Motivation

[The following paragraph--an excerpt from a paper debating whether Pellissippi should provide laptops to students--is by Gus Green, who just completed my English 1010/Freshman Composition I course.  It appears in its original version--as he submitted it to me.] 

               Computers would enhance educator’s abilities to communicate information, improving student’s success.  Often, teacher’s ways of presenting information in class does not effectively educate every student because of people’s varied learning styles.  For instance, I still have to review material in multiple ways to remember everything because the teacher talked the entire class or only wrote notes.  These ill thought out approaches don’t accommodate for the three different styles of learning,  including visual, auditory and kinesthetic.  Visual learners comprehend best by seeing written notes and writing content down (Ellis).  Auditory learners absorb information best by hearing it and talking out lout (Ellis).  Kinesthetic learners digest work the most by doing hands on activities or building three-dimensional representations (Ellis).  The addition of computers would help with engaging all the different styles.  In a recent research project teachers got encouraging results integrating technology into a New York school system.  During the experiment, fourth grade teacher Sarah Kougemitros used computers to aid her teaching by “blending online learning with traditional teaching” which “motivated” her students (Martinez).  Her kids read from a computer but had the choice to read it themselves or listen to a recorded version.  With the computer’s flexibility more students understood the material. This looks like a simple success but it helped aid students who normally “would zone out and not be engaged” (Martinez).  If integrated, computers would contribute needed interaction in Pellissippi classrooms creating an engaging learning experience.

Works Cited

Martinez, Barbara. “Blending Computers into Classrooms.” Wall Street Journal (online). (2010). ERIC.  Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

Ellis, Dave.  Becoming a Master Student. Ed. Dave Ellis. 13^th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2011.42-44. Print.