Let me explain... I am working in a school that has extremely high test scores. The teachers are great and the students are amazing. My title is Technology Instructional Partner and I work side by side with teachers as they use technology in their classrooms.
There are many teachers who really want to use technology. For a few it comes easily and even if I weren't there they would figure out how to do things and even write grants
to get equipment if necessary. There is a second layer of teacher that is open to use technology, but needs a little carrot or stick to help them to move. It is great sitting with this type of teacher and brainstorming ways to use technology that really enhance their curricular goals. There are two other types of teachers (at least). There are those who do not want to use technology or consider themselves too old to learn new things. Then there are those who are totally focused on their subject teaching enthusiastically and effectively without technology. This is the teacher-type that I am wondering about. If they are already getting top scores on the test; if they are teaching in an active and engaging way and emphasizing higher thinking from Blooms Taxonomy; if there is technology in their classrooms which is never used; why should I spend time and energy making them change? What if their test scores go down? What if they are not able to cover all of the curriculum the way that they used to without technology? What if they are frustrated instead of receiving energy from trying it out?
Somehow I know that they are cheating out their students and themselves by not using technology more. I just need more of a solid conviction that it is worth doing and maybe some suggestions for how to approach it. I hope I hear from some of my readers. (if there still are any!)
Thanks to yewenyi for use of the photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/yewenyi/300115429/
6 comments:
I feel your pain! Trying to convince some teachers that are stuck in their ways that using technology is beneficial can be tiresome! But keep pushing!
Showing them some examples of work other students have done using technology might be a way to motivate them to try using it as well!
Good Luck!
Thanks for your thoughts Christina. I really don't feel too much pain about this... mostly confusion. Why should a teacher change who is successful? The students that leave this teacher say that she was the best teacher they have ever had and inspired them in her subject, but she really has no use for the SMARTBoard in her room!!!
Thanks for the encouragement. I will keep trying!
Janice
An additional and helpful insight:
If a teacher is really great maybe what I need to think about it their responsibility as a leader in the profession. As a leader they really DO need to understand how technology can be used. They should be able to evaluate what it is possible to do so that they can share it with other teachers.
What a wonderful post. I too am going through that at my school; I'm the "Director of Technology" (which up until now has meant I fix broken internet switches and teach teachers how to use DLP projectors), but more and more I think we need a curricular change in how we approach technology in our school. I'm afraid that the teachers will scoff at the idea of using more technology--it just seems logical.
Here is a quote from a student when I asked them if our school should use more technology, "I don't understand much about technology, but I understand that the world is using more and more of it."
How poignant is that?
Interesting quote from the student! I recently attended TCEA (The Texas Computer Educators Association conference in Austin) and I have decided that the thing to do is to choose ONE thing and prepare to actually teach it to a class. I can decide what to teach by looking at benchmark scores, so I choose something that is of value to a teacher. We will see how that goes...
I want to add something that a colleague said that I think is really important. She said that there are many jobs where you can ignore technology and it does not matter, but teachers HAVE a responsibility to keep learning. It is a part of their job. The excellent teacher who continues doing what she has done for the last 10 years is doing the kids a disservice even if the kids are engaged and doing well on tests.
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