All classes should integrate computers

A recent letter writer seems to be making the same mistake that educators have been making since the first computers entered the schools ["Schools need better computer teachers," Jan. 3]. Schools don't need computer teachers with professional information technology certification. Computing is not something that should be taught as a separate subject. Rather, the smart use of technology needs to be seamlessly integrated into every teacher's lessons and assignments.

When the first Apple 2 and Commodore 64 computers arrived in schools, they were immediately co-opted by math and science teachers, and courses in computer programming became the rage. Whose idea was it that all students needed to learn Basic programming so that they could draw a box on the screen? And later, when history and English teachers brought classes to a computer lab, they used the computers merely to type essays.

I now teach an English methods course at Stony Brook University. My students are teachers in training, who have to log 100 hours of field experience in secondary classrooms. They tell me that they see very little smart use of technology, and if they do, teachers feel stymied by blocked websites and administrators who don't see the value of technology. My students report lots of Smart Boards and other interactive white boards collecting dust in classrooms or used occasionally for low-level learning activities with games such as "Jeopardy!''

The letter writer and others need to stop being "computer teachers" and start being subject teachers who fully comprehend and implement the intelligent use of Web 2.0 tools to stretch the minds of their 21st century students. School districts need better professional development in integrating technology into subject areas, and schools of education need to do a much better job of preparing and supporting their graduates.

Michael LoMonico

Stony Brook

Editor's note: The writer is a former high school English teacher.