Design Constraints
“I can’t use technology, and this is why.” This concept is the refrain that is starting to become more and more common as I go into classrooms. I’m very blessed to work with folks who truly do want to use technology to help their students learn, but based on their constraints, they don’t feel like there is any way to make it happen. Specifically in my setting, I have a group of teachers who teach in our Structured English Immersion program (which means a strict number of minutes have to be applied to language instruction during the day--i.e., most of them) in addition to being required to teach our adopted Engage New York curriculum, to the letter of the script. These two things together take essentially all of the time in the day, and they feel like there is no way to incorporate technology in addition to their other requirements. Teachers as Engineers As I’ve pondered this conundrum, and witnessed teachers in other rooms doing amazing things with technology DESPITE these cha