Our school went completely digital this year with every 4th-12th grader getting a laptop. Our district chose Pearson for our curriculum. Everyone was excited. The Pearson rep did a presentation and told us that schoolwork would be done on the computers, communications would be done on the computers, tests would be taken on the computers, grading would be done by the computers....yadda, yadda, yadda. Teachers could have more time to teach and work one on one because they wouldn't have to grade all those papers - the program our district chose would do all that for them. The teachers could get instant feedback from a quiz and see if the majority of students got a certain question wrong they could immediately go back and reteach that concept. We were very clearly told this Pearson system would allow students that needed more help to get that help and the students that get it the first time could move on and would absolutely not be held back. I have seen not one instance of this and that is beyond frustrating! It sounded so good and I was very excited (yet remained skeptical until I could see this program in action).
We have had more worksheets and paperwork brought home than ever and even the teachers have complained that they have gone through more paperwork this year. Is it the teachers' fault this isn't working the way it was described to our community? I don't know. What I do know is my biggest complaint, beyond this not working like we were told is that what I've seen so far from the math is just a bunch of tricks to doing math. A new trick every couple days and 20 more worksheets to drill this trick in. It is beyond confusing and has these kids so messed up they can't even remember how to do math. DD9 (4th grade) just now brought home double-digit multiplication the other day. She has been able to do these problems (the old fashioned way) for a couple years now, but when she started the worksheet she had no idea where to start. She was drawing boxes and adding in zeros and I waited to see how she worked the first couple problems out. It was a mess, so I took her back to the basics, explained it to her and she took off and was done in no time. I told her if the teacher says anything about how she got her answers to have her call me.
I think technology in schools can be a great tool and it can open so many doors for teaching in different ways. Just like I think CCSS can be a good thing. It all depends on how it is presented and what our schools do with it.
