Series Common Sense Media: Using Tablets for Teaching Sensitive Subjects

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Using Tablets for Teaching Sensitive Subjects

Lesson Objective: Use tablets to encourage participation from all students

All Grades / All Subjects / Participation

2 MIN

Discussion
Supporting Materials

Thought starters

How does Ms. Wu use the Common Core to help write objectives?
Ms. Wu says the Common Core allows her to have a common ground with students. Why is this important?
How can you adapt this strategy for different grade levels?

8 Comments

Kathleen Sanders May 25, 2023 10:03am

At EHS 2020, we had a student suicide and two unexpected teachers' death. Technology allows students to be supported privately and discreetly. Many students do not want to talk to people about their grieving and are uncomfortable expressing emotions. We had those students "attend" a mental health safety training as well as the staff. We are just now understanding the importance of this component of education. Students who are depresssed or in some other dysfunctional state, can not learn and may be in serious danger of self-harm or harm to others as the surge of school shootings has tragically demonstrated. It is the societies responsibility to present them with tools and technology is the best way to reach these disconnected children.

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Courtney Pentland Jun 12, 2013 9:18pm

First of all--thank you to everyone for their kind words! I really do love this strategy, because it is able to give students the chance to participate who may not be the first to answer, but it also requires EVERYONE to answer. It is very hard not to participate. And it is very, very easy to check for understanding. Susan--This strategy can easily be done low tech. In fact, this class is a special program within our school and the only ones with access to iPads. For my other classes, I just used small individual white boards. You can also use plastic picnic plates for a very frugal option.

Recommended (1)

Liz McCrary May 28, 2013 11:38am

Great strategy!

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Lane Walker May 24, 2013 11:10am

The idea of using technology for individual feedback is great. I'm looking at 1:07, middle right on the video. The presenter is advocating anonymity while this student looks over his shoulder to see what the other students are holding up. TI-navigators and tweets to Smartboard enable students to respond without anyone being able to see who wrote what. I'm thinking this tablet activity might be great, though, for skill quizzing. The teacher points to students as they hold up correct responses. Those students put their tablets down and stand in the back. After a period of time, the teacher says "Go" and those standing at the back come to the rescue of those still sitting. As a team, every student becomes proficient.

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Amanda Logan May 20, 2013 11:55pm

I LOVE this strategy in that you elicit a response from ALL learners in your environment! So often in education, we wait until the END of a lesson to see where our students are, or use traditional methods like Q & A or choral response (where it is easy to skate by without really engaging in the learning). Kudos to you for making your instruction RELEVANT to the real world - ALL students are benefitting from the IMPACT of the lesson segment :) Thank you for sharing,

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Materials

External Resource Materials

Lesson: Overexposed: Sexting and Relationships (9-12)

Transcripts

USING TABLETS WHEN TEACHING SENSITIVE SUBJECTS TRANSCRIPT

Strategy Transcript: Common Sense Media

Strategies: Using Technology to Teach Sensitive Subjects

(Courtney Pentland in Class)

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USING TABLETS WHEN TEACHING SENSITIVE SUBJECTS TRANSCRIPT

Strategy Transcript: Common Sense Media

Strategies: Using Technology to Teach Sensitive Subjects

(Courtney Pentland in Class)
The topic we’re discussing as I told you earlier is a little bit sensitive, so do need you to use your maturity, and your leadership skills as we look at this.

(Courtney Pentland Interview)
The strategy we use for teaching a sensitive topic is to give students and opportunity to respond with a sense of anonymity.

(Courtney Pentland in Class)
You are going to be using Screen Chomp to answer some questions that we’ll be doing group discussions with.

(Courtney Pentland Interview)
To give students a little bit of privacy with their answers, we ask them to write their answers down on an iPad app, or we’ve used white boards, or the can even do it on a piece of paper. And they hold the answer up so the teacher can see it, but not everyone else around them can see it. And that way they can still answer without fear of judgment or comments from anyone else around them

(Courtney Pentland in Class)
Sometimes people aren’t entirely sure what sexting is. Sexting is the sending or receiving of sexually explicit photos or videos by test message or other digital technologies.

(Courtney Pentland Interview)
Students who would maybe normally not say something, not raise their hand, just sit back and listen to the discussion are kind of forced to participate, and they hae to think about it and they have to have an answer. So it’s a way to get everyone involved in the conversation, not just the most talkative students that are in the room.

(Courtney Pentland in Class)
If you’re done writing, hold up your iPad so I can see it. (reading iPads). I don’t think I should but I still want to talk to you. Good. If you love me you wouldn’t make me. If you cared, you wouldn’t want that.

(Courtney Pentland Interview)
They were really trying to think of well, how would I say that? What would be something that would be a benefit or a drawback. They were very willing to share and talk about what we were discussing today with a great amount of maturity.

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