The video showed a girl saying "We are learning the same thing, but in a different way." I question that. What is she learning? What did I learn back in the day? Are kids today learning the same things I did? What is the different way she is learning? I'm assuming she was talking about technology. No, I did not have access to computers, digital social networks or the world at my finger tips. But I did have a library complete with several complete sets of encyclopedias, I had a social network of my peers (and a few other grades in the classroom, as well), and radio where I heard news reports of things from around the world.
I sometimes wonder if it was necessary to learn the things I learned. Do I want my children to have to learn the same things? Why is it important? Just because it's part of the "prescribed curriculum?"
So do we need to change the very fundamentals of what we need to learn? What is important for our students to learn?
How does technology influence the learning our students are doing now?
Any comments? Opinions? Let me know.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
4 Learning Statements...and the evidence to back it up!
My inquiry this term has focused around developing my own leadership in the area of technology within my school. I have had some frustrating times (see earlier posts), but am now beginning to see some change happening. What is surprising to me is the change within myself. I have learned things about myself and leadership. I have learned how to use technology, particularly computers, with my own class of grade 1 students. And I have learned that leadership is a critical role within the successful integration of technology in schools. I want to be part of this integration.
1. I am learning that to be a leader I need to be proactive. Setting out to be a leader in my school in the area of technology has not been easy. I am a part-time teacher and I don't attend the staff meetings, so then I don't have some of the natural places/times to develop the leadership. However there were things I could do. As I did these, the staff gradually began to acknowledge me as a leader by asking for my help, beginning conversations with me about what technology strategies were working or sites they were finding that were helpful and using the "Issues" folder I created. These were the initial steps I took:
- I pushed my name forward as one of the people to get the administrative password and manual for our new computer lab.
- I told the staff that I was able to help them with getting their classes set up and running. I was then given a few glitches to work out (ie students who couldn't log on) which I was able to fix. As I fixed a few of those, more staff became aware of my capability and have asked me to help me with their issues, as well. (see scraps of paper with names, journal entries)
- I made a "Computer Issues" duotang available on top of the mobile lab, so that teachers had somewhere to write down any problems they were having and I check this on a regular basis. I then fix what issues I can and forward the ones I can't to the IT guys at the district level.
- I am constantly sharing websites I have found or ideas that I am using with my fellow staff. I have written these down on paper napkins during staff lunches, e-mailed them to the staff, and had conversations about them.
2. I am learning that to be a leader I need to work within the "systems" already in place. Initially I had naively thought that the mere fact of putting myself out there with an e-mail stating my availability to help teachers with their computer issues would bring staff wanting my help. It didn't happen. I got a total of 3 responses to my survey/inquiry and none of them wanted or needed my help. Most staff completed ignored this method of approach. I needed to change my approach and so these were the steps I took:
- First thing to do was to work through the principal. He is the designated leader in our school. I talked with him about what I was hoping to do, explained about my LTT class and inquiry, offered my services. He then invited and paid for me to go to a a technology seminar held in Coquitlam. This event was one affirmation of my technology leadership from my principal to the rest of the staff at my school.
- Secondly, my principal suggested I use the communication method with the staff that seems to be the most effective...the black board in the staff room. So I started to write my availability on the board and before I was finished one of the teachers snagged me to help her start her class on the computers. My principal also offered to teach my class while I did this. My journal has a long entry on how effective this was, and to end it all...the teacher then called me "Mrs. Computer" in front of her class. :)
- Thirdly, as much as I find the present district IT system frustrating, it is the system in place and I will not be heard unless I use it. I was hoping that direct communication from me, as my school staff's rep, to the IT would be the way I could get help to fix problems and even learn how to solve some repeating problems (ie computers being locked, etc), so that I didn't need to contact them every time it happens. I got a rather terse response from them stating that I need to write down the issue, submit it to my principal and he would be the one to contact them. And then only would they consider coming out to solve it. To me this is tedious, especially because my principal really would rather not have anything to do with the whole system and would readily sign this responsibility over to me. However, as inefficient as this is, it does eventually work and computers are being fixed, slowly but surely.
3. I am learning to integrate technology in my teaching practice. My goals regarding technology this term had to do with ISTE #5d and LTT program capacity #3. When I wrote about this in my journal, I stated that I would know when I reached these goals by: continuing to debug the system, having conversations re. things I am learning in my LTT course and in the class, and having regular computer times with my own students, trying different things to enhance thir learning. I believe I have reached this goal. I have numerous documentations of where I have helped solve problems with the computers, had conversations with my staff and have tried different things with my class on the computers. We have been working on a unit on bears, and I was able to use a child-friendly search engine to find appropriate websites to find information about polar bears. I used the projector (another first for me) to help my whole class navigate to the same page. We then took notes together about what we were learning. We then spent another class on KidPix, where I had the students draw a picture about one of the facts we learned, and then put that fact on the picture.
