I sat with a group of independent school educators during lunch today — back in the shade (or near shade) and away from the rest of the conference attendees. They were the tech staff of a single school, and were all quite knowledgeable and experienced in the issues of managing a technology program for a K-12 school.
We discussed many of the issues of modernizing classrooms that come up in nearly all of these conversations, and at one point I asked, was there anything compelling in last nights address about why teachers need to think of their job in a different way. They all said, “Yes!” (why not?)
“But you are preaching to the choir.” Said the woman sitting directly across from me.
Then I asked, “Was there anything that I said that would help the choir to sing better?”
Without hesitation, she said, “No!” She continued explaining that she had thought about the presentation for much of the later evening, and although it was a good and compelling presentation, there was nothing in it that helped her to accomplish her goal. I’m not sure how I responded. I know that I maintained an even keel, but I also knew that this was something that I was going to be thinking about for much more than a single evening.
Wait a minute… I have to do the closing address tomorrow morning. Not much time!
David, On my blog today I started to consider the relationship between Web 1.0 and WEb 2.0. Should we be teaching teachers Web 2.0 if they don’t already use Web 1.0. I think there are plenty of teachers who don’t use it regularly. The answer that I gave is that Web 2.0 and Web 1.0 are different. They are both important. Despite the number sequence, one does not need to come before the other but both should be used. In my opinion Web 1.0 provides some fantastic knowledge resources, such as the Marco Polo Web Consortium. I wonder if asking tech people to think about the relationship between Web 1 and Web 2 and how to specifically consider which web to push with web teachers would provide an interesting new song. The discussion might not be as much technology as it would professional development and individualized PD.
Just a thought. What do you think?
I understand this woman’s position. We are so fired up, so gung-ho about what the read-write web can do for the learning industry. We are so sold on the value of our own networks. We enthuse, we ooze zeal, our eyes shine and we wave our hands about a lot.
Sometimes is seems our employers rely upon us to hold this position and to be pushing the envelope, but they have no intention of giving us free reign. Many of our clients get excited when we tell them all the things they could do, but when they actually stipulate what they want, it’s several steps back from the exciting solution that made them choose us in the first place.
Sometimes I feel like some exotic animal in a cage. Or like one of those outlandish pets that the absurdly rich flaunt as fashion accessories. Sigh.
Grins — read carefully!
It all comes down to B.S. — BABY STEPS.
and also a real comfort zone issue for many teachers.
I am finding, at my new job, that over enthusiasm can be a real killer to any ideas I might have. However, I have also found that if I show 1 thing, slowly, some teachers are starting to see some possibilities.
I have also found that it has been better for me to NOT encourage teachers to blog. Rather, I am showing them blogs to read. Eventually, something will trigger their mind and they will have a comment and then “hmm” perhaps a blogger will be born??
What is sad about the comment made about the “choir” is that ANYONE and EVERYONE can always become better. And to answer “NO” to your question is just a knee jerk and perhaps someone who needs to be shaken out of a comfort zone.
It comes down to BABY STEPS — as Karyn shared — we are fired-up, we are already running the marathon………and we are dealing with people who aren’t even sure what a marathon is.
But NEVER, DAVID, NEVER ever stop asking if something can be done to “make the choir sing better” — because one day someone is going to say “YES” and whoooo I hope I am there to hear that conversation!!
Hope life is well!!
Jennifer Wagner
Unlike the rest of the commenters here, my interpretation of David’s post is that the teacher did not feel David’s talk had gone far enough. David’s shtick seems to start with the assumption that we’re all traditional 1950’s educators and ends with ideas that are pretty status quo for serious thinkers about education (21st century learning skills! information literacy!), NCLB notwithstanding.
Basically, if David came to my former school, at the end everyone would be thinking, “Yeah, we’ve been trying to do what you’re describing for 10 years, but how do we make it stick?”
David,
Thank you for keynoting our conference. You continue to be one of my ed-tech heroes (i love reading your blog and other online endeavors like the k-12 online conference). It was great to meet you in person and connect the virtual you to the physical you. I’m interested in collecting links to real-world examples of schools and projects that exemplify the ideals we are striving toward for project/problem/inquiry-based learning with collaborative, interactive, differentiated, any-pace, any-place learning with digital immersion. You mentioned the Science Leadership Academy, but are there other schools and projects that we could add to this wiki page http://schoolcomputing.wikia.com/wiki/Innovative_Schools
I hope anyone reading this will add their own links. I think that real world examples can help “the choir” to see new concrete possibilities.
thanks, Demetri
David –
Like Demitri’s post – it as wonderful to meet and converse with you.
Yesterday’s post elicits three reactions . First, this happens in many classrooms, there are learners at many content and experience levels. As a teacher I believed two other things: every learner is responsible for learning, even circumstances where familiar content or ideas are presented; and, maybe I didn’t read the room.
I loved your participation in the conference – we were fortunate to have you speak and attend. Again, thank you.
David,
I was at that conference, and I want to assure you that although you may have been preaching to the choir, you were probably sitting at the sopranos table. Not in the sense of the gangsta Tony Soprano sense, but in the sense of the Tech Ed leaders in our area who already have the best funding, the teacher buy-in, the supportive administration. But there were voices in that choir this weekend that do not have that kind of support, so your words and insights were more valuable to us. I’ve been a blog reader for a year or so now. Not until this weekend, during your Intro to Web 2.0 session did I realize that I had something valuable enough to say that I made my own blog. I have you to thank for that. I have your words echoing in my head, “For the first time in our history, our job is to prepare our students for a future they cannot describe.” I’ll be your mouthpiece back at school on Thursday.
And so the choir gains a new voice (Alecia). This is wonderful – the singing will be the richer for it.
Tom got it! ..and thank goodness that there are schools out there, such as Tom’s former employer, where all of the teachers understand, as professionals, that literacy today is much richer — and much more exciting — than the three-Rs that we are still measured against.
I guess if no one in the audience had ever thought of the ideas that I express in my talks, then what would be the use? As Tom has reminded me, there is very little in my message that is brand new. Much of it goes back to Dewey. But we haven’t gotten there yet. In fact, we’ve (the U.S.A.) been going backwards, to a point where we are being expected to teach “dead facts.”
Even when the audiences in my talks understand how important it is that what children learn connects to their world experience in a valuable way, if they start talking more about it, and perhaps have a new way to talk about it, new metaphors, new structures, examples, then I did something well. I’m trying to generate conversations, and to get ideas “echoing in your head!”
Sometimes we have to be sensitive to preaching to the choir. I am not sure what the contents of the presentations were, however, the call was for teachers to think of their jobs in diferent ways. Obviously, a group of technology teachers would have already thought of their jobs in different ways and have to keep changing to keep up with technology. If the presentation was designed to ask them to change that would be in a way preaching to the choir if the changes are connected to technology programs for k-12 schools. Those schools that are not providing technology support for their teachers to integrate technology in their teaching practice, the leadership of those schools need to listen to such a prsentation.