Technology+Leadership+Summary

//Teaching with the Tools Kids Really Use// by Susan Brooks Young is a book I would recommend to my colleagues to read and learn about new technologies they can really use in the classroom. The author begins by explaining how the globalization of many white-collar occupations is affecting the educational standing of the United States. She goes on to explain what 21st Century skills are and why our students will need them in future. Future occupations, particularly those in technology and service industries will require students to be able to apply knowledge in multiple areas and communicate with many people. As educators, it is our job to develop those skills. “Twenty-first-century skills comprise both content knowledge and applied skills that today’s students need to master to thrive in a continually evolving workplace and society.” (Brooks-Young, 2010, pg. 6) The author goes on to explain that one of the common objections to teaching 21st century skills is the need for core knowledge in the face of increasing accountability standards. Brooks-Young goes on to give practical strategies teachers can use to bring 21st century skills into the classroom including project-based activities that students can apply to real world situations and not just automating traditional activities.

The book is well-organized with each chapter explaining the item she is discussing in that chapter, listing common objections to their use in the classroom, explaining the changing viewpoints and then giving practical strategies for classroom use. She does this in part I with cell phones, mp3 players and netbooks and does a very good job of explaining the history and current status of each of these objects. She gives samples of activities that teachers could use in the classroom. For example, using cell phone cameras, students could “write and publish alphabet books illustrated with photos of real world objects that begin with each letter of the alphabet.” (Brooks-Young, 2010, pg. 20) This struck me as an interesting way that even young children could use the technology. Today, even many mp3 players have cameras and recorders that could be used in a similar manner. The author goes on to explain that cell phones or mp3 players with recording capabilities could be used to record notes about a field trip or answer questions or even save their thoughts on an assigned reading.

In Part II, chapters 5-9, Susan Brooks-Young (2010) introduces the reader to the Web 2.0 tools that can be brought into the classroom to “support collaboration and communication in virtually any instructional environment—when they aren’t blocked by network filters” (pg. 20) such as social networks, virtual worlds, creating content-writing and images, and gaming. She again gives the introduction, common objections, changing viewpoints and strategies for classroom use as well as practical suggestions for how to bring these into the classroom. As an example, in her strategies for classroom use of social networks, she gives examples of “education friendly” sites that are free and safe for students such as Elgg and Ning. Although Ning sounds more appropriate for middle through high school students. Elgg seems to be an appropriate site to use as an in-class social network for students. I was quite surprised by the chapter on Virtual Worlds. I did not know these types of sites existed in an educational capacity. Whyville was very interesting to me because it is sponsored by organizations such as the Getty Museum, NASA and the Centers for Disease control and features activities in science, technology and history. This could be a very exciting way to get students involved in their own learning. Brooks-Young describes blogs, wikis and Web-based word processors as an “excellent way to focus both on core content and on applied 21st century skills.” (pg 73) If we could bring these into the classroom without getting blocked by filters, it could be the perfect way to overcome the objections of content over 21st century skills and meet both goals.

The author closes the book by giving us a planning tool to use in the decision making process. If more administrators read this book and the ways that teachers could bring technology into the classroom with items students enjoy using, then perhaps we could get students excited about learning again. If we get our students excited about learning again then perhaps the United States would be a step closer to closing the gap that is widening between us and the developing countries.

Brooks-Young, S. (2010). // Teaching with the tools kids really use: Learning with web and mobile technologies //. Thousand Oaks,CA: Corwin, A Sage Company.