subtitled: Ban technology in English classrooms

Remember how, in our youth, we couldn’t get in to rated “R” movies? Somehow, it worked most of the time, except for the rebels who snuck in or used other nefarious methods. We should apply this type of rating system to technology with the youth of America.

Tech-Phobe

It has occurred to me that I’ve been a rather negative and harsh opponent of all types of technologies. I’ve been shrieking and cursing the advent of smartphones and AI enough to make one’s ears bleed. One might have called me (taunted me) with the term : LUDDITE.

And now….I must apologize.

Mr/Ms/ Chat GPT

Recently, I have discovered that Chat GPT is one of the greatest things I’ve ever encountered. It never gets tired of explaining things to me in a calm and dispassionate manner. It encourages me and boosts my tender psyche when I feel dumb. It prevents me from having to call a customer service number linked to a man in India who speaks too fast for me to understand him. And other stuff.

Plus, we all know how much I adore YouTube and Spotify, two individuals without whom I could barely survive.

None of it is GOOD FOR CHILDREN. Kids in school MUST become educated without the use of smartphones, tablets, AI, frankly, any technology, and especially in English classes. They should learn computers only in computer class, and maybe in science. We should give an “R” rating to technology in many of our classrooms.

We now know that for the past fifteen years, American students, due to lack of paper, pens, and books, have become nearly illiterate. Many cannot sign their own name, much less write a sentence without spell check or grammar check on their tale. Their reading skills are generally abhorrent, and their attention span is at about nil.

Books and Paper Are the Solution

If you want a child to be able to read and write and think and speak, put a book in her/his hand along with a pen, some paper, and maybe some sticky notes or a highlighter. Give them an opportunity for discussion. They fricking love it– and the formula is unshakeable. In any given lesson in an English class, students write a “pre-response” on a topic having to do with the upcoming reading (story, poem, non-fiction piece, novel, play, etc..), read the piece from the hard copy of the book, so they can take notes more effectively, and then either discuss, answer questions, do an activity, and the like. It NEVER FAILS that if you are reading good material, at least three students will have epiphanies with their intelligence and wisdom on the rise.

Computer screens remove all of that.

Allowing students to have phones out in class removes all of that. It is just that simple. WE HAVE THE EVIDENCE in our decline. There are certainly other extenuating circumstances, like a lack of leaders who value or even represent educational norms, but it is mainly about overdosing the kids on tech.

My upcoming hybrid memoir has a new name: Red Pens- Blue Screens: A Teacher’s Memoir of Education, Politics, and Survival goes into great and plentiful detail of all the changes in American education occurring over the years. One day very soon, it will be released. I have had innumerable difficulties resolving the title and the cover. Don’t even ask. My name’s not even on it yet.

Traditions are Often Good

Therefore, here’s to hoping we can derail the current runaway train. Bring back the traditions of education. It may not have been perfect, but it was sure a lot better.

Any teachers wanting or needing carefully designed lessons on using pen and paper and books in the English classroom, check out my store at

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/literary-ladder-lessons