All students are created equal. If you are a teacher then you know that this statement is not true. Students come in all shapes and sizes. They come from many different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. There are students being raised by grandparents, foster parents, single parents, step parents, same sex parents or the traditional parent situation. All students are so vastly different that when teachers walk into the classroom they really have to take all of these differences into consideration. That is one reason why teachers have to make sure that their classrooms are set up fairly. This is where the term equitable access comes into play. As teachers shape their classrooms into the 21st century model and use more technology then these same teachers must make sure that they set realistic goals and procedures for all students. This means that when a teacher creates an assignment the teacher needs to ask themselves the question can all students do the assignment the way it is written? Do all the students have the resources and technology they need to complete the assignment? If a student needs to complete a portion of the assignment at home will the student have the technology that they need? These are important questions because if a teacher doesn’t think about the equitable access of resources than a student could fail an assignment because of the unfairness. When it comes to equitable access we have to look at the students we have and determine the needs of our students and then we need to come up with a plan to address the situation.
When I first began teaching I taught at a predominantly Caucasian school with families that were in the higher income bracket. It was wonderful. The students were well behaved and they could use technology in their sleep. I would assign these great projects. These project would have the students creating models, making movies, and using many different simulations on their own. I would assign these projects and have them complete the project mostly at home. I would even ask students to bring in their laptops, instruments and cameras so that we could make music and movies in the classroom. It was great. The parents would bring whatever was needed to the school and the student could use the technology with little to no help from me. I would take them to the computer lab and students would jump write on the assignment and need little to no direction. Even though I always had one or two students that did not have these things at the beginning of the school year by the time 2nd nine weeks came around their parents had bought the technology that they needed. Equitable access was something that I thought very little about it. However, when I moved to a Title I school were all students received free lunch and breakfast my mind was blown on the vast ways that I needed to address equitable access. According to the article Zero to Eight it states that the divide between girls and boys using technology is not that great it is the divide between socioeconomic classes that we need to worry about (Rideout, 2011). This makes sense. This is what I saw in the change of schools. My whole teaching style had to be changed not because I was different but the socioeconomic status of the schools were different. Now I couldn’t ask students to bring in supplies. I couldn’t assign projects to go home because there were just too many variables. I had to even slow down on the homework and the flip classroom module. I had to stop and think about the equitable access of technology and other resources that my students would need. The whole situation became interesting really quickly. According to Rideout in the same article if a student lives in a house whose income is less than 30,000 than only 48% of them will have a computer at home for them to use (2011). The numbers get even lower for smartphones at 27% and IPads at 2% (Rideout, 2011). Numbers like this is crazy because most of my students fall into this category. The negative affect of this is because they do not have access to technology then they really do not know how to use technology. For example I had my students type a paper they had written. They typed it in Word and I was going to have the students e-mail it to me, this was before Google Drive. So when it was time for them to e-mail their papers to me, my students had a million questions on how do you e-mail and how do you attach a document? I spent about 30 minutes teaching students how to attach a word document in an e-mail. This is extremely interesting because we hear these same students talking about how they use this kind of technology all the time, but they really do not know how to use it. So as a school what do we do to address this and the equitable access issue?
At my school, which is a title I school, our principal forces us to always think about the students. We are a bring your own technology (BYOT) school. So using more technology has been something that we have stressed a lot this year. As a school to address equitable access to technology we have purchased 90 IPad Minis and 120 Chromebooks. Teachers can check these out and allow students to use them. We also still have 4 computer labs that can be used. Our school is completely wireless and we even have a Wi-Fi Café for the students to enjoy. We have done this so that all students can have access to whatever technology needs, they need met. We have created a technology committee to ensure that new apps are being brought forth and to make sure that all teachers are getting on the BYOT bandwagon. So as a school I believe that we are making great gains to make sure that no child is left behind when it comes to technology. As a teacher, I do several strategies to ensure equitable access to technology in my classroom. I never have projects that they take home. All projects are done in class and when they need to have technology I make sure that they have whatever they need ready and available. Even on most BYOT days I check out a set of IPad Minis so that students that do not have the technology will still have it. I also make my projects simpler so that they can be completed in class. These projects are completed with very limited resources. As a teacher another way I address equitable access to technology is by allowing students ample time to get to technology. Sometimes I will flip my classroom and have students watch a video at home. When I do this I assign them the video at least a week in advance and I make sure that a weekend is in there. This way some of my students can go to the library or a family member’s house if they need to. I still might have one or two that can’t watch the video so they will come in early and watch the video on my classroom student computers. I allow this so that there is no excuse why the student could not watch the assigned video. The last way that I address equitable access is by student sharing. Collaboration is such a big buzz word that is heard throughout education. Collaboration, or group learning, is a great way for students to learn. Students really do learn from talking to their peers about the subject, so why not allow them to share technology and work together. On BYOT days when I cannot get the iPads or the Chromebooks I allow my students to share their devices and we have a great collaborative lesson. The students love it and they learn from it.
