Adventures in Tutoring Daily Challenge – Day 31

Ooooooo–ooooo-wie! Here’s a good one for you today. A reblog from the “Lessons Learned from a Parent of a Virtually-Schooled Student.” Lesson 9, specifically. And, it’s a fitting discussion, especially in light of AI’s “Big Brother” takeover of just about everything. It’s scary out here. Like, what’s real and what’s not?

And, it’s amazing to see that my thoughts on technology remain pretty much the same as they did four years ago when this reblog was originally posted on November 9, 2021. My emphasis in the post was regarding technology taking away a child’s ability to experience learning processes fully because technology shortcuts the learning process for them in some ways that may actually be more detrimental to the child than beneficial.

Now, I’m not ignorant enough to think that technology doesn’t have a rightful place to exist in the world in which we live. I mean . . . I’m using it right now to prepare this post to go out to you today. I use it to tutor and mentor the children I work with each week. I use it to have important meetups with friends and family that wouldn’t take place without it. I use it to learn, and grow, and positively influence others in the myriad of online things I do personally as well as professionally.

So, I’m not going to play the hypocrite here. I just think that technology has become waaaaayyy TOO MUCH. And, it wouldn’t be so bad if human beings would learn to responsibly use it, instead of excessively abusing it. Because, too much of an initially good thing is still TOO MUCH of an initially good thing.

And, our young up-and-comers are going to be left dealing with its repercussions (positive but NEGATIVE too) way after we’re gone.

When I work with the children I’m privileged to serve, I use technology, of course. I’m a virtual tutor and mentor. Practically all of my students live outside of my city and state, for that matter. So, tech is needed all the way. But, I challenge the children to use their reasoning, logical, critical-thinking, and problem-solving skills all . . . the . . . time.

If I have an opportunity to impart the importance of children thinking for themselves instead of letting a piece of tech constantly do it for them, I’ll take on that opportunity EVERY TIME!

Okay, enough of that. Now, I think I’ll switch you over to today’s reblog lesson discussion from four years ago. Let me know what you think about the conversation.

Technology may be overstepping its boundaries when it comes to reading and writing. Okay, so take this blog post for what it’s worth to you — meditate on the stuff you can jive with and chuck out the rest. Seriously. Because I don’t expect everyone to agree with me on the points I’m about to bring out today. And I’m really not trying to persuade anyone to agree on my arguments. I’m simply going to make my arguments, because why not? I find blogging to be therapeutic and sometimes I just need to get things off my chest. Frustrations, even. And I figure — my blog . . . my thoughts.

Furthermore, please know that I’m NOT trying to come against anyone’s viewpoint in reference to technology and how great it is, because I think technology has a lot of wonderful aspects to it. It helps us accomplish many things that lead to life betterment and I’m so appreciative of it for that reason. As a matter of fact, amid COVID, technology has been one of the heroes that’s come to my household’s rescue by allowing us to continue to visit loved ones, work, and school from the safety of our homes. But, technology will ALWAYS have some down sides, too. And in observing Little Man, my 11-year-old, I’m witnessing how technology is taking over certain developmental skills in reading and writing that I’d rather my son experience the old school way.

I also want to preface this discussion by stating that I realize that technology has made a way for many young learners (such as those who have learning disabilities and visual and motor skill impairments) to be able to have excellent educational experiences when traditional schooling methods have failed them. And I want you to be clear that my references in today’s post are not directed to students who face these challenges or similar ones and who need technology to provide them with the most optimal learning tools.   

Now, here’s where I’m at in my technology stance, regarding reading and writing in virtual schooling.

It’s somewhat of an enabler. Yes, I said it. I mean it does allow the children to perfect their typing skills (which is AWESOME!) because they have to. Actual writing down things on a piece of paper is very limited though. Well, at least in middle school, anyway. The elementary grades do have to focus on letter formation basics in early child educational development. But, my son doesn’t get the opportunity to fine-tune his handwriting, spelling, and grammar skills enough because he can go to the computer that will fix ALMOST all of his errors for him.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen him misspell a word as he was typing and then use the autocorrect to go back and fix it for him. Because, why not? Why strain the brain when the computer is right there, waiting to pop in the correctly-spelled version of the word you meant to type out? No need to go back and retype it. Just right click and choose the option that’s presented to you. And, there you go.

