Going Paperless in the Classroom

Is it possible to go paperless in the classroom? After reading this article I now believe it's a question of when.


Green schools: Classroom experiment
GSL teacher asks students to go paperless

By Marci Woodmansee / Special to My Life

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Problem: Wasted teaching time spent photocopying countless student worksheets at a cranky old copier

Need: To be more efficient while also fulfilling greener initiatives implemented internally at Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal School (GSL)

Solution: Try an interesting experiment.

One day in January, Middle School English and Latin instructor Kimberly White issued an unexpected challenge to her students. "Once I said it out loud, I knew there would be no going back!" White recalls with a smile. "But I told them I wanted us to try going paperless for the rest of the year."

White had been considering the idea of a paperless classroom for some time. With the help of a continually growing number of online teaching tools such as Livebinder, Classmarker, Quizlets, Prezi, Glogster, Wallwisher, Mindmeister and the suite of products that are part of Google Docs, she had most of the tools she would need. That along with infinite amounts of patience.

"My husband (GSL computer instructor Jeff White) is the one who inspired me to do this," she explains. "He doesn't use paper in his computer class, so I wanted to see if I could do it, too. I asked him how he managed it, and he just told me (in his driest voice), 'I. Just. Don't. Use. Paper.' Plus, it's 2011, not 1985. With the technology that GSL has for its teachers and students, there's not a single reason in the world why I should be chained to the copy machine."

So in they plunged. White kept a blog to track the project's progress.

Excerpts from Paperless Blog, Week 1:

White: "Ok, kids, open up the computers, log in to Google Docs and figure out how to share a document with me. How many of you have used this program before?"

Student 1: "I saw my brother use it one day."

Student 2: "Google what???"

Student 3: "Nope, never done it."

White: "See if you can figure it out."

(insert the sound of talking and typing, laughing ...) 45 seconds pass

Student 3: "I'm done."

Student 4: "Me, too."

Students 5-8: "Yep, check. Done. Ditto, Mrs. Whizzle."

White: "Are you sure you've never done this before?"

White admits that while they got off to a great start, not every day was smooth sailing. "There were times when we ran into trouble, but it has gotten easier each day," she explains. "With Google docs, I can view students' work from anywhere, anytime, and even while they are working on things. One student was doing homework one night and I popped into his document to say "Hi." He wrote back something like, 'Um, Mrs. White, this is freaking me out!' And I said, 'Then don't copy and paste straight from Wikipedia right in front of me next time!' And the fact that I can tell by tracking a document whether or not a student worked on something more than once, or if they waited until the night before it was due to tackle it -- that is really nice. It takes away some of the excuses."

Despite the speed bumps they hit along the way, White considers the experiment an unequivocal success. "I haven't run off a single thing since January," she says. "Everyday, my students are thinking critically, troubleshooting their own machines, and becoming creative problem solvers. They are constantly working together and learning lifelong skills for their lives after GSL. After all, they're 'screenagers.' They feel most comfortable with a computer, an iPad or an iPod in front of them. The key is not to give them the same applications to use every time. You do have to keep doing different things. And I move around the classroom a lot more than I used to."

For White, this experiment has solidified her belief that teaching with just a pencil and paper can no longer suffice. "We cannot stop there," she says. "Students who cannot type or navigate a computer will be left behind. One of the best days in English class was when we all shared one Google presentation document and made individual slides with examples of the different kinds of irony. By the end of the period, we had a 27-slide document that students could review the night before their test. Another plus is that kids don't have to remember papers, binders, and pencils for class. They come to class with their textbook and have no trouble finding their work in Google Docs. Everything is in one place and not buried at the bottom of their book bag or floating somewhere in lost and found."

Ultimately, White says, it's about giving them the skills they need in the 21st century. "Trying new things, troubleshooting, knowing your way around a computer, being a savvy Internet user, and coming up with different ways to do things -- these are the goals I want my students to get out of this."

White recently presented her paperless classroom experiment at the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools (TAIS) conference.

"It was great to have IT people at the TAIS conference saying, 'This was the best presentation I've seen all day'," White said. "This year we are all paperless. I have a SMARTboard now, so that's a super way to engage students paperlessly. I am delighted at how well the seventh-graders have taken to it so early in the year."

To see how White's experiment is progressing, visit nomorepaperjams.blogspot.com.

Marci Woodmansee is a communications associate at Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal School.


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