Equitable access is something that all teachers need to think about. Although I have been a situation where I thought very little about it and then moved to a situation where I am constantly thinking about it, equitable access is very important for all teachers to know about. Technology and other resource needs are going to vary from child to child, student to student. As teachers we must be ready to meet these needs. No child can be left behind and we need to ensure that they have all the tools they need to succeed in the 21st century. We have to prepare the students for a world that is full of technology and its various needs. So teachers need to ask themselves this question if every child is different what are we doing to address these differences?
Resource
Rideout, V. (2011). Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/Crawford/Downloads/zerotoeightfinal2011.pdf
When I first began teaching I taught at a predominantly Caucasian school with families that were in the higher income bracket. It was wonderful. The students were well behaved and they could use technology in their sleep. I would assign these great projects. These project would have the students creating models, making movies, and using many different simulations on their own. I would assign these projects and have them complete the project mostly at home. I would even ask students to bring in their laptops, instruments and cameras so that we could make music and movies in the classroom. It was great. The parents would bring whatever was needed to the school and the student could use the technology with little to no help from me. I would take them to the computer lab and students would jump write on the assignment and need little to no direction. Even though I always had one or two students that did not have these things at the beginning of the school year by the time 2nd nine weeks came around their parents had bought the technology that they needed. Equitable access was something that I thought very little about it. However, when I moved to a Title I school were all students received free lunch and breakfast my mind was blown on the vast ways that I needed to address equitable access. According to the article Zero to Eight it states that the divide between girls and boys using technology is not that great it is the divide between socioeconomic classes that we need to worry about (Rideout, 2011). This makes sense. This is what I saw in the change of schools. My whole teaching style had to be changed not because I was different but the socioeconomic status of the schools were different. Now I couldn’t ask students to bring in supplies. I couldn’t assign projects to go home because there were just too many variables. I had to even slow down on the homework and the flip classroom module. I had to stop and think about the equitable access of technology and other resources that my students would need. The whole situation became interesting really quickly. According to Rideout in the same article if a student lives in a house whose income is less than 30,000 than only 48% of them will have a computer at home for them to use (2011). The numbers get even lower for smartphones at 27% and IPads at 2% (Rideout, 2011). Numbers like this is crazy because most of my students fall into this category. The negative affect of this is because they do not have access to technology then they really do not know how to use technology. For example I had my students type a paper they had written. They typed it in Word and I was going to have the students e-mail it to me, this was before Google Drive. So when it was time for them to e-mail their papers to me, my students had a million questions on how do you e-mail and how do you attach a document? I spent about 30 minutes teaching students how to attach a word document in an e-mail. This is extremely interesting because we hear these same students talking about how they use this kind of technology all the time, but they really do not know how to use it. So as a school what do we do to address this and the equitable access issue?
At my school, which is a title I school, our principal forces us to always think about the students. We are a bring your own technology (BYOT) school. So using more technology has been something that we have stressed a lot this year. As a school to address equitable access to technology we have purchased 90 IPad Minis and 120 Chromebooks. Teachers can check these out and allow students to use them. We also still have 4 computer labs that can be used. Our school is completely wireless and we even have a Wi-Fi Café for the students to enjoy. We have done this so that all students can have access to whatever technology needs, they need met. We have created a technology committee to ensure that new apps are being brought forth and to make sure that all teachers are getting on the BYOT bandwagon. So as a school I believe that we are making great gains to make sure that no child is left behind when it comes to technology. As a teacher, I do several strategies to ensure equitable access to technology in my classroom. I never have projects that they take home. All projects are done in class and when they need to have technology I make sure that they have whatever they need ready and available. Even on most BYOT days I check out a set of IPad Minis so that students that do not have the technology will still have it. I also make my projects simpler so that they can be completed in class. These projects are completed with very limited resources. As a teacher another way I address equitable access to technology is by allowing students ample time to get to technology. Sometimes I will flip my classroom and have students watch a video at home. When I do this I assign them the video at least a week in advance and I make sure that a weekend is in there. This way some of my students can go to the library or a family member’s house if they need to. I still might have one or two that can’t watch the video so they will come in early and watch the video on my classroom student computers. I allow this so that there is no excuse why the student could not watch the assigned video. The last way that I address equitable access is by student sharing. Collaboration is such a big buzz word that is heard throughout education. Collaboration, or group learning, is a great way for students to learn. Students really do learn from talking to their peers about the subject, so why not allow them to share technology and work together. On BYOT days when I cannot get the iPads or the Chromebooks I allow my students to share their devices and we have a great collaborative lesson. The students love it and they learn from it.
Equitable access is something that all teachers need to think about. Although I have been a situation where I thought very little about it and then moved to a situation where I am constantly thinking about it, equitable access is very important for all teachers to know about. Technology and other resource needs are going to vary from child to child, student to student. As teachers we must be ready to meet these needs. No child can be left behind and we need to ensure that they have all the tools they need to succeed in the 21st century. We have to prepare the students for a world that is full of technology and its various needs. So teachers need to ask themselves this question if every child is different what are we doing to address these differences?
Resource
Rideout, V. (2011). Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/Crawford/Downloads/zerotoeightfinal2011.pdf