Thanks for this. I retired as a career high school teacher in June from the Los Angeles USD. Not long after my old employer drew a lot of praise for banning smartphones in the classroom. It wasn’t an empty gesture but got more praise than warranted, because lost in all the hoopla was the fact that the district issues every secondary student (not sure about elementary) a Chromebook, part of a big contract with Google. YouTube is still easily accessible; it has some utility but mostly as a supplement and sideshow to quality instruction and engagement. So banning phones is a good move but won’t banish the kind of distraction still available at their fingertips. Unfortunately LAUSD has never instituted a systematic independent reading program, something that would actually stand a chance of making a substantial long-term difference in student learning and achievement. I have seen such a thing work at the classroom and school level. Scaling it up successfully is possible. But, as time has shown, so also is selling pols and bureaucrats on the next great step in ed-tech, whatever it might be.
I am ashambed to admit that it wasn't until after I earned my Ph.D. that I learned how to properly take notes. I found that I took much better notes at technical conferences if I took a pad of paper and pen to the presentations and took notes (or if I had a printed conference proceedings, I could scribble comments and expansions on the proceedings in a fine drafting pen)). When I got back to my hotel room for the night I would write up my notes for the meetings I attended, looking up points that were not clear or needed expansion. When I got back to work I would circulate my notes among the others for expansion (never occured) and addition of meeting of interest from other tracks by other attendees.
The review and rewriting activity is the critical phase. It causes you to review what was said while it is relatively fresh in your memory. Trying to decipher notes that you have not reviewed in many weeks is not helpful.
And that leaves aside the sheer distraction of messaging, browsing, and other activities that keep you from paying attention to the speaker and learning nothing whatsoever.
V much appreciate the meme Alice :)
Thanks for this. I retired as a career high school teacher in June from the Los Angeles USD. Not long after my old employer drew a lot of praise for banning smartphones in the classroom. It wasn’t an empty gesture but got more praise than warranted, because lost in all the hoopla was the fact that the district issues every secondary student (not sure about elementary) a Chromebook, part of a big contract with Google. YouTube is still easily accessible; it has some utility but mostly as a supplement and sideshow to quality instruction and engagement. So banning phones is a good move but won’t banish the kind of distraction still available at their fingertips. Unfortunately LAUSD has never instituted a systematic independent reading program, something that would actually stand a chance of making a substantial long-term difference in student learning and achievement. I have seen such a thing work at the classroom and school level. Scaling it up successfully is possible. But, as time has shown, so also is selling pols and bureaucrats on the next great step in ed-tech, whatever it might be.
How do you feel about devices that allow digital notes but are designed to inherently limit connectivity, e.g. the Remarkable tablet?
I am ashambed to admit that it wasn't until after I earned my Ph.D. that I learned how to properly take notes. I found that I took much better notes at technical conferences if I took a pad of paper and pen to the presentations and took notes (or if I had a printed conference proceedings, I could scribble comments and expansions on the proceedings in a fine drafting pen)). When I got back to my hotel room for the night I would write up my notes for the meetings I attended, looking up points that were not clear or needed expansion. When I got back to work I would circulate my notes among the others for expansion (never occured) and addition of meeting of interest from other tracks by other attendees.
The review and rewriting activity is the critical phase. It causes you to review what was said while it is relatively fresh in your memory. Trying to decipher notes that you have not reviewed in many weeks is not helpful.
And that leaves aside the sheer distraction of messaging, browsing, and other activities that keep you from paying attention to the speaker and learning nothing whatsoever.