Everybody wants to play Mozart

Everybody wants to play Mozart, nobody wants to play Twinkle Twinkle.

This is what proponents of technology use in schools seem to be proposing. I know they aren't suggesting students should skip learning to multiply before doing calculus but with all the talk about SAMR and TIMS and how technology should be integrated into classrooms, it is easy to get that idea. Taken out of context or out of application, pushing technology for the sake of technology can be destructive to the learning and the teaching process.

Even PBL, which promotes the use of projects to teach all subjects, occasionally refers to the time teachers need to teach a concept and for students to practice those concepts. Unrestrained or uneducated administrators and teachers might get the idea that SAMR should be applied in all instances. This puts undo pressure on the teacher and diminishes the value of the teaching process. Teachers need to be taught that they are still needed to teach but also taught when to let go and allow students to be creative. I will say as I always do that technology is a tool that only works when correctly used where needed.

Teaching and practicing Twinkle Twinkle, multiplication tables, sentence structure and other basics are necessary before students can move on to Mozart, multi-step problems, and writing paragraphs. I just hope people realize it is also necessary before students move on to technology use and more creative endeavors.