Plug Me In

Welcome to Plug Me In!

October 28, 2007

Nicholas Negroponte of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab once wrote, “One of the saddest but most common conditions in elementary school computer labs (when they exist in the developing world), is the children are being trained to use Word, Excel and PowerPoint. I consider that criminal, because children should be making things, communicating, exploring, sharing, not running office automation tools.”

The fact of the matter is that children ARE making things, communicating, exploring and sharing online—They’re just not doing any of it at school!

Check this out:

Download Video: Posted by mjohnson at TeacherTube.com.

Despite being driven by digital tools, students are unplugged as soon as they walk through the classroom door.  They spend hours completely bored, divorced from the powerful tools that they happily return to as soon as they step off of the school bus.  They are bloggers and moviemakers.  They text and IM.  They are as comfortable in digital conversations as they are when sitting face-to-face.  Technology has always served as a motivator for today’s child—yet it is a motivator that many school teachers continue to ignore. 

Plug Me In hopes to change all of that.  We are a group of highly motivated kids led by a tech-driven teacher who are planning to document our experiences with technology.  We want to share our thoughts about why technology matters, reflect on the tools that we think are the most valuable, and give our readers examples of how technology can be incorporated into the classroom. 

With luck, you’ll learn something new from us. 

Either way, we’re going to have a heck of a time learning together!

Signed,

Bam Bam Bigelow….Teacher/Sponsor of Plug Me In

Entry Filed under: Reflections. .