Matt’s back in the classroom teaching high school Spanish. He recently read the book The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek … and it changed his view on how he approaches grading and rigor in his classroom. In this episode, Matt and Holly discuss it — and how you can take an “infinite game” approach to your own classroom, too.
As more and more students get devices such as Chromebooks in their hands, education begins putting one foot forward toward more equitable digital access- access to both information and more relevant learning experiences. For students who might not have had the same opportunities at home, this can be a great equalizer, but we must take this opportunity one step further – so that we use the technology to provide more relevant and inclusive classroom curriculum.
Ken has used the term “techquity” to describe the dynamic combination of access to technology and then the rich information that brings greater equity to all students irrespective of race, gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. While having technology is a crucial first step, it can fall short of the kind of learning that needs to happen now that students have access to information never before seen in human history.
Classrooms employing more devices and thus gaining more access is always great news, but as educators,q we can not simply celebrate the device. It’s about the POWER of the device to supercharge learning. Real techquity exists only when we begin to merge the use of educational technologies with culturally responsive and relevant learning experiences to support student development of essential skills. Techquity happens when these key ingredients: access, culturally relevant learning experiences, and inclusive classrooms are included within the learning environment.
Relevant and Equitable Learning
How can we make sure this type of relevant learning is happening, and that our students are provided with a chance to learn in ways that resonate with their own life experiences? Doing this might require a shift in thinking, and a shift in what we do with the ubiquitous information students now have access to like the following:
Let’s take the traditional method of literature study in secondary grades as an example. For decades, we have drawn from novels like The Outsiders and To Kill a Mockingbird to teach lessons about struggle, racism, and redemption. We have typically taught these novels as a whole-class study, understanding and centering the learning experience around the perspective of the dominant culture. Typically, these are literature units focused on the stories of white privilege and their trials and tribulations, and this can impact students of color in ways educators might not have considered. But what if we gave students access to a variety of titles from vastly different social, racial, cultural, and ethnic perspectives? What if we included other narrative forms along with the novels to augment their real-world thematic application, and we make sure to include students who previously felt marginalized, left out, or worse could not relate to older texts?
Increased Technology Access
With increased technology access, we can provide students with a much more diverse selection of narratives that include ALL student perspectives. Chromebooks enable educators to offer more diverse fiction and non-fiction narratives that illuminate and celebrate previously marginalized voices and experiences. This expansion may inspire empathy and understanding in all students.
Teachers may not know this, but when dominant culture stories are read as a class, there is a high likelihood that students of color can experience varying degrees of trauma. They grow uncomfortable, they may shut down and will likely lose interest in the reading. As educators, we want to avoid this type of learner trauma as it can have lasting effects, in some cases lasting a lifetime. An antiquated and non-inclusive approach to literature study often leads to kids who tell their teachers, “I hate reading.” We should strive to be responsive in our work, so that we design learning that supports culturally responsive and relevant experiences – learning that reduces the likelihood of trauma and more reflective of our diverse and changing world.
Chromebooks Role in Techquity
Chromebooks democratize access for all students by making it easier to get the devices and all updates to students in a cost-effective and time-sensitive manner. Because all students are working on a similar device, no one student has more access than another.
Universal access to information provides students with a learning environment specifically designed for learning from more than one source and from a myriad of stories or viewpoints. The accessibility of the content can be more powerful and inclusive than the “pre-selected” text from, for example, a textbook publisher. In this way, the learning can be more responsive to the needs of all learners and be the catalyst for deeper more empathetic understanding of the diverse backgrounds that exist not only in the classroom – but the world.
Even better, we can begin to deliver learning assessments that can be better designed and strategically aligned with more inclusive overarching goals and more responsive of each individual and THEIR learning goals and abilities.
10 Ways to Add Techquity to Your Chromebook Classroom
So now that we have this incredible access through the Chromebook, how can we create more inclusive lessons and classrooms? Here are some ways this can be done in a Chromebook Infused Classroom.
Provide students opportunities to work with experts from authentic diverse backgrounds and different non-dominant cultural representations.
Encourage and support students getting information or resources the class might not have, and create the conditions for those to be shared with the group.
Ensure that students have access to video-based platforms to connect to people with more background or experience on a particular topic.
Teach students how to conduct a well-executed google search – so that they are better at fact-checking possible fake news and biased stories.
Emphasize the importance of acquiring the digital literacy skills needed to be successful in their education, jobs and adult life.
Support and encourage students with learning exceptionalities to use apps and resources that enable them to succeed in a system that often does not take into account how they learn, without attached penalty or stigma regarding – their differences. This will also enable students to participate fully in any learning experience.
Provide multiple avenues to create, learn, and demonstrate knowledge and understanding.
Provide guidance on making real-life connections between the academic content and the local neighborhood, culture, and environment.
Create more engaging and relevant learning environments for students by [clustering seating, embedding discussion, fostering curiosity].
Instead of the teacher being in charge of the learning students can now ask meaningful questions and can learn to thoughtfully investigate, challenge and form opinions on their own, especially if those perspectives are not aligned with the dominant culture.
Getting Chromebooks in your classroom can be a great thing. So let’s learn to use them to support a more relevant and inclusive classroom. This provides a great opportunity to make a lasting difference in the learning of ALL students.