Invisible Potential: The Social Contexts of Technology in Three 9th-Grade ELA Classrooms

In this article, we consider how an ELA inquiry-based curriculum centered on technology provided avenues for students to share beliefs about their own identities and the world around them. Through classroom observations, interviews with students and teachers, and analysis of the work produced by students in three 9th-grade English classrooms, this study builds on existing assumptions about the role technology plays in schools. Rather than simply noting how technology enables and strengthens digital production practices and access in English classrooms, we argue that technology mediates student identities and helps students articulate the complex cultural experiences and beliefs that they bring daily into schools. Further, by exploring how student beliefs about identity and society were couched in statements about technology, this study connects English classroom discussions about technology to broader understandings of the world beyond schools. Through our analysis of student talk, student writing, and classroom observations, we identified three ways that students described technology. When engaging in the curriculum, students represented technology as invisible or in relation to humanity, and frequently explored the relationship between technology, society, and power. Ultimately, this study suggests that when considering how technology layers meanings of power within schools, we must view technology according to the domains in which it does and does not "count" in students' eyes. The implementation of technology in English classrooms is far more complicated than the utilization of tools. It is about power, student identity, and positioning.