Social Justice for Today's Learners

I think that using technology in the classroom is still feasible but it requires some flexibility in the part of the teacher. Teachers who use technology in the classroom, and require the students to complete assignments via technological pathways, will have to realize that not everyone has a computer or internet in their home. The glory of today’s schools is that many, if not most, have computers available within the school for students to use. This allows the students to complete assignments at school if they do not have access to them at home.

However, while students can use school computers there may be some extenuating circumstances when it comes to assignment completion and computer access. You, as the teacher, may be required to be present before or after school to allow students the access that they need to complete your assignments. This means spending less time at home and requires more of a commitment to the use of technology than you might have if you worked in a higher socioeconomic school district. Also, teacher would have to realize that due dates for assignments might have to be skewed as students that have the ability to type up their papers at home over the weekend have a distinct advantage over those that can only use the school computers. This is something to be cognizant of when deciding on whether or not to use technology in the classroom.

I think it might be a disservice to not use technology in the classroom simply because we now live in a technological world. Everything we do is seemingly technologically based and the advances in technology are only making this more and more clear. If a few students out of an entire class do not have access to technology it would be more logical to either provide them with access through the school or give them a supplemental assignment that does not require technology. I think that using no technology in our current society would be a disservice to the students because we would not be providing them with the best possible options to learn in some cases.

How will I increase access to disadvantage students? I would be willing to meet students before school or after school. I would also be willing to hold a weekend session once a month at a library or computer café (if those still exist). It would also be feasible to provide the students a class period during which they could work on the assignment at school. I think that these options would fluctuate based on the need of the students and I could come up with other ideas too if none of these happened to work for a given student.