In Cathy Davidson’s, “Classroom Makeover”, Davidson analyzes and elucidates upon the faults she observes in the American education system. Davidson uses her own experiences in the education system to explore alternate methods of teaching that would cater to the strengths of a greater population of students. For instance, Davidson introduces an iPod experiment that she conducted at Duke University, in which she gave all first-year students free iPods to use in class. Expectedly, the upper-classmen were annoyed that they were not given iPods also and therefore, Davidson allowed upper-classmen to take part in the iPod experiment if they were able to have one of their professors implement the integration of the iPod in their class. In this way, she describes how the freshman at Duke University were able to enhance their educational experience by the integration of technology in the classroom and the upperclassmen were able to use iPods as an incentive to creatively persuade their professors in various classes to integrate this technology. Similarly, Davidson introduces the case of a middle school student as well as a teacher who introduced games in her classroom to teach lessons, as a means of illustrating that intelligence can be demonstrated in ways other than excelling in the traditional evaluations. Consequently, she believes that the current education paradigm does not benefit unique individuals and that the education system must change in order to aid everyone, and not
Within the article, Freedman talks about the uprising of students addressing the validity of the professor’s strike against the use of technology in the classroom. To call attention to the importance of the debated issue, the author opens with a shocking narrative about a professor hearing a phone ring during a class and then destroying the cellphone by, unabashedly, smashing it with a hammer (Freedman par. 2). This dramatic demonstration appalled the students and allowed Professor Ali Nazemi the opportunity to show the students how adamant he was about the policy against phones in class and what lengths he would go to adhere to the policy. The author goes on to explain that the elder generation sees technology as a way to communicate and gather useful information. In contrast, the younger generation views technology as a way of endless entertainment and self-gratification (Freedman par 11). The reader sees the two opposing views collide in the classroom with the professors beginning to feel as if they must entertain the students in order to gain their attention, but the
There’s no denying that technology has grown to play a major role in education and learning. Students are using laptops, tablets, and smartphones to research, complete, and even collaborate on assignments, both in and outside of the classroom. Timothy D. Snyder and Thomas L. Friedman both have written articles expressing their opposing opinions on technology in the classroom. Timothy Snyder is a Professor of History at Yale University who has written five different award-winning books. In his article, “Why Laptops Are Distracting America’s Future Workforce”, Snyder explains to students and teachers why he is against technology in the classroom. Thomas Friedman is a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, author of six award-winning
Her little fingers carefully slide across the iPod screen and picked which game or application she wanted to play. Watching her play with this sophisticated piece of equipment like it was a baby doll made me think about the article Canella handout and how culture affects development. Children growing up now have more opportunity to learn and absorb information in a variety of ways. Technology has opened a new pathway for learning and has added new teaching styles.
In the same boat, let's talk about the good effects of remodeling Lovejoy High School. Expansion of a school to accommodate its large population is a good thing because now students have more space to freely walk without bumping into somebody or stepping over somebody. Cleaning and fixing bathrooms so that they are pleasant for students to go into, is a tremendous step forward because now students can enter a bathroom without passing out. Ordering new desk so that students won't fall out of their seats when they are sitting down, can reduce the amount of lawsuits from parents. Repairing air conditioning and lights is a tremendous factor to school improvement considering that some classrooms have lights that are too bright and possibly cause
In earlier times, the acquisition and spreading of knowledge was not used to improve society. Instead, it was used to have control and to exclude certain groups. It may have been agreed that there needed to be a change in the way that the education system was set up. In her essay, “Project Classroom Makeover”, Cathy Davidson discusses how the “one size fits all” model of learning hinders students from learning in a new and modernized way. She suggests the notion that using technology to teach and learn can be effective in many ways. Davidson shows that using technology presents the opportunity for a traditional classroom to become more inclusive and creative. The “democratization of knowledge” is the improvement and modernization of how information is taught and learned. Having a modernized and advanced learning system is a vital point for students because they gain insight and experience with what is considered a society dominated by advanced technology. Since technology has become a dominant resource in the 21st century, it should be used as a teaching tool in order to produce educational, professional and overall success.
In his article “If Technology Is Making Us Stupid, It’s Not Technology’s Fault,” David Theo Goldberg effectively informs the reader about the effects that computers in the home and school environment could have on the future education of the coming generations. Goldberg achieves this by executing defined organization and adding unique comparisons about the potentially crippling effects technology can have on a society when put into the wrong hands.
In all three texts, “Project Classroom Makeover,” “Biographies of Hegemony,” and “An Army of One: Me,” the authors, Cathy Davidson, Karen Ho, Jean Twenge, respectively, explore different ideas of “the Self.” They defined and expanded what it meant to be an individual through curiosity. How was the “Self” developed? What were the main factors of a more “self-celebrated” society? Why are aspects of narcissism seen more and more today? These answers were discovered when the idea of “self-focus” was introduced into society. As self-focus became prevalent in everyday normalities the individual expanded into something more than the simple dichotomy of “you” and “I,” it became a purpose for life. The evolution of humanity created a world where
Cathy Davidson is an English and humanities professor at Duke University. She has published over twenty books, many dealing with technology and education. In “Project Classroom Makeover,” she argues that the way the United States teaches students is not preparing them for the skills needed for success in the twenty-first century. To illustrate her point, Professor Davidson presents the historical development of the educational system in the U.S. She differentiates “high standards” from “standardization” and stresses the need for education to offer rigor, relevance, and relationship (201).
