(submitted by Audrey Drew)
I wasn’t really expecting it, but really the main theme presented by the keynote speakers at the 2015 International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) in Philadelphia was diversity. How do we address poverty, inequities, racism, lack of resources, and acceptance of students on the Autism Spectrum or lack thereof by members of society? The first keynote speaker at ISTE was Soledad O’Brien. Many around me were wondering what she had to offer to a Tech conference. She immediately piqued our interest with stories and video regarding the fact that not all students have access to resources. Many roadblocks are present for those who live in poverty, attend underfunded schools, and endure other inequities. Ms. O’Brien started with her own unique heritage and her parent’s struggles as an “illegally married” interracial couple living in Baltimore. She also talked about her own struggles as a child and what I would call “stick-to-it-ness” that her parents guided. Ms. O’Brien also showed us a video clip from a documentary that she produced about a wonderful, bright high school student, Mara Castro, living in Phoenix, AZ who wanted to get into Stanford. A completed high school calculus class was required for admission to Stanford and there wasn’t one offered at her high school. When she inquired as to why, she was told there weren’t enough students to take such a class at her school. So she took on the School Board, found a teacher to teach an after school class and solicited other students to join her, just so she could take the class, be challenged and achieve her goals. As time progressed the other 12 students dropped out and the class was dropped. Maria did not get to attend Stanford, even though she worked so hard to make it happen.
This story really had me thinking about students at my Title 1 school, and the inequities they experience in their lives. As I attended presentations and talked with other educators, the inequities also extend to what we as educators have available and what we may or may not have received in-depth training in. Some Title 1 Schools were very advanced in their use of technology tools and problem-solving focused curricula. As would be expected, many of the attendees and presenters were from affluent charter and private schools. Many of the resources I saw being used at schools across the nation engaged students to design their own learning experiences, such as using robotics in the classroom at an early age, fostering creativity and problem solving. A workshop on how to guide kids to experiment and play Minecraft, while learning problem solving made me want to start this year in my own library. Using MakerBots is something I have been intrigued about since they first appeared, and I saw plenty of poster sessions showing just how letting students design in 3D. By problem solving what does and doesn’t work students learn to evaluate and develop critical thinking skills. In addition, there was a gamut of educational computer programs demonstrated at ISTE focused on developing creativity, critical thinking skills, and problem solving. The Alaska Database for Alaskans has several of these programs including Brain Pop and Edmodo. There are also free ones like Google Educational Tools that can be used to foster similar creative problem solving experiences. As a librarian attending ISTE and seeing all these amazing tech tools two questions came to mind: 1. How do we, as librarians assist our schools in moving toward using these new 21st Century tools? 2. How do we develop engaging creative problem solving experiences for our students?