Speak up, teach!

More than 11,000 K-12 teachers spoke up recently about how they use technology for teaching, for administrative work and at home.

The Internet-based survey, Speak Up Day for Teachers was sponsored by Net Day, an educational technology non-profit. The group interviewed more than 200,000 students on their views about technology last fall.

The teacher survey--representing nearly 1,900 school districts--was admittedly biased because of the voluntary nature of the participation. That said, it yielded some interesting results:

* 87 percent said technology was important or very important to their value as teachers

* 89 percent said the loss of Web access today would impact their professional responsibilities

* Only one-third of teachers under 29 years old felt the pre-service training they received in college prepared them well for classroom technology use.

* "[Teachers] felt pre-service technology training had not prepared them, but they felt far more positively about the in-service training they were getting," says Irene Spero, a Net Day spokeswoman.

When asked to design a new school, the top requests were: wireless Internet access throughout the school; a computer for every teacher; access to the school network from home; and adequate maintenance and tech support.

But while some teachers might be educational technology cheerleaders, another group of educators and researchers are asking to rethink kids' excessive "screen time." In Tech Tonic, a study, the Alliance for Childhood argues that expensive and extensive technology use in schools "ignores evidence that high-tech classrooms have done little, if anything, to improve student achievement."

www.netday.org, www.allianceforchildhood.net

Educators Speak Up for Tech

Teachers who participated in the Speak Up Day survey discussed how they are using technology in class. Some highlights:

* "I've learned to clone myself! Record yourself doing guided reading of your favorite books Save it on your hard drive. Copy to mini-CDs, CDs and MP3 players. Ta-da! You're everywhere doing personal guided reading with students while supervising all classroom activity," wrote a middle school teacher from Lincolnton, N.C.

* "This year I made a Web-liography, including all subject areas taught. It is continually updated. Students do not have to ask permission to go to a site that is on the Web-liography," wrote an elementary teacher who works at a U.S. Department of Defense school in Germany.

* "I integrate technology into my day-to-day classroom management. We 'vote' on the computer every day. I have noticed a remarkable improvement in class discipline and attention since I began using my laptop in front of the class, hooked up to an overhead screen," wrote an elementary school teacher from San Juan Capistrano, Calif.