But to me, such instances aren’t really teaching the children to spell words correctly for themselves, because they know they can go to autocorrect which will do it for them ALMOST every time. And believe me when I say, middle schoolers still need to learn how to spell.

Oh, and what ABSOLUTELY blew my mind the other day is when I saw Little Man use his dictation helper to literally voice-to-text his sentence right there on his computer screen. WHAT! I know I have that capability on my phone and computer, but I never think to use them.

In my mind, I’m like . . . how in the world did you even know to use that — who told you that you even have that capability on your computer? And then, I remember that I’m OLD SCHOOL and that my son’s growing up in technologically-advanced times among COVID. So, what did I expect him to be doing? He’s doing what all the children are doing as virtual learners — fully optimizing the technology “helpers” that provide them the shortcuts and quick fixes that I absolutely DO NOT LIKE. At least not in ALL cases. 

Some shortcuts are okay. But when I feel those shortcuts are shortcutting my child’s full development of reading and writing skills sets, I’m not okay with that.

Here’s another example. My son has access to getting his books online through a program called Bookshare. Great! I love it! It makes it easy for children to have access to books when they aren’t able to physically get ahold of them. And I’m all about encouraging my child to read. And if you’ve read any of my past posts about my reading routine with my son, then you know that we have a nighttime routine of reading together on most days. (We’ve kind of dropped the ball lately, but anyway . . .) We take turns reading out loud, which has proved very beneficial for Little Man. Alternating reading passages allows him to get to hear another person’s storytelling skills and gives him a reading break, while it allows him to practice his verbal reading skills and gives me the opportunity to observe what aspects of verbal reading he needs to work on.

But get this . . . 

Bookshare has an option for the book to be read by an online reader, and you can choose the voice option you’d like for your reader. WHAT! 

Okay, so you’re telling me that technology will write for your children and read for them too?

WOW! So, with technology in the at-a-click reach from our children’s fingertips, how in the world do we expect them to really (I mean REALLY) learn to read and write on the level in which we were forced to as children coming up? Now, I’m in my late 40s, so I mean old school when I say I had to learn the old-fashioned way to read and write. And I appreciate (now) every minute of being “forced” to learn how to formulate words on a page, being required to write out reports by hand and then going to a typewriter and then a computer waaaaaaaay after my formative years, and having the opportunity to hold a book in my hand and read its pages for myself. But, that’s just me.

And don’t get me wrong. I’m not blaming the educational system by any means. The educational system just like every other system has to move with technology to stay relevant. And our children’s use of the shortcuts in technology to get by in their schooling is not for the virtual school teachers to manage. It’s absolutely not. There’s no possible way they could. They can’t control what a student does in the home. But, us parents absolutely CAN and we MUST. Shortcuts are okay to an extent, but they have to be managed and used wisely.

As adults, we might have the luxury of taking the shortcuts to do the things we do (although we need to be careful too and make sure we’re using those shortcuts in the appropriate ways and at the appropriate times). But our children are in the developmental phases of their lives and need to learn the detailed versions before they start using the outlines of life lessons. As parents, WE have to fill in the blanks where technology is failing our children. We have to teach them how to use a hand-held dictionary, how to use the resources in a physical library, how to spell for themselves, how to write complete words out on a piece of paper instead of by shorthand or texting version or the latest catchy acronym that all young people on social media know. We have to do something about it if we don’t want our children to be so reliant upon technology that their lives would crumble if they suddenly had to go without it.

Yes, I realize that our dependency on technology is so much bigger than its use in the educational realm within the reading and writing ranks. It’s actually kind of scary to think how dependent we are. But wonder . . . just wonder if the plug is pulled? Wonder if you’re totally unplugged from technology for even a day. What would that look like for you? How would you fare? How would our children fare when technology is all that they’ve ever known? I mean they’re growing up with it.

Well, here’s the way I see it for now. Technology will always have its place in our lives. That’s inevitable. But the more that we can unplug from certain things and learn to do them for ourselves (at least be prepared to do them without technology’s help in the off chance we would be forced to), then the better equipped we will be to keep it moving in times when we’re forced to go old school. Old school ain’t always so bad. Let technology do its thing, but let’s make sure our children know their core skills for themselves. And if that means making sure they know how to do things the longhand way, so be it. Give them options so that, when plan A fails (or is stripped right out from under them), they’ll have plan B to fall back on.