Another Random Blog Article … that will likely be misunderstood

Bloggers Cafe in SecondLifeLately, I have had a number of opportunities to speak to education leaders: superintendents, school board members, and yesterday, to district curriculum and technology leaders, mostly from Long Island, New York.  It was the 2020 Vision Now Summit, held in Melville, NY.  The audience was predominantly district superintendents, assistant superintendents, and some directors of technology.

Most of these addresses afforded time at the end for questions from the audience, an experience that I’ve found to be quite educational.  One surprise has been the lack of interest in Internet safety.  This concerns me, as Internet safety continues to be an extremely important issue.  But it also heartens me, as it seems that  we are starting to get past the scare tactics of institutions and industries, in whose interest it is to generate fear.

One question that I consistently get is,  “How do we train teachers to work with today’s information and communications technologies?”  I don’t quite understand this.  It’s probably my own very unique perspective, my outside the box mentality, my own success as a learner, and less success as a student.  But this just doesn’t seem like such a big problem to me.

It’s completely understandable that educators, with the institutional culture that we work in, would attack the problem by asking, “How are we going to teach this to teachers?”  But yesterday, I asked the audience, of almost 300, to raise their hands if they could say that they learned at least half of what they do with technology by teaching themselves — and almost every hand went up. 

I think that it’s part of the job.  It is my job, as a teacher, to be able to teach today — to be skilled at using today’s information technologies within today’s information environments and apply pedagogies that reflect today’s information environments.  We suffer from the myths of old world education, that you go to school so that you will be prepared for the next 30 or 35 years.  But the teacher we are at graduation from college, is not necessarily the teacher we need to be five years later.  Those days are long behind us — and I think that the job has become a whole lot more exciting as a result.

Formal staff development is important.  We all need new ideas, new energy, new inspiration.  Districts and service agencies should continue to make available any kind of professional development opportunities that are successful.  But it’s still the job of the teacher to be competent to teach in the classrooms that today’s students need.

Certainly, the situation is far more complex than this.  Teachers do not have nearly enough time, nor enough compensation.  They do not have the resources, and many resources are actually blocked from access.  They are expected to do so much more than teach, and they are held responsible within conditions that are often entirely beyond their control.  I’ve often said that the very best thing we could do to improve teaching and learning is to give teachers the time.  Every teacher should have one hour of on-the-job professional time for every hour they spend in instructional supervision.

So, I think that if we can simplify the question of staff development by saying that, “It’s part of the job of the teacher to continue to grow,” then we can get on with the far more interesting question, “What does the school and classroom look like where learning is what you see happening, not teaching — where learning stops being a job, and, instead, becomes a lifestyle.”

Now, on to this weeks K12 Online Conference sessions. 


Image Citation:
Bretag, Ryan. “The Bloggers Cafe.” Ryan Bretag’s Photostream. 13 Jul 2007. 16 Oct 2007 <http://flickr.com/photos/educationaltechnologist/804841708/>.

17 thoughts on “Another Random Blog Article … that will likely be misunderstood”

  1. “What does the school and classroom look like where learning is what you see happening, not teaching — where learning stops being a job, and, instead, becomes a lifestyle.”

    Well said.

    Maybe the answer is–trust your teachers–provide them with time–built into the schedule–invite them to come learn–and see what happens?

  2. David,

    Sounds great… but the barriers you mention are still very much there. So… when you get asked that question, are you coming back at those people with the question — what are you doing in your school to set up system and structures that enable teachers to be life-long learners?

    — Chris

    1. Sometimes I do, somethings I don’t have to. It comes up in the conversation. I think that the realization is there. What’s not is the freedom…

  3. David,

    Perhaps they are unconcerned about safety because they trust in their filters too much…or because most collaborative and interactive sites are blocked.

    I’d be curious to know what percentage of the administrators you addressed let their professional staff choose PD themes or workshops. Our district continues to decide for us what we need to know, in a one-size-fits-all schedule for Superintendent Day activities.

    Give me some time and space, and I can learn (almost) anything! And once I learn, I can help my students learn – and they can help me.

  4. It’s a good question about who plans the PD. I know that many do survey the teachers. But I know that much of it comes from state and local mandates.

  5. If people are asking “How do we train teachers to work with today’s information and communications technologies?” then it means they have completely missed the point of the use of new technologies in learning.

    And the point is: people use these technologies to educate themselves now. They don’t need to be ‘trained’. At most, they require some good examples and maybe som demonstrations. The rest they can do themselves by practicing with the technology and by conversing among themselves as a reflective learning community.

  6. As an administrator who has been actively involved in “new literacies” I hear something different in the question they asked. Yes I believe in just in time learning and I get technology as a tool that we use to teach ourselves. I agree as educators it is our responsibility to be learners. But with all that said I still have trouble helping teachers make this a priority. It is so comfortable to do things the way we always have…So maybe the question is not so much how do we train them but rather the underlying question is how do we get them to want to learn..We teach ourselves when we need to know so how do we create an environment that encourages a need to know how….

  7. Time is one of the issues, but how about we drag Vigotsky into it? When teachers *do* have time, we are either on prep all by ourselves, or at home late at night, again, by ourselves. The most useful time I spend on the computer, in terms of learning and discovering, is usually when I’m with someone else, whether we’re working on the same issue, or not. Usually, though, the time many teachers spend together is not given to playing with the tools, experimenting, testing, bouncing ideas off of each other…

  8. A teacher in one of my PD sessions just informed me that she is 52 and that all of this (technology, software, etc.) is so foreign to her. She has dealt with new technologies by having her own children “fix it” for her. Now that they are moving out (I wonder why.) she doesn’t know what she’s going to do.

