My 8th new voice is: Lynn. Lynn is a Learning & Development professional with 20 years experience in the corporate sector. Currently studying an MA in Coaching & Mentoring. Looking to develop a social network for mutual reflection & learning. I found her blog after finding her profile on Explode. She has short but interesting and provocative posts discussing various topics dealing with technology and learning. Her blog Learning has many interesting topics and, considering she has only been doing this for a very short period of time, she seems to have developed some good blogging habits. Drop by and give one a read.
ULearning
A-Z Learning & DevelopmentInvisible or Familiar
Enjoy the reading!
Previously – Susan Funk , missprofe, Steven Michaluk, Jeff Boulton, Kimberly Moritz, Carolyn Foote, Janet Clarey
Last week, we had a very hectic schedule at our school. Somewhere along the way we almost double-booked our Tuesday night with drama and parent-student-teacher conferences. At this point, I decided that we should move away from the classic form of letting each other know what was going on, which is to tell the secretary all the dates that things are happening, she puts them on her calendar and then the rest check. I suggested that we use pbwiki and our own site to publish all events in the school. I ended up with a bunch of backlash, people complaining of having to do “one-more-thing” and other such complaints. Now, usually I can handle this type of rebuff but for some reason that day I couldn’t. I like to know what is going on because it is important to me. I think that being able to see all the different things happening at the school is important to all the teachers. So I pouted.
Yes folks, I, as administrator felt sorry for myself and pouted. Now, it didn’t last too long and I got over things. Some other people suggested we try it but there was not a unanimous decision and it was dropped. So, today, I brought it up again only this time, instead of wording it as an option, I suggested that, for the sake of everyone in the school, all events are to be added to the calendar. The routine is to put it on the calendar and tell our secretary not necessarily
in that order. There has been a link icon made for the teacher’s desktop so all they have to do is click and go. Because we are using the pbwiki site, the calendar is also compatible with my ical so I have all the information from school on my personal calendar so that I can see what is happening and can quite triple booking myself.
As the educational leader in my school, I use concensus decision-making and, as a group, we tend to work towards doing the will of the group. However, when it comes to technology, we’re just not doing much. Now, I see the tremendous possibilities to using technology and am using pbwiki for my own class. As I grow more comfortable with the tool, I can see that it will provide valuable assistance to me and students in developing their ideas and looking at areas that they are interested in while still maintaining a curricular focus. The calendar function is very easy to use and really provides an awesome idea of
what is going on. I’ve had the staff wiki going for about 3 weeks and there are some who are checking out the calendar but it is not reaching its potential.
Today, as I skimmed over the various blogs, one that caught my eye was Bill MacKenty’s post on how to make technology work in education. Bill listed three things that will create more use of technology.
The effective use of technology in education depends on three things:
1) The relationship of the teacher to the technology
2) Effective and real in-class support for technology use
3) Relevant and real connections between content and the technology.
Now, I’m not going to discuss the merits of the above. You can check out the post for that. What got me thinking about all this was Dean Shareski’s post his work with teachers and technology. I think what they are doing is tremendous but what really
caught my attention was this
It’s noteworthy that Ev, who is a teacher of 30 years is, retiring this year. She is doing so somewhat reluctantly because she is feeling like she is just on the verge of exploring a new way of teaching and learning for her students. She is a true learner.
How is it we have teachers in their 30 years that are willing to go and try and learn and, and yet we get young teachers, as indicated in Will Richardson’s blog about a conversation with some beginning teachers, that aren’t. The part I like is
The general sense from the group was “yeah, but” once again. Yeah, but we have these kids who are going to abuse these technologies if we open them up. Yeah, but we’re going to be out there on our own if we decide to use these technologies. Yeah, but I don’t have enough time to make this a part of my own practice. Yeah, but, etc. (And please, if any of those in attendance are reading this, feel free to chime in.) At one point I said something along the lines of “you know, there’s a lot of pressure on you in my circles because many people think nothing is going to change until the old guard retires out and you guys take over.” Well, that didn’t float very well.
The comments that follow are worth the read as are the one’s that Dean pulls out. So, where does this leave us? Pouting!
Well, that is where it left me for awhile when I saw the resistance that people were having to this technology thing. I then started to think that we need to do what is best for the students. We need to make decisions, not on what is comfortable for us but what will be best for our students and their learning and their future. So, as Kimberly over at G-Town Talks has said
I’m completely exasperated by the collective resistance to change in every arena. Why is it so incredibly hard? Why are so many people completely comfortable residing in the status quo? I agree with Dan, the current teacher candidates probably became teachers because they’re comfortable in the system as it is. I should start trying to hire teachers who weren’t successful in school. I’ll add interview questions that ask, “what did you hate when you were in school and why?” “What do you want to do differently?” “What do you think and what are you curious about?”
I know our teacher candidates aren’t any farther ahead than we are–it takes curiosity, guts, and determination–and that’s available at any age.
Well, Dean is seeing this with his work. I, too, see that teachers will embrace the technologies but they want it to be something that will add to what they do and not require extra-ordinary amounts of time.
Well, pouting didn’t help. It didn’t look good either, my lip hangs down way too much. So, I decided that sometimes, as an educational leader, I need to take teachers
where they don’t necessarily want to go. We now are officially using the calendar. I’m tracking the number of people who visit to see how it is being used. Last week, I had an incentive for all staff – a draw for one person to receive $50 worth of classroom supplies and you had to have your page into me in one day. It worked, everyone entered. But that isn’t the answer:(
Are we stalled? How do we develop that critical mass in the face of all the testing and data-driven decision making models making the rounds (what alliteration!!! ) As administrators, what options do we have as we watch our teachers face the onslaught of testing? What chance do the newbies have when they are critiqued by how well students do on their test results?
By no means am I thinking that this will go away but, facing the changes that are taking place in society and the resistance to change we are experiencing in education, what is needed to spur things along? Many thought that the retiring of the old guard would do that. Indications are – NOT! So, that leaves us looking at ways to get more teachers to feel like Eva – on the edge of something great. Man, I wish the pouting had done it because that would have been so simple. Hey, it works for my 4 year old sometimes. But he’s cuter when he does it. Maybe we need to get Daniel Pink’s “A Whole New Mind” to become standard reading for all people involved in education so we can at least begin the conversation.
As I look forward to Easter Break, I know that I’ll be pondering this as I look towards next year, wondering what we need to do to increase the use of these tools. I’ll also be finishing a few books and doing some other things. But I know the week will pass quickly and when we return, staffing and school course selection will be hot topics. I thought March Madness was over Dave!
