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One teacher's technological evolution: How the cutting-edge keeps moving
As a participant in the first annual SCR*TEC Technology in Education
Institute, Elizabeth Erickson was asked to reflect on the role technology has
played in her teaching. Here is her account.
By Elizabeth Erickson
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 s our SCR*TEC
group began tracing the advent of technology in our schools, I was amazed at how
the group members could recall each specific Commodore or TRS-80 they had used as teachers and the
memory or baud of prior acquisitions. A self-identified technically challenged teacher,
I walked into a building where hardware and software were
in place and I merely had to figure out what to do with it.
Simple! Looking back over the last five years, I'm stunned
by the lessons I've learned about the technology and its
place in my classroom. It's not so simple, after all!
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 n 1991, when I left
a private sector position as an
MIS trainer and began teaching, with the exception of word processing, I assumed
I'd leave technology behind. In the North Carolina high school where
I began, our classrooms didn't have computers. In this rural
school serving 800 students, the only regular use of
computers came at quarter's end when roughly half of our
teachers used Integrade, a grade book package. All entries
into Integrade were made on two computers in the teachers'
lounge and in the library. Televisions, VCRs, and an
overhead projector comprised the rest of our classroom
technology. Two years later, when I left North Carolina for
New York, my old school was just beginning to put
together an IBM lab. Four years after that, that school has
their lab but no Internet drop.
The next step in my teaching journey took me to
Roosevelt High School, which has a population of 4,500
students, 2,500 of whom are ninth graders. Located in the
Bronx, most of the students comprising the
ethnically-diverse student body come from homes without
much money, and many of the students' families have
recently immigrated. The school was under new and
innovative leadership and was receiving more than its share
of private and public support, through grants, corporate
sponsorships, and university partnerships.
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remember hearing about an Internet drop provided
by City College and the City University of New York, but I
never saw it. Nor did I consider hunting for it in our
five-story building, which encompassed an entire city
block. There was a Macintosh lab on the far side of the
fourth floor where I taught my English classes, but other
than for word processing, I never used it. One tech-savvy
teacher in my department took her students to the lab for
word processing, and, according to hearsay, she was using
the Internet connection. The rest of us stuck to the tired
combinations of the TV/VCR and, if we were lucky, an
overhead projector.
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I thought the lab was nice, but was more intrigued by the fact that there were
enough overhead projectors for every classroom.
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n 1994, I left New
York to return to my hometown. When I interviewed at McMillan Junior High, an urban school of
1,000 students in Omaha, Nebraska, the principal, Norma
Deeb, took great pride in showing me the computer lab during the
building tour. I thought the lab was nice, but was more intrigued by the
fact that there were enough overhead projectors for every classroom.
Other than infrequent word processing, I had no plans to use the
computer. By this time, I had even regressed into keeping a real grade
book with entries made in ink and calculated by hand.
In October 1994, as I struggled with adjustments to junior high
students and curriculum, learning the names of my colleagues, and
reacquainting myself with my hometown, Principal Deeb excitedly
announced a US West grant that would provide each teacher with a
computer as well as an Internet connection in every classroom. Again, I
was more concerned with replacing the burned-out bulb in my overhead
projector. Any excitement on my part stemmed from my ability to now
word process and thermofax my overhead transparencies. How much
neater and readable they would now be! I'd no longer have to fool with
those overhead pens and deal with the red hands at day's end.
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fter winter break, US West and Omaha Public
Schools teams started installing the Internet drops
in classrooms. By February, each teacher had a
computer on his or her desk and inservices were scheduled.
Through inservice training, I discovered the joys of e-mail
and became more than proficient at talking online to my
colleagues. During those first two months, e-mail was used
for whimsical communiques between colleagues and an
occasional meeting announcement.
I vividly recall the first Internet inservice where we
learned to search, in May. Following the training, we were
given an hour to go back to our rooms to search. Preparing
for summer fun, I looked for concert schedules for
Buckwheat Zydeco, a band I enjoy. Using Pollstar
(www.Pollstar.com), I searched by artist and received a
screen with what I now recognize as a scrolling frame. At
the time, I didn't have any idea how to even scroll using the
bar that appeared on the right side of my Netscape screen. I
stared at the screen, clicked frantically, and finally, with no
embarrassment, asked another teacher for help. My
colleague kindly pointed out the scrolling feature, which I
find more than useful today. Kidding aside, now that I use
technology on a regular basis, I try not to forget our first
experiences with the Internet.
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 he McMillan technology staff did a number of things
right when they planned the installation of and training for
our new hardware. First, the equipment was installed and
inservice trainings were scheduled simultaneously. This
gave the entire staff time to learn the basics. Those who
were interested used their own initiative and skills to
discover the more complicated features. Faculty who
became highly proficient users served as pied pipers in our
building and it is because they were quick to share their
latest Internet discoveries that other faculty members became
more proficient users.
While we weren't specifically encouraged to use
e-mail and the Internet for our personal interests, it wasn't
discouraged either. In fact, this was the hook for many of
our faculty who now lead technology-infused classrooms.
I've learned that teachers must develop personal interest
before being expected to use technology tools in forums as
public as classrooms. Time to play and experiment with the
Internet and software is essential.
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n late May 1995, my department chair approached me and
asked if I'd join a team that was writing an Internet-based
social studies curriculum. With my month of limited Internet
experience, I was hesitant, but also thought this could be a valuable
learning experience. With a personal interest in India, I committed to
writing five technology-based lessons on Indian culture and history.
By summer's end, I had completed two that appeared to be viable.
While one of the teachers on the team submitted excellent lessons using
the ClarisWorks database, graphs, and charts, those of us utilizing the
Internet as a resource had limited success clearing the obstacles created
by the Web's cornucopia of information. The mere screening of
information took hours and two of us were completely overwhelmed by
the amount of available resources. Armed with the promise that we
would continue to work on the curriculum throughout the 1995-96
school year, we began.
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. . . any technological tools must be good for my students before I consider
using them.
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he first Internet lesson I wrote concerned South
Asian religious and holiday festivals. While the
premise of the lesson was good, I worried that
the plan wasn't structured enough for a group of seventh
graders in a lab setting. I have yet to use this lesson in its
current form because of its lack of structure. One of these
days, I'll surf the net for new sites and rewrite the lesson.
The first lesson we actually used in the lab involved
Middle East research. During this lesson, we discovered
that worksheets were very helpful for the students in the
lab. The worksheets provided focus and structure for our
sometimes off-task students. Ultimately, our department
started writing curriculum-specific Web pages and lessons
to accompany them.
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oday, I'm enrolled in an advanced authoring
graduate course in which I am learning to use tools such as
Java script, animated graphics, and frames to improve our
instructional pages. My main interest remains in my
classroom, with my students, and any technological tools
must be good for my students before I consider using them.
The Internet has opened another world to me as a
teacher, one where I'm even more unsure of what I'm
doing, one where design and programming have a place.
The most frustrating part of this technological journey is the
speed with which things change. Each time I learn
something new, and learn it well, I discover there is yet
another tool out there that may also be of use. Next year, I
will continue to develop my technology skills to improve
my teaching. And while I don't know what I'll be using five
years from now, I do know that I will never go back to
thinking technology is only useful for word processing!
View a sample Internet lesson provided by Elizabeth.
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Elizabeth Erickson is a teacher
in Omaha, Nebraska. Read more about this author.
Teacher Testimony authors are
nominated by people like you. Send nominations to the editor.
© 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 SCR*TEC.
This page is Bobby
Approved.
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