For your blog post this week, I want you to reflect on the reading from the Introduction and Chapters 1 & 2 in the Personal Learning Network book.
The Introduction and Chapter 1 focus on how technology's role in education is constantly changing and what we can do to keep up with it. I have been in the educational field for less than 10 years but in that short time I have seen tremendous changes. Richardson and Mancabelli summed it up best when they said, "At this moment, the average educator between the ages of twenty-five and sixty-five was born into a world with no world wide web, no cell phones, no smartphones and few (if any) portable personal computers. As recently as 2000, most schools were still places where the term technology meant the glow of the overhead projector or the teacher's desktop computer…" When I started teaching I had an overhead projector and 2 classroom computers. When I created documents for my students or parents, I thought I was pretty cool when I added a picture border to my document. Now, I find myself in a room with a SMARTboard, 6 laptops, a teacher laptop, and a document camera, with access to much much more. I feel like I got my teaching degree at a crucial time when all of these changes were getting ready to happen, so we really weren't prepared for them while in college.
I found myself thinking today about reform vs. transformation and realize that much of what we are still doing is reform. We are trying to figure out how to make the technology fit into what we have always done. Taking baby steps towards transformation. In working with one of our 5th grade teachers who is in a full eMINTS classroom (in 3rd grade we are eMINTS for all), I have seen the great things they are doing to get the students to show their knowledge with the use of technology. I would love to take some of these things head on, but as our book pointed out, there isn't always quality PD offered on these topics at our schools. Too much of the talk now is the switch to Common Core and new MAP testing. Sadly technology has taken a back seat to these topics.
I'm a little ashamed to admit it but my favorite part of Chapter 2 was explaining how to use Twitter as part of a PLN. I get using it for communication, and keeping in touch, but people kept talking about collaborating with it, and using it for PD and I just didn't understand how you can do that in 140 characters or less. I do have a twitter account but mostly follow pop culture and news sources and use it when I am bored. I am excited to now start to start building a professional community within this resource.
I enjoyed reading your post and especially liked your view on reform vs. transformation in schools. I'm glad you mentioned districts just trying to make technology fit into their existing curriculum. I think many districts are guilty of this practice. I also enjoyed your comments on Twitter. I actually have never used Twitter, but I found an article about Using Twitter in School and have attached the link below. I'm anxious to begin the Twitter Project next week to explore its other uses in the classroom.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.scilearn.com/blog/using-twitter-school-four-ways-students-teach-connect.php
I agree with you when you say technology often takes a backseat.. I think sometimes we are so overwhelmed by just getting content out to our students we don't have time to change what we have already mastered or incorporate it into an existing plan. I feel overwhelmed sometimes by the amount of content that needs covered in a short time, much less add or change what I have already done. I think a lot of instructors feel the same way and are reluctant to change because of this. They are comfortable with delivering content the same way as they always have, so why change and create more work. I have to admit I was the same way, we teach what we know or how we were taught. I didn't grow up in the technology age, or have a computer with internet even my first few years of college or when I started teaching for that matter , so to incorporate new into what I know is sometimes difficult.
ReplyDeleteJennifer I agree with you on your statement regarding chapter 2. I am so excited to learn more about how I can not only use Twitter in my personal life, but as an educator as well. I have never really put much effort into it because it just seems like one more thing to look at. The more I learn about Twitter, the more I realize that it can be very beneficial to me as an educator.
ReplyDeleteJennifer I am so glad you brought up the glow of the overhead. I remember having to use that daily in class. I disliked that glow so much.... and still do. In college I would please to have a classroom for student teaching and a teacher who had a Promethean Board and would show me how to use it and she used the Promethean in her classroom for every class period. I learned so much from her... that I was sad to leave. When you talk about reform I fully agree with you. I am not sure if the reform is coming from the under 30 teachers, but I know seeing it first hand in different schools and hearing from friends how older teachers are not even willing to use the technology in their classrooms with their students.
ReplyDeleteWith this being said I think lifetime certifications should be taken away in teaching and teachers of any age should have to continue to take classes and be mandated to take technology classes. Not even to teach technology, but to learn how to use it or their own personal use for the classroom. Then go a step farther and start incorporating it into the classroom. My thoughts are if a 5yr old can use a computer and download apps on the Iphone and Ipad then the same should go for an educator.
There is not a lot of Profession Development opportunities options out there for teachers to go to which introduce a lot of these topics we are learning about and how to incorporate them.