You may think the title of this article has the word “teaching” spelled incorrectly.  That assumption would be incorrect.  “Teching” was a termed coined in the early video game era, but some folks started to use it regarding the increasing utilization of technology.

Today, most children “tech” for enjoyment…alright, young adults do too, as evidenced by the explosive growth in gaming.  Older adults also enjoy playing games on the computers.  If you don’t believe that, walk into casino and try to find a slot machine that isn’t an electronic video game.

When the pandemic set in 3 years ago, new industries, like home delivery of food from restaurants and groceries from the supermarket, sprung up, and have now become conveniences that aren’t going away.  Technology allowed many of us to work from home, and enabled students to learn from home.  

Back in 2003, it was said that in 10 years, education will be delivered radically differently that it was then.  In 2013, not much had changed, except for the fact that STEM began making its way into the school vernacular.

In 2020, it took a pandemic to pivot to technology-based learning.

And parents, for the most part, didn’t like it – because it meant they, or someone else, had to be home with their children to supervise them while they went to work, or went about their daily routines.

Here was my message to those parents – “too bad.”

Why don’t parents want their kids at home today?  Because the school is the new childcare facility funded by public dollars.  Parents are the first teachers of the child, and it seems as if Generation X and the Millennials have forgotten about that.

But while technology is making its way into the classroom and into the home for distance learning, there are still an abundance of textbook publishers that create paper-based materials to foster student learning.  School students read novels and short stories because they’re part of their assignments for English class.  The book is still the most popular device for communicating curriculum.

As for writing, students write papers and reports all the time, right?  So how are these three activities any different from what students are doing now?

Technology isn’t just for gaming.  It’s the learning tool of the future – and the future is NOW.  Term papers and reports aren’t written, and many times, they’re not even “papers.”  They’re typed electronic documents submitted for evaluation via attaching, uploading and linking.  As technology becomes ubiquitous and not just pervasive, textbooks will eventually go the way of the newspaper.  That’s good news for any 5th grader who has received homework in every subject, and has had to carry home 5 textbooks in a backpack.

And now, with the rise of AI, that’s another double-edge sword we’ve brought into the mix.  It’s certainly a time-saver; but on the other hand, it can inhibit the learning process since assignments can be completed by ChatGPT rather than by doing the research, writing the rough draft, editing the report, then preparing the final copy and submitting it for evaluation.

I keep thinking about a “punishment” our 7th and 8th grade social studies teacher would give to misbehaving students – “Write a 3-page paper comparing and constrasting the results of any two Presidential elections, and hand it in next (whatever day of the week it was).”  Today, that assignment would be able to be completed in minutes rather than the 7 days that were allowed.

If tech is for learning, then what’s reading for?  Enjoyment.  Kids devoured the Harry Potter series, the Hunger Games series, and the Twilight series.  Too much reading for assignment stifles the desire to read for enjoyment, and it’s reading for enjoyment that fosters the theater of the mind, creating visions of the characters, settings and situations described through the author’s written word.

Put a copy of “The Phantom Tollbooth” in the hands of a 4th grade boy and watch his love of reading ignite.  And don’t test him on his understanding of the subtext, nor its imagery, nor the puns contained within it.  When he reads it again 10 years later, he’ll “get it.”

As for writing, it’s not about spelling, sentence structure, grammar or punctuation.  It’s about the artistic action of the writing instrument in the uniquely created hand of an individual, resulting in a distinctive pattern of loops and lines to convey thoughts, feelings, hopes and dreams.  The practice of penmanship generates masterpieces known as letters which are worth saving and, at some point in the future, savoring, as opposed to an email that can be deleted with a click, or a text message devoid of capitalization, vowels and articles in the new language of txtspk.

Writing is art, just as much as the expressed sentiments through it are.  And art is where we find the voice of the heart – rather than the soul-less informatics of Times New Roman.