Paperless Classrooms: Slower to arrive

When I was in first grade, I distinctly remember my teacher saying that we would have paperless classrooms by the time we graduated from high school.  I was in awe of what the future could hold for me.

I'm glad she wasn't getting paid for her fortune-telling abilities.

Unfortunately, it seems difficult to predict where technology will take us and the time frame in which we can expect progress to happen.  We have Moore's Law, which could provide a guideline for how quickly computer processors and memory sticks are available for purchase at a faster speed.  The law states that every 18 months to a year, the number of transistors on integrated circuits will double.  This law has been applied to processor speed, memory size, and even megapixels on camera sensors and more.  But this law doesn't explicitly tell us what technologies will emerge, how they will be used, or how helpful they will be.  We can, however, garner that newer technologies will be able to run faster and, perhaps, multi-task at a greater level.

This is my seventh year as a teacher.  I can say that these paperless classrooms are reality for some and closer to reality for others.  I have implemented paperless classrooms per Ms. Ryder's prediction in my classroom.  

Our school uses Google Apps for Education.  I love it.  Google Apps allows students and teachers to create Microsoft Office-style documents (like Word documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and pictures).  These documents are created, maintained, and stored online--in the cloud.  Students have enjoyed peer reviewing using the comments feature on a doc and I have used a Google Form (think: "survey") to give and grade student quizzes.  My classroom doesn't feel very traditional at least three days out of the week. I'd like to do more, but we are limited in our technology access.

Some schools use learning management systems (LMS) that allow students to receive work electronically and, in most cases, complete assignments electronically.  These systems provide something very close to paperless classrooms.  I'm working on putting together two projects that students will complete using Schoology, an LMS a few colleagues of mine in my building use for full time instruction.

I've also used a few different digital response systems to garner student engagement and discussions.  These are no-threat, which will sometimes allow even the shyest of students to add their two cents or give me feedback concerning if they have grasped the concepts taught that day.

I've used Wiffiti.  Wiffiti is pretty cool and you may have seen them at conferences. Wiffiti creates virtual boards and collects tweets and other responses.  These responses will bounce in and out of the main view of the board.  Check out the one I just whipped up.

My students use their mobile devices to respond to their multiple-choice bell-ringers each day.  We use Poll Everywhere for this.  I show the students the class-wide count of answers using the graph.  I'm still sort of experimenting with this concept.  I cannot tie answers to particular students, but I do like the no-risk aspect of the response system.  I'm not sure if students will continue answering if they know their participation is not linked to their course grade.  If participation wanes too much, I'll have to search for another option.

These tools and others have helped me move toward the paperless classroom of my dreams.  I find that paper is such a burden to me, as I am an expect at organizing myself digitally, but not so much in the paper realm.  I'm really looking forward to continuing to work toward technology advancement in my district so that students can gain more exposure to the digital world and so that I can thrive as a Millennial educator.

Shout out to Ms. Ryder: You had the most beautiful hair I've ever seen, even to this day of my life.  Despite that bit of time when I didn't seem to care about my education, I have progressed to a scholar and I thank you for the foundations you helped build for me as a thinker, counter, writer, and reader.