Brainstorm

It was the end of a good week in high school. The bell rang, we were let out like a pack of caged wolves. My little friend group and I rushed down the Villa hill toward Monkland Village to stuff our faces with some comfort pizza. Once we sat down, everyone pulled out their iPads and phones to text and check snapchat. It was a nice way to unwind after a long week. The next day though, while I was watching a movie with my sister and enjoying a big bowl of popcorn for lunch, I got a notification from the student management app, Haiku, on my iPad. My teacher just posted an assignment. It’s due next class. Checking my schedule, I realize that the next class is a Tuesday. I immediately text my friend who’s already texting me back about the incredulousness of the situation. A four page report of our finance activity with graphs for our finance class. How are we ever going to complete it in time? It’s the end of the world! She’s giving us no time! After I completed the assignment, however, I realized something. The teacher just took advantage of Haiku’s ability to upload documents For her students and that the internet let her do so. Why is she assigning work over the weekend, treating it as if school was in session and expecting us to write it down in our trusty agendas? Making us use the entire weekend to finish the assignment was unacceptable. Maybe the teacher believed it was enough time. I’m here to say: It was not enough time.

         The internet is a magical place. It grants all the wishes of knowledge with a search bar and quick flicks on a keyboard. However, as much as it is a blessing, it’s also a curse. Students born after 1995 (approx) have depended on the internet for much of their education; research and essay writing, messaging and emailing. Not only just the internet, but devices too; laptops for note-taking and storage, phones for calls and texts, smart boards for interactive learning. Thanks to the internet and improvements in technology, schools have been able to expand their classroom. Teachers have been able to diversify their teaching methods. Most importantly, students have more information outlets than they ever did before. But we aren’t seeing any benefits (are we?)

Technology nowadays has imposed itself into the classroom. Most schools in Montreal are forcing parents to buy their children an iPad for in-class learning and strict school-only use. Growing through high school, I always questioned this decision to give students iPads in class. I always saw them as big-time distractions. My opinion had not changed after our school informed my secondary 2 class that we too were going to be needing iPads for the following years until we graduated. Great. 

How did students learn way back when? Their weekends weren’t filled with online to-dos or Netflix. Their pass-time was going outside, playing video games, reading, dancing, or going to the movies! Despite still doing all those things nowadays, a huge pass-time bully has pushed its way through the playground to make its way to the top: social media. 

How are we being cooped up by our own devices? What makes people want to stay home and scroll on social media rather than go out with friends? Time? Money? Loss of ideas? Boredom? It’s a simple question with lots behind it. *interview/more research*. What makes us so hyper aware of what’s happening online? Or so interested in what our friends ate for brunch yesterday? How/why did schools instill this technological presence in the classroom which manifested through the chronic use of phones?

One year, like in sec 3, half the library was torn down and reconfigured to make a “futuristic classroom”. Basically the interactive learning classrooms we have with the roller chairs. The wall facing the hall was glass and there was an entire wall inside that you could draw on (whiteboard) with 4 different screens. It was brand new. I had never seen a class like it before. But in the end, we were all pissed and shocked that they tore down half the library to make that pathetic classroom that wasn’t even being used for what it was designed for.

Library —> Interactive learning classroom.

• Online tests on the ipad
• Waking up and checking phone (Mrs. Power!)
• Sleep cycle
• Health habits
• ADD?