CENTERSPREAD
tweet, tweet | Junior Macy Trujillo takes a break from studying to text a friend during a free period in science teacher Amy Carlson’s classroom. Trujillo says she often lets her phone distract her from her school work. photo by KATE SCOFIELD
be a “prominent thinker they aren’t going to have to know innovative technologies in order to be successful.” “One of the great things about [STA] is that teachers have the freedom to develop the education in each classroom in unique ways; you can’t draw the line without infringing on some of that freedom,” Tonnies said. “[As a result] it’s what makes our classes here so good.” However, Tonnies thinks that this freedom for teachers needs to be carefully used, considering that he sees benefits in both kinds of learning: technological or not. "Where St. Teresa’s should want to go is a carefully chosen balance between the appropriate amount of technology and the appropriate amount of choosing to not use technology because there’s benefits to both,” Tonnies said. “
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Both Tonnies and Blake agree that technology affects STA outside of the classroom by causing students to lose some of the skills involved in face to face conversation and communication skills. “We should be really careful about [using technology] in the St. Teresa’s setting because our sense of self is involved, our sense of spirituality is involved and our sense of community is involved,” Tonnies said. “A good example of that is the new advisory phone rule. Cell phones at school interrupt community, they interrupt relationship building and they interrupt the sense of self within that community.” Tonnies also believes that as STA moves forward, our community should continue to ask ourselves one question: Why do we all physically come to STA every day? “If we aren’t utilizing the fact that we
the Dart | dartnewsonline.com | 11 September 2015
are physically present [at STA], then we may have forgotten what’s beneficial about all of us being here,” Tonnies said. “There’s incredible value to all of us being here, and I hope that as more and more of our education at St. Teresa’s becomes digital, we continue to respect and acknowledge the value of being here.” Blake agrees, as she sees in-class time as an opportunity for deeper learning and interactions between students and a teacher. “It’s in the classroom where I can help them apply [terminology from video lectures] to more hands-on [work],” Blake said. “For me personally, I could never go back to the way I taught before, because technology is that important,” Blake said. “It is important for me, it is important for my students and for their future.”H