Technical School

People Clicker

One of our local schools has introduced iPads for its kindergartners. That's nice. Some educators, especially the ones who own Apple stock, have declared that the grown-up toy of choice has proven effective in "short term literacy impact," whatever that is. I think it means the kindergartners no longer have to wash their hands after finger painting. They'll be rubbing their hands on the screen of the iPad.
There's another great improvement popping up in our elementary schools. No, they haven't conquered head lice yet, but in the meantime, some lucky students get "clickers."

Dog Clicker

I thought a clicker was a little noise maker used to prevent teachers from injuring their vocal chords while screaming at their students. They are used to train dogs and other living things. I had a teacher in the second grade who really had to use a clicker. Sister Mary Ethbina was about 75 and had no voice left to yell with, but if you heard that clicker you shut up. The teeny clicking sound might as well have been the sound of her cocking a Colt 45 and aiming it across the classroom. Very effective.
Today's classroom clicker is an electronic "learner response device." In layman's terms, that translates to "a single brain cell" which is the device it replaces. A teacher, now known as an educator, used to ask a question, and we, the children, now known as "literacy targets," jumped and waved our hands to respond. NOBODY talked aloud. With the invention of the electronic clicker, the literacy target, let's call him "Johnny," will simply poke a few buttons on the remote device, and the educator will record the answers of all students electronically to the Library of Congress.
What the educator might miss is that Johnny is actually texting on his smartphone, and has just arranged the sale of the educator's $200 Ray-Ban sunglasses that he lifted when he placed the juicy apple on the teacher's desk.