Is Technology Helping Us? I
n 2018, providing every student in the CRCSD with a Chromebook seemed like a fantasy. Laptop carts were a coveted item in classrooms and computer labs required teachers to sign up weeks in advance. Now, at Kennedy, Chromebooks are standard issue and are used in almost every class. Learning has transitioned from traditional paper-based assignments to a technology-based method. Assignments are now accessed through Google Classroom instead of handed out at the beginning of class. Technology has led to phones in teens’ hands and SMART Boards in classrooms. Adrian Evans, social studies teacher, believes technology can be a great asset in the classroom. “I think as we see technology getting into people’s daily lives, it would reflect badly on the teachers and education if we did not take advantage of the technologies that are available to help teach kids,” said Evans. Heather McCauley-Benzow, math teacher at Kennedy, uses technology to help students and herself. “If you have organization issues, it’s all [on the computer] so you don’t have to worry about losing paper,” Benzow said. “I don’t have to worry about keeping track of papers and there’s no arguments if [the student] submitted it or not.”
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Chromebooks have made it easier for students to verify if they handed in assignments, organize their homework and see their grades. Technology allows us to access more information than ever before, get our work done faster and save paper. In an interview with Jason Kline, Kennedy principal, he stated that having personal chromebooks for every student is also cost effective. CRCSD’s mission is “Every learner. Future ready.” Evans puts this into action in his teaching style by creating assignments that include technology while making it fun for students to learn. “We have to get [students] ready for whatever comes next. Whether they choose to go into the workforce, trades or college, technology will be looking them in the face,” Evans said. For a teenager, technology is not just about education. We are letting it run our lives. We get up and check social media platforms. Jump in the car and call our friends. Class starts, and the teacher’s lesson becomes uninteresting so we pick up our phones. Get to lunch and check if anyone has answered our Snapchat. We get home, ignore our homework, family and everything outside the bedroom door as we look to our phones for the answer. The average screen time for teenagers in America is 9 hours a day, according to the West
