Friday, February 06, 2009

Why Do I Hate Paper?

I was asked recently why I am so against using paper in the classroom.

I'm not.

I'm into letting kids make paper airplanes. And construct buildings and mazes out of paper. And shoot hoops at the trashcan with paperballs. I'm into letting them draw on big pieces of paper with charcoal and having them get their hands dirty. I'm into dog-eared paperbacks creeping out of their pockets and I'm into letters and personal notes and thank-yous and miss-yous and get-wells scribbled on scrap-paper.

It's not paper I'm against.

I'm against the static idea of knowledge that paper so often represents.

That's not where the future is.

I post online all of the sorts of assignments that I used to have kids turn in on paper, not because I want them to use technology or because I don't want them to use paper. I do this because online assignments are naturally dynamic. I do this because that's what the kids understand. They are already living the post-paper knowledge life. They understand that in the future, (and the future is now), knowledge is dynamic and collaborative.

Ideas brought forth in a dynamic environment should not be 'written on paper', in the symbolic sense. In other words, they should not be thought of as singular and final products to be graded and filed away; rather, ideas are always in flux and current to debate and change and this is a good thing, an innovative thing, and cooperative interactive online docs with no fixed 'due date' are more natural to use in this environment of thinking -- that is they are more an extension of this type of thinking -- than a piece of paper kept in one's folder smooshed in the grimy depths of one's bookbag could ever be.

That leaves time to do good stuff with paper. Like making airplanes. And footballs. All kinds of creative things. And everything else.

16 comments:

  1. I use Blogging and Wikispaces in my middle school scoical studies classes. It has been wonderful. The students seem to bite into the assignments and discussions with much less resistance.

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  2. You are so right!

    "It's not paper I'm against.
    I'm against the static idea of knowledge that paper so often represents.
    That's not where the future is."

    I hope you don't mind if I quote you.

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  3. I think that kind of flexibility is important. I personally have a problem reading much more than 2 or 3 pages of text online, while its easy to read 200 to 300 offline.

    I also find that getting writing started with pen and paper is easier for me than using a word processor. I like the ability to sketch out my ideas on paper first...even as I dislike having to re-transcribe it once I'm done.

    Great post.

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  4. you know, I deeply appreciate your spirited defense of a paperless classroom, and from the greenest part of my soul, I agree. But I have been working as a copywriter for years now and I find that I can't read as well online, that my eyes get all wonky, that I feel my mind does not concentrate as well when i work online, that I am prone to surf, wander, and get lost in all the colors and lights. I often have to print my work to see the errors. Some very deep animal part of me feels that working on a computer and bathing in wireless constantly is bad for me. Perhaps I am a luddite and destined for the human trash heap but you must have some empathy for folk like me.

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  5. Lots of great ideas here. It's amazing how computers are changing our lifestyles.

    dsi r4

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  6. Interesting post. Thanks for sharing your ideas.

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  7. I really love getting deep down into a subject, and everyone has their own opinion and here is mine; I think that this is great but,,.. your still using all that electricity to use the computers all the time so is it really THAT green? the answer is no.

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  8. Pocket notebooks + pen don't need batteries.

    People like to read, and write notes in the margin to assist the learning process.

    Don't be hatin.

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  9. Ideas written on paper are not necessarily static. But your larger point is well taken. The collaborative venture you speak about is more dynamic if only because it is more broadly accessible in the online medium and invites participation that is more immediate too. And this makes possible different ways to give expression to thinking.

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  10. It does not have to be either or, does it? I get tons of communication on wasted paper daily but there is a clean side on most of those memos, letters home, ETC Re-using those papers is the green thing to do. Paper lends itself to many activities that the online medium does not and vice-versa. For this teacher, organization of all of those papers is overwhelming. In the dynamic environment of a true place of learning, if we are in the moment, papers are lost. I hate the time wasted looking for those papers. With an online medium, even lost ideas and creations can be retrieved. It works wonders for that classroom which may be deemed as a scattered by the observing autocrat but may otherwise be the real thing they claim to be looking for, dynamic learning. For my part, the online medium keeps me feeling organized while allowing my students and I to think together, learn together, and create. I just wish I had a computer at every desk rather than a cart or a lab. Perhaps the billlionare boys club could fund that.

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  11. Your first paragraph and beautifully and eloquently written. But I agree with Nate and a few others. Flexibility is important! The concept of paper conveying a finality is just a matter of perspective. Change the perspective....not the paper.

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  12. I totally agree with all you said here.I also hate writing on paper and not using the computer.Let's hope your opinion will be better promoted on this blog.
    cooper stt
    Thanks for your effort.

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  13. I believe there is a place for both paper and technology. Being in education for 20 years you come to realize that students learn in different ways. Technology is the wave of the future and I do agree we waste too much paper, however, not all things are best done online. I believe this topic is not all or nothing, but what is best for the student.

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  14. Hi.I like your idea.I might use this for my own students because we have to give to the students a better way to learn.So ,thank you for your effort and for posting this great article

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  15. Just wondering, but how can you teach math using Wiki or Blogging? I'd be interested in some ideas as my campus tries to go paperless. ☺

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