The big part of a student’s entire school life is learning; making sure he or she understands the topic at hand before moving on with their peers. However, throughout the years the way students have learned has differentiated from what others would’ve done in the past. Books have always been the go-to when it comes to learning, textbook studying is now considered old school, where technology learning has become the new norm through districts. Yet textbook learning can be beneficial when technology fails, but it all depends on how the student learns best.
The teachers here at St. Louis High School provide the students they teach with many curriculums, all being taught in their own unique ways to keep students engaged. With advances in technology, many teachers have moved their method of teaching to lean more on technology. A teacher who utilizes technology in her lessons is finance teacher Mrs. Biehl. Her lesson on the ongoing budget challenge is a fully online learning experience, but she also utilizes book work with the use of the Dave Ramsey program albeit the answers to the book are in a video. Biehl said, “For me, I like a combination. It seems to be more effective keeping students engaged when you have variety in your lessons. I am sure some classrooms are successful utilizing just one, but for the subjects I teach, this works best.” She added, “I do not think it would be as effective doing the budget challenge in a book. With the simulation in Budget Challenge, students have to do things online like they would have to do in real life. Managing a bank account, credit card and paying bills is something that is done online. The simulation lets students experience this.”
Not all teachers use the technological equipment they were given, opting instead to use books to show students understanding of the text in an easy way. Not everything has to be complicated, and sometimes technology can make no sense. Mr. Nehmer, the economics teacher doubles as a history teacher and prefers to use the books to assign homework. Nehmer said, “I prefer books because I don’t trust online as much. However, I do think it’s good for some variety.”
As long as the student is getting the required information from the lesson at hand in a memorable way, the method of learning is one that works out well. Each student has different learning styles, some being hands-on while others prefer to highlight their books to go back to later when filling out the questions at the end of the chapter. No matter what side of the spectrum of learning somebody falls on, all teachers have their own teaching style and deserve the respect for putting in the time and effort to make the lessons more fun and engaging which gets young adults ready for the world they are soon to enter.