1. I am learning that to be a leader I need to be proactive. Setting out to be a leader in my school in the area of technology has not been easy. I am a part-time teacher and I don't attend the staff meetings, so then I don't have some of the natural places/times to develop the leadership. However there were things I could do. As I did these, the staff gradually began to acknowledge me as a leader by asking for my help, beginning conversations with me about what technology strategies were working or sites they were finding that were helpful and using the "Issues" folder I created. These were the initial steps I took:
- I pushed my name forward as one of the people to get the administrative password and manual for our new computer lab.
- I told the staff that I was able to help them with getting their classes set up and running. I was then given a few glitches to work out (ie students who couldn't log on) which I was able to fix. As I fixed a few of those, more staff became aware of my capability and have asked me to help me with their issues, as well. (see scraps of paper with names, journal entries)
- I made a "Computer Issues" duotang available on top of the mobile lab, so that teachers had somewhere to write down any problems they were having and I check this on a regular basis. I then fix what issues I can and forward the ones I can't to the IT guys at the district level.
- I am constantly sharing websites I have found or ideas that I am using with my fellow staff. I have written these down on paper napkins during staff lunches, e-mailed them to the staff, and had conversations about them.
2. I am learning that to be a leader I need to work within the "systems" already in place. Initially I had naively thought that the mere fact of putting myself out there with an e-mail stating my availability to help teachers with their computer issues would bring staff wanting my help. It didn't happen. I got a total of 3 responses to my survey/inquiry and none of them wanted or needed my help. Most staff completed ignored this method of approach. I needed to change my approach and so these were the steps I took:
- First thing to do was to work through the principal. He is the designated leader in our school. I talked with him about what I was hoping to do, explained about my LTT class and inquiry, offered my services. He then invited and paid for me to go to a a technology seminar held in Coquitlam. This event was one affirmation of my technology leadership from my principal to the rest of the staff at my school.
- Secondly, my principal suggested I use the communication method with the staff that seems to be the most effective...the black board in the staff room. So I started to write my availability on the board and before I was finished one of the teachers snagged me to help her start her class on the computers. My principal also offered to teach my class while I did this. My journal has a long entry on how effective this was, and to end it all...the teacher then called me "Mrs. Computer" in front of her class. :)
- Thirdly, as much as I find the present district IT system frustrating, it is the system in place and I will not be heard unless I use it. I was hoping that direct communication from me, as my school staff's rep, to the IT would be the way I could get help to fix problems and even learn how to solve some repeating problems (ie computers being locked, etc), so that I didn't need to contact them every time it happens. I got a rather terse response from them stating that I need to write down the issue, submit it to my principal and he would be the one to contact them. And then only would they consider coming out to solve it. To me this is tedious, especially because my principal really would rather not have anything to do with the whole system and would readily sign this responsibility over to me. However, as inefficient as this is, it does eventually work and computers are being fixed, slowly but surely.
3. I am learning to integrate technology in my teaching practice. My goals regarding technology this term had to do with ISTE #5d and LTT program capacity #3. When I wrote about this in my journal, I stated that I would know when I reached these goals by: continuing to debug the system, having conversations re. things I am learning in my LTT course and in the class, and having regular computer times with my own students, trying different things to enhance thir learning. I believe I have reached this goal. I have numerous documentations of where I have helped solve problems with the computers, had conversations with my staff and have tried different things with my class on the computers. We have been working on a unit on bears, and I was able to use a child-friendly search engine to find appropriate websites to find information about polar bears. I used the projector (another first for me) to help my whole class navigate to the same page. We then took notes together about what we were learning. We then spent another class on KidPix, where I had the students draw a picture about one of the facts we learned, and then put that fact on the picture.
4. I am learning through my readings that a technology coordinator is an indispensible leader in the school system.
My readings this semester have been focused on technology leadership within schools. A number of the articles specifically mention the importance the school principal, and other leaders play in having a successful integration of technology throughout the school. I want to be the type of leader that not only debugs the system, but is also leading the staff in thinking about where education needs to be headed in this technological age. How should our lessons look? What are the pedagogical ramifications of technology accessibility? Should our curricululm change? What is important for our children to know to be able to be constructive members in our society. How do we prepare them for jobs that don't even exist now?
