Lenoir County teachers learn lessons at seminars

August 23,2006
MICHAEL ABERNETHY 
THE FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The technological divide between daily life and the classroom is increasing student apathy and decreasing the relevance of primary and secondary education, Deneen Frazier Bowen stressed Thursday to Lenoir County administrators and technology faculty.

Bowen, a former high school technology teacher, presented her views of a changing educational landscape — in which students are teaching themselves through advances in the Internet, video gaming and interactive technology — in her one-woman show, “The Natives are Restless,” for Lenoir County Schools’ media and technology faculty and principals.

“To students, technology is an extension of who they are,” Bowen said. “To us, technology is a tool. For them, it’s how they connect to the world.”

Bowen was the keynote speaker at Lenoir County Schools’ second annual media and technology professionals retreat. Staff there focused on ways to make new technology part of daily classroom life, following the state’s IMPACT model and the International Society of Technology in Education’s (ISTE) standards.

In her one-hour presentation, Bowen takes on the personas of a fifth, eighth and 11th grader to illustrate the ways in which some youth learn more about their connection to the world outside the classroom.

“I go to school every day but I learn when I go home,” one of Bowen’s characters says.

Bowen drew the basis of the four characters presented in the show from her own interviews with students and studies on technology and education.

“The data is important, but it’s the stories around the data that (matter),” Bowen said in an interview Tuesday. “This is a way to give information and engage (educators’) hearts and heads.”

Students need more access to technology and choice in the ways they are asked to respond to instruction, Bowen told principals.

“Students aren’t dropping out because they are failing,” Bowen said, citing a statistic that showed 88 percent of dropouts had passing grades. “They are dropping out because they’re bored.”

Diane Lynch, Lenoir County Schools assistant superintendent for instruction, said technology calls for “a shift in the mindset” of teachers.

“I think there’s a lot of concern that children are being exposed to too much technology,” Lynch said. “But you just have to find ways to make it a learning tool, too.”

Cherie Thomas, secondary curriculum compliance specialist at Kinston High School said discussions like Tuesday’s are the first step in making faculty aware and comfortable with new technology.

“Whenever you see something like this, your mind is swimming with ideas to take back to teachers,” Thomas said. “It’s just getting teachers to see that it’s okay to ask students what they want to see in the classroom.”

Michael Abernethy can be reached at (252) 527-3191, Ext. 232, or at mabernethy@freedomenc.com.

Original Article