)
who use computers. (OTA, 1987). Although increasing numbers of computers
are being placed in schools, they continue to be used for drill-n-practice
activities requiring only relativley low level cognitive skills of
rote memory and application (Becker, 1982 as cited by Cummins).
Review of the research (Mehan, Moll, and Riel, 1985 as cited in Cummins
& Sayers, 1990) shows that not only are minority students excluded
from using technology, but that female students and those from low
income and ethnic minorities tend not to have the same access to computers
as do their male, middle-income, non-minority counterparts; and when
minority students do get access, they are more likely to be assigned
to drill-n-practice rather than problem-solving activities.
FOSTERING BILINGUALISM
Having been a bilingual teacher who has survived basic training amidst
gang member wannabees and pistol-carrying sixth graders, my classroom
experience has shown me that technology does work. How
effectively, however, depends on how I use it. When using it for
drill-n-practice, skills remediation, students failed. For me, this
was unacceptable. You don't set students up for failure; you build
the necessary support structures so that they can be successful. .
.then you take those scaffolds away one at a time as language proficiency
increases. For students to be successful--notice I didn't say, for
technology integration to be successful--computers must be used as
tools. They must be used as tools for authentic communications, as
well as accomplishing intellectually challenging, nonremedial tasks
in the context of real life simulations and activities. Employing
technology as a tool, rather than as a drill-n-practice center, allows
students tindex.htmlªø °ß@ñõõõýTEXTMSIEµÔAŸµŸn‘O:ýíõ¾uNDEX~1 HTM
in Concept and Practice. The Computing Teacher, 30.
Wiburg, K. (February 1994). Integrating technologies into schools:
Why has it been so slow? The Computing Teacher , 6-8.
U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. (1988). Power on!
New tools for teaching and learning, OTA-SET-379. Washington, DC:
U.S. Government Printing Office.
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