Does Detroit School of Arts use technology?

The first major assignment for Educ 504 this fall was to interview the media specialist at my school.  At Detroit School of Arts (DSA), this would be Ms. Lemmons.  The assignment was easy enough and pretty straightforward: go in, talk to Ms. Lemmons, get out.  Unfortunately I found it very difficult to locate Ms. Lemmons on the day I intended to talk to her.  After visiting the media center (all the way up on the sixth floor!) twice and calling her extension throughout the day, I was ready to give up and try again the next time I came to school.  Instead, I decided to search for answers for my school study for Educ 402.  As I entered the office, who did I find hanging out in there?  Well, none other than Ms. Lemmons, of course.  Luckily I brought the "tech in my placement" assignment with me!

We went through the tech survey in sequential order and Ms. Lemmons described some of the technology to me as well as which pieces of technology she only dreams that DSA could obtain.  One important detail that I obtained was that rather than pay for a lot of cool software, such a Microsoft Publisher, DSA opts for the free versions of similar software.  Many of the items on my list I was not surprised that the school had access to, such as a computer lab, video editing software (it's an arts school after all), and electronic grading, among other items.  However, I was surprised to find out that the school did have some smart boards.  Coming from a high school that never had smart boards (maybe they do now?) and never having a college class that used one, I had never even heard of the term "smart board" until a few months ago.

Though I think some other interns might be surprised to find out what software is available to their students, I was not.  Glancing at the survey, I fully expected DSA to have access to lots of software simply because it is an arts school where students to a lot of video/sound/image editing.

According to the acceptable use policy, students are allowed to email, blog, and use wiki, but they cannot instant message, use cell phones, or download files to the hard drives.  Makes sense.  Ms. Lemmon's also confirmed my suspicions that the filtered internet would block social media websites.  When I hopped on a computer to test out this out though, I found the complete opposite.  I miraculously was able to access websites such as Facebook and Twitter...  I informed Ms. Lemmons of this and she seemed just as surprised as I was.  I guess I just have the magic touch to break into blocked websites?



--> not for me!










I didn't really understand the importance of asking the media specialist what types of technology DSA has access to at first.  Just another assignment to do, right?  After completing the assignment though, I realize how beneficial it really was.  Now I know exactly what pieces of technology I can sign out for my students and I can figure out creative ways to incorporate them into my lessons.  In my future teaching I think I will definitely make my way around to visiting the school's media specialist so that I can use the school's technology to benefit my students.

*Note#1: Another important detail that I learned was that Ms. Lemmons is always running around the school. Instead of going up to the media center to look for her, calling her cell phone with a technology question would be much easier for me.

*Note#2: Even if I can access social media websites, it would be unprofessional to do so while on school property, so I would not do this.

Connections Across Disciplines: The Sam, Jeremy, & Derek Edition

Towards the end of the summer semester, groups of three students created lesson plans for their content area that included the use of technology, for our Teaching With Technology class.  My group consisted of two math majors and one biology major (me!), so we decided to devise a math lesson that would help students learn how to find the slope of a line.  Though I wish we could have integrated Biology somehow, it is not something that managed to do. 

Upon reading some of my classmates’ lesson plans, one in particular that I really enjoyed reading compared the BYOD policy to the “separate but equal” laws of the past, specifically Plessy vs. Ferguson.  This group, consisting of Sam, Jeremy, and Derek, had a fantastic idea to relate the past to the present.  Though I don’t think I myself would have initially thought about the similarities between these two ideas like they say they immediately did, I appreciated how much thought they put into this assignment to come up with a lesson that really showcased an important aspect of history.  I realized that it is not enough to consider different policies and rulings on an individual case-to-case basis, but it is also important to compare and contrast them to demonstrate how the past influences the present, and how two ideas that may be in stark contrast on the surface are actually similar.  Their lesson also surprised me because they managed to integrate history and English into one lesson.  This illustrated to me that they put in the effort to make a lesson like this work and it reflects the title of the assignment (Connections Across Disciplines) perfectly.  The lesson this group outlined was for a 50 minute class period, and the sequence they have provided seems to be reasonable.  They incorporated individual work as well as discussion, which is a strong combination for a lesson such as this.  The lesson flowed well and the method of assessment they provided (exit ticket) was one that all students should be able to succeed at, providing that they were engaged during the lesson.  Overall, this group’s lesson reflects the type of lessons we have been learning about over the summer, in which students are given several different activities and opportunities to interact with their peers, rather than being lectured at for an hour.  I think students would definitely benefit from this lesson!

This lesson plan reminded me of the thoughts I have had all summer about the fairness of a BYOD policy.  While it seems like a feasible and interesting idea on the surface, it could actually be detrimental to some students.  What happens to those students who do not have the means to secure a device to bring?  I am not sure this question will be answered any time soon.  It also brings up questions of how much technology should play a role in the classroom.  Should technology be fully integrated or should it be used sparingly?  The inequalities that could result from a policy such as this must be considered in depth before a school implements a BYOD policy.  Considering Plessy vs. Ferguson in detail might actually be very beneficial for policymakers when creating a BYOD policy.