Bringing It All Together

This is Leslie, the author of our final entry, when she was a baby. Now, as an adult, she has FOUR children, and these are two of them -- her youngest, AJ, and her oldest, Alysha.


This is how she introduced me to her family: "AJ is my youngest, he keeps me busy. Alysha is the oldest and she is so much help. Since my children and I are all in school, we do homework together and we are very competitive when it comes to grades. My husband, Anthony Sr., works at night, and I work days and school in the evening. It’s a crazy schedule but it works for us. My 2nd daughter is Serenity, she is the peace maker of the house and keeps everyone laughing. Aleiya (Nae-Nae) is my 3rd daughter, she is very loving and tells me everyday how much she adores me. My 4th daughter and the reason I continue to keep pushing is my angel baby Sa’Ryah. She is and was our gift. Although we only got to keep her for 7 months (SIDS) she continues to impact our everyday lives."
Clearly, family is very important to Leslie, and you'll see how important play is to her, too, in her entry here. Enjoy!

During our weekly quiz, Dr. Reid’s iClicker stopped working. This incident forced us to use a piece of paper and a pen to answer the quiz questions. In a day and time when technology rules everything, it is hard to imagine a time when it was not around. Elkind begins chapter nine by acknowledging the power of technology in our classrooms. He stated that in times past, it was the teachers who brought materials into the classroom. Now, students come to class with a variety of learning “materials,” i.e. iPods, cell phones and mp3 players (p.195). He states that they only enrich subjects being covered in class. Technology has transformed the way we learn. Elkind refers to this as “The new Educational Reality” (p.197).

Elkind explores John Dewey’s method of teaching students. When John Dewey envisioned the ways students learn, he felt they learn best when they are challenged by a project. He termed it “The Project Method” of learning. His method combined creativity, self-motivation, and practical learning - play, love and work (p.196). John Dewey felt this is an effective way for students to learn. Although Dewey felt students learn best when they are engaged in an activity, he did not object to original teaching methods. Elkind feels this is what new technology in the classroom is allowing students to do. Students have their own pod casts, they are able to communicate with the teacher via electronic mail and even have classroom blogs. Blogs, can you believe it? Elkind explains that for Dewey, writing at the beginning of the 20th century prepared students to learn skills needed to survive in the industrial age. Using technology to learn enables students to learn skills needed to survive and succeed in the information age (p.197).

I loved elementary school. Not only did I enjoy learning new things, I loved the competition it invoked. I remember classroom competitions. We would earn prizes for the class who scored highest on the weekly spelling test, or who read the most books in a month. Every January we had put on a play to honor Dr. Martin Luther King; after all, the school was named after him. I can remember meeting new friends just by working alongside them when we were practicing our parts for the play. Things seemed much simpler then. Recess was only fourteen minutes but the fun kept going long after we returned to class. We did not have much technology. I can remember when we started using computers at school. The disks were the size of Frisbees! They would put the huge disk in a drive and it would read us a story. The headphones were massive. You could feel every bit of its weight on the top of your head. Going to the media center was a privilege and only select groups of students were allowed to go. I felt special to say the least. My favorite game on the computer was “Word Munchers.” I would munch and munch those misspelled words as if they had attacked me personally. I did not realize that was the beginning of the (much-anticipated) computer-age.

On the other hand, my children live in a much different world. They really do not remember a time without technology. Technology rules everything. Their classrooms and the curriculum are based on technology. They have assignments where they have to do internet research. They are required to comment on student news, a pod cast produced by CNN. They also have classmates and friends in other states that they keep in contact with on a monthly basis via Skype. Although technology is used at the forefront of their classrooms, they are still required to read textbooks and complete at least 2 hours of homework every evening. They are still involved in church activities, softball and peer mediation. This is possibly the point Elkind has been trying to convey to us throughout his book. Allowing students to learn in an environment that allows them to play only enriches their ability to learn. It must be conducive to their level of learning and not forced. I do agree that certain toys and games are geared towards pushing children to learn too soon and/or too fast. I believe children can become confused and frustrated when they are trying to learn a subject that they are not ready for. A child in Kindergarten learning geometry is ludicrous. Yet, many kindergarten teachers are pushing a curriculum that is too hard for their young students. Some school districts no longer allow recess and have taken out much of the extra-curricular activities that allow children to interact and implement a project-learning curriculum. As a parent, I look forward to Christmas plays and multi-cultural fairs that many schools still present. Not only do the children benefit but the parents benefit as well.
Elkind states that the combining of play, love and work is the means of successful academic achievement. Research given by psychologist Sara Smilansky also proves this theory. Smilansky studied children engaging in “socio-dramatic” play. This type of interaction promotes positive, intellectual and social development. Her study concluded that socio-dramatic play activates resources that stimulate emotional, social and intellectual growth in the child, which affects the way the child learns in school (p. 211).

Technology in the classrooms has only enhanced the ways in which children play. Allowing children to Skype, email and run their own pod-casts has broadened the concept of play. Nevertheless, person-to-person interaction continues to be that link that helps children develop socially; not the latest video game, but simply two children playing together. Children will soon have to face the many obstacles associated with just being a kid. Of course, we all want our children to be the next Einstein. I believe if we allow our children the space and time needed to grow, instead of Einstein, we may be raising the next President of the United States, or better yet, the next Dr. Reid.