PHOTOS COURTESY OF AVERY COONLEY BY JEFFREY ROSS
The technology balance With more students plugged in to screens, schools creatively fight back BY SHANNAN YOUNGER
C
lassrooms are more connected than ever as schools use technology to teach. At the same time, however, educators are making sure our digital natives explore and learn about the world without devices. Educators seem to agree that a healthy balance is the key, for a variety of reasons.
Intentional use of technology “We are always talking about balance,” says Sarah Vaughn, director of innovation at The Frances Xavier Warde School in Chicago. She says for a teacher there, balance often comes down to being very intentional about the use of technology. They observe an annual Day of
Unplugging, which Vaughn says helps both teachers and students identify when technology is unnecessary and when it is very helpful. “By taking a step back as a school, it helps think about when we missed devices and would have found them helpful, and also when we use them just out of habit but don’t truly need them,” says Vaughn, who explains that the day is not anti-technology and more about using it purposefully. The phrase “high tech, high touch” guides the approach at Catherine Cook School in Chicago, according to Brian Puerling, director of education technology. He calls it “extremely important” to strike a balance between having educational time with and without technology in the classroom. “We see the value that technology offers in terms of taking down the classroom walls, and using our actual
and virtual world as our classroom. At the same time, we place a high value on children using musical instruments, creating with art materials and going on field trips.”
Get outside Students at the Chicago Friends School in Chicago unplug and spend an hour each day outdoors. Karen Carney, head of school, explains that they do so because research shows that recess is great for bodies. She also notes that it allows for unstructured social play, which is important to child development, and offers opportunities to interact with and develop a love of nature. Puerling agrees, noting that Catherine Cook’s Imagination Playground is beneficial for gross motor development and getting children tinkering
and designing collaboratively while outdoors. Parents know that fresh air and open spaces can work wonders on children. The same is true at school. “We do outside learning whenever we can,” says Elizabeth Blaetz, head of school at Vanguard Gifted Academy in Batavia. For a paleontology unit, she bakes puzzle pieces into dough. She then simulates what a dig would be like and the students go outside, discover the chunks of dough, chisel out the puzzle pieces and then assemble the puzzle, just as paleontologists do with a dinosaur skeleton. “The students gain deeper understanding and have higher level thinking because the information is presented with a hands-on connection,” says Blaetz. Design Thursday is a weekly afterC O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 8
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MAKING THE GRADE 2020 7