Change takes on the course of a gradual shift away from the traditional and into the modern. Such a process can take on the identity of many forms but in the end, they all contribute to the advancement of society. Throughout “Project Classroom Makeover,” Cathy Davidson explores the need for such change in America’s educational system as it lags years behind the modern standards. Technology serves as an impetus to change and reform this antiquated system through facilitating new means of learning not previously available. While technology does have its benefits in the classrooms, it cannot alone replace the interactions between students and teachers because there are limits to the extent computerization can recreate human connections.
Ever since its inception, human civilization has been run by a pecking order; a small group of elitists on the top of the chain of command dictate the social norms for the remaining individuals on the antithetical end of the spectrum. Individuals with traits outside these norms are ostracized and looked down upon by the hierarchy. Cathy Davidson’s, Project Classroom Makeover, promotes the use of customization in the education system to accommodate every students’ learning habits over the current use of standardization and curriculum based teachings. On the other hand, Karen Ho’s, Biographies of Hegemony, is about how one’s environment is engineered by institutions, which in turn establish hierarchies who set standards for society. However, Son by Andrew Solomon describes how horizontal identities, traits influenced by peer groups that separate individuals from their families, are seen as abnormalities and those with such identities are on the bottom of the said hierarchy. Based on Davidson’s, Solomon’s, and Ho’s works, individualism does into question because society forces individuals to conform to the standardized norm in which they are not allowed to have unique identities.
As society advances and the boundary between people becomes seemingly less apparent, many individuals attempt to promote various plans based on the concept of equality. Anyhow, many so-called egalitarian plans would inevitably result in failure because their proponents blindly believe in the efficiency of equality. They neglect how people are motivated to improve and to test their limits by their instinct to compete. In her writing “Project Classroom Makeover”, Cathy Davidson proposes egalitarian plans consist of a “democratization of knowledge” (54) which depends on crowdsourcing and “working together collectively” (51). In Davidson’s perspective, problems will be solved by allowing everyone the equal opportunity to express themselves. However, Karen Ho’s research directly shows the impracticality of her plans by explicitly revealing the existence of hierarchy in her writing, “Biographies of Hegemony”. As shown by Ho’s research, no matter how alluring Davidson’s plans seem, they will not come about. Because Davidson’s idealistic plans disregard human beings’ instinct to strive and fight for what they valued. Such egalitarian plans will not be executed with hierarchy deeply rooted in our society, results precisely from human’s desire to compete with each other.
A teacher is standing at the front of any classroom in any school in America. She tells the class she wants the essay typed, and that they should use addition online sources in their paper. The bell rings and the students head to their next class. They will be watching an educational video on different kinds of chemical reactions. None of this would be possible without electronics. From the computer where the students will be tying their essay to the Promethean Board where they watched the video, technology is now a crucial part in teaching all across the U.S. The different kinds of media used to educate young people has expanded greatly through the use of electronics. “Shut Down Your Screen Week” is a movement attempting to deprive students of valuable technology in the futile hope that students will be less distracted. Although many people believe “Shut Down Your Screen Week” will be advantageous to students, Indian Ridge Middle School would benefit from not participating in the event.
Every day the world is changing and things are done differently. Technology has also affected the way students are taught and in which they learn. It has changed the classroom. Technology saves us time and allows us to access material in only minutes. “The Internet and online subscription databases, even as a supplement to the printed works in the library, allow students to see, and force them to consider or reject, points of view that they might never have encountered in decades past” (Gow 4).With all the time technology produces, it also has downsides and it also may have created a less intelligent society.
Technology has revolutionized the human experience by changing the way one learns. Technology can best be defined as a tool that supports and promotes human learning. This can be seen through the usage of calculators, tablets (example: iPad), Smart Boards, video cameras, and, of course, the computer. These are all innovations that can have a profound impact on classroom learning. Although there are some schools that have a strict policy that technology should be removed from the modern day classroom, other schools believe that integrating technology into the classroom helps prepare our students for the elaborate world they will face going forward. Throughout this essay, I will be focusing on the technology policy and how it has a positive
It seems that technology is growing, improving, and changing at an exponential rate. Technology now affects every part of our lives from the time we get up to the time we go to bed, and even as we sleep. One of the major areas that has been affected by technology is education. At one time, the only option for students to complete their education was in a traditional classroom setting. There has become a major need for non-traditional education because there has been a growth in the amount of non-traditional students that exist in our society. The advancement of technology has