    I agree with you that teachers need to keep abreast of developments in education and technology. While districts should provide formal PD and time to learn and explore, some responsibility for “keeping up” should be accepted by teachers…no matter how old they are.

    Thanks for this post. It’s inspired a post of my own today.

  9. Zac,

    I started blogging just after my 60th birthday.

    That “too old to learn new things” excuse…the walls that are coming down are not just a metaphor for the limitation of the physical classroom space: they also refer to barriers of nationality, gender, and, yes, age!

  10. Modeling best practices by technology inclined teachers is a good way to start. Most teachers are not interested in looking for tools then learning how to use them on their own. However, many of them will ask about tools someone else is using.

    If you want real change there will be two ways this will get done. One, have technology proficiency tied to continued teaching certification and their paycheck. Two, wait until the digital natives take over the education system in about 20-30 years. State legislatures won’t do the first out of fear of either labor unions or making a critical shortage of teachers even worse. The second, it took over twenty years of books and staff developments for chalkboards to be adopted by teachers. Keep finding ways to continue the staff development.

  11. David,
    I’m in my fourth year of teaching and first as an ICT specialist. I learnt all my skills by playing. This term one of my extension groups (7 and 8 year olds) is making online games using Scratch. I’ve told them I have no idea how to use it (I’ve played on it for about 5 mins but at the moment I don’t want to know) and my kids are engaged, excited and motivated to be doing it. I have had three sets of parents (out of 11) come and tell me how excited their kids are to come to school Tuesday morning, that their kids have downloaded it at home and are teaching them how to use it.
    If only I could get the teachers at my school to do the same? Perhaps in my naivity I have been giving too much information to the teachers so that they haven’t been able to discover for themselves and have that sense of achievement…I have offered to run PD “how to sessions” but these offers haven’t been taken up. The excuse always seems to be “I don’t have time to play”. I like to play and discover new things, so it frustrates me when people say they don’t have time. Use that hour you sit in front of TV to have a play. You (touchwood) can’t break the computer.
    To see these kids learning how to figure out how to use another piece of software shows me that it can be done…
    Perhaps instead of the digital immigrants and digital natives we should rename them to the “how to” generation and the “play to” generation….just my thoughts

  12. I like your idea of job-embedded time for professional development, but sadly, that is viewed as too costly by most administrations. Self-directed learning for professional growth is the MOST effective and efficient way for teachers to grow in their profession, as you pointed out by surveying the teachers. And with web 2.0 tools, it has never been easier for teachers to participate in growth activities in their own time and in the areas they most need it. There are many of us who have witnessed exponential growth that has contributed to our teaching practices through our use of internet tools that permits establishment of networks of educators who can act as mentors, experts and fellow comrades who lend support. Our network is our filter (Tapscott) and we learn from the company we keep (Frank Smith)! Those of us who are experiencing benefit from our network need to continue to get the word out – as you have done so well, Dave!

  13. In the years that I have been doing professional development, I agree that we should not be teaching teacher the “how to” use the technology. It needs to be more… a bringing an understanding of the “why,” and an awareness of what is happening around them. The “how-to” will happen on its own, like it has for probably everyone reading this.

    Sometimes I feel the real professional development needs to not happen with our teachers and technology, but with our students and how they (the students) can be great teachers. We needs to end all this silly technology training and focus on turning students into teachers as fast as we can. Show them how to use the amazing tools to teach and lead one another. They already have tools part down. Could it be any more difficult to teach them how to be good teachers, than it is to teach teachers how to use technology 🙂

    …now back to planning that workshop for next month 😉

  14. Certainly good teachers do teach themselves. I agree with these posts that the notion of “training” is at least partially misplaced. But there are things that leaders must do to create the conditions for this. First, I think it is elementary that we tell teachers what they should be doing. And we need to provide a solid, fairly easy-to-learn method for doing it. (And reliable technology.) Expecting them to come up with everything themselves is unfair, just as branding them “technology reluctant,” when they may just be busy or unaware of what’s expected. My point is that leaders’ actions are important, (despite the fact that teachers really do teach themselves.)

  15. Dave,
    I just want to say thanks. Your blog and other work gives me hope and encourages me not to give up the fight for educational tech. I work in a district where nothing is happening in tech; no leadership, training, etc. I will stop there — you get the picture. It’s so refreshing to follow you and some others on Twitter, in Classroom 2.0, WOW2, etc.. It helps me have a vision of what’s happening in other schools and what I can hope for. Or transfer to. LOL

    Anyway, when I hear that you are talking to the leaders like superintendents, principals, and school boards, I think that maybe someday they’ll “get it” over here and my job will be different. I’m glad I have a good job and it’s fun teaching in a lab all day, but why would we teach tech as an entirely separate curriculum? Argh! I would soo love to help teachers embed it instead. (Most of them in my school gave away their machines to the library and use NONE. All day. Never except for email and entering grades. Oy!)

    Secondly, one of the underlying reasons the local districts don’t support technology is the paranoia about internet safety. Maybe it’s related to the fact that it is a very conservative town of Republicans, Evangelicals, and military retirees. Who knows why? I was surprised that your recent listeners weren’t so concerned. I teach safety in my classes but wish that it wasn’t such a huge issue.

    So, thanks again. Keep carrying the torch!

    Best, Suzanne
    http://www.thetechtrainer.org

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