Technology in the Elementary Classroom

While reading “Literacy and Technology Linked: The National Project to Expand Technological Literacy” by Cynthia Selfe, a few interesting points were brought to my attention that pertained to my major–Elementary Education. This national project to expand technology and literacy is called the Technology Literacy Challenge by the Clinton administration. The Technology Literacy Challenge project says that it will “offer all Americans equal access to an education rich in opportunities to use and learn about technology” (pg.5). Just before turning to the next page, I started to wonder how this would actually work because there are many school districts that certainly would not be able to afford this type of technology. My suspicions were confirmed as I read further. “Schools primarily serving students of color and poor students continue to have access to fewer computers and to less sophisticated computer equipment than do schools primarily serving more affluent students or white students” (pg. 6).

Two years ago when I was in my Teaching and Learning Communities I (TLC I) class, I was placed in Sumner Elementary School in Camden, New Jersey. It was very upsetting and disturbing to me to see that a school and a city could look like a 3^rd world country right here in New Jersey. I immediately thought of Sumner Elementary when I was reading this article. The classroom that I was placed in did not have any computers and it was a 4^th grade classroom. I was also tutoring many of the students because the school was not able to reach an appropriate overall score for the NJ ASK test, which would eventually lead to even less funding for Sumner Elementary. This school also did not have a computer lab or a computer technology teacher. Some classrooms had older computers and some teachers brought in their own laptops which they bought themselves so that the children could have access to computers. Obviously, the Technology Literacy Challenge was not doing its job in this school and it is very unfortunate.

Charles Sumner Elementary School Camden, NJ