Technology leaders wanted: Acknowledging the Leadership Role of a Technology Coordinator by William Sugar and Harold Holloman (TechTrends - November/December 2009, Volume 53, Number 6)
Critical Issue: Technology Leadership: Enhancing Positive Educational Change by Gilbert Valdez Ph.D. (http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le700.htm)
Technology leadership, Technology Integration, and Student Achievment: A Correlation Study in K-12 Public Schools Technology Integration by Judith Keegan Yoho (http://www.lhup.edu.jyoho/psu_website/researchproject.htm )
Technology and School Leadership by Mojgan Afshari, Kamariah Abu Bakar, Wong Su luan, Bahaman Abu Samah and Foo Say Fooi (Technology, Pedagogy and Education, Vol. 18 No. 2, July 20009, 235-248)
The role of 'accomplished teachers' in professional learning communities: uncovering practice and enabling leadership by Ann Lieberman ad Desiree H. Pointer Mace (Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, Vol. 15, No. 4, August 2009, 459 -470)
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Inquiry Learnings...
(editing done after talking it over with my peers and mentor at my class tonight)
For this semester's inquiry, I've been exploring the idea of leadership, particularly how it relates to technology in the school. The semester is winding down, but I feel like my inquiry is just beginning. That being said, I need to come up with a learning statement and evidence to back it up. So here goes my first attempt...
"I am learning that to show leadership in my school with respect to technology I need to understand and use the staff systems already there."
Let me explain. I had thought that I'd be able to offer what little I knew about computer use in the classroom to others in my staff. However, I'm new on staff and I teach half time. I made some assumptions, such as teachers would be open and welcoming to my offer to help and that my offer made on e-mail would be received by everybody.
Elaboration: Our school received our mobile computer lab (COW) for Christmas and the response from our staff has been mixed, at best. The grade 4 and 7 teachers had to use them for the FSA testing in February. A few teachers have used them as word processors to present projects or as a place for students to accentuate their learning with learning websites that incorporate games. But generally I'd said the computers are under utilitized. I hypothesize that there are a few reasons for this: the lab is unreliable and time consuming, teachers already feel like they don't have time to cover the curriculum and feel that this is just adding something new, and finally, teachers don't know what to do with them or how to use them effectively.
The first thing I did was offer my services to the staff through a general e-mail. I also asked them a few questions about how they intended to use the computers in their class and whether they had questions about anything related to computer usage in the classroom. The response was dismal...only 3 teachers bothered to respond and that was after I told everyone that I had sent this e-mail and would appreciate a response. Those 3 that did respond didn't want and/or need any help. So I was stuck, stalled, and stymied. How would I show leadership if no one wanted any?? Fortunately, I have a university class where I can express these feelings and some of them wisely suggested I narrow my focus. Was there any one teacher that needed help? And yes, there was. The Kindergarten teacher next door was talking to me about the computer in her class and how frustrated she was about a few things about it. One of those things was that when her students were on a website, they were inadvertently clicking outside of the window and then it would disappear from their sight and the students would need their teacher's immediately assistance again and again. I showed BJ the simple F11 key function which hides the menu bar and causes the website to fill the screen. Her students are now having more success on the computers and the teacher is able to do other tasks with other students without the constant interruption from the students on the computer.
First Evidence: The principal is acknowledging me as a leader
My principal chose me to go with him and another 2 teachers to a Technology conference entitled "Creativity and Technology." He has also offered to cover my class so that I can help other teachers during their computer times. He has also asked me to share the technology standards at a staff meeting.
Second Evidence: I'm learning what leadership is...and what it isn't.
In my journal Feb 9, I write "leadership...can't force it on anyone, but when there's a need I can step in and help along." In my research on this topic, I came across this quote: "Anytime we try to influence the behavior of another human being, we are engaging in an act of leadership." I am trying to help other teachers out where they need it. I now have administative powers to add students to our school list and a few other things on our system. I have used that to help some teachers put new students on their class lists. I have a book on top of the COW that teachers can use to describe any problems they have with the computers and I check that regularly and either fix the problem myself, or refer it on to the district IT department.
Third Evidence: She said it, not me!
On Friday, March 19, my principal came and covered my class so that I could assist another teacher in starting her students on the computers. It was their first time on computers and I was able to walk them through logging on and getting to KidPix without any hitches. I used the projector which was very helpful in showing the students what I was talking about. Towards the end of the class, the other teacher told me in front of the class that she would just call me "Mrs. Computer" from now on. 'nough said! :)
For this semester's inquiry, I've been exploring the idea of leadership, particularly how it relates to technology in the school. The semester is winding down, but I feel like my inquiry is just beginning. That being said, I need to come up with a learning statement and evidence to back it up. So here goes my first attempt...
"I am learning that to show leadership in my school with respect to technology I need to understand and use the staff systems already there."
Let me explain. I had thought that I'd be able to offer what little I knew about computer use in the classroom to others in my staff. However, I'm new on staff and I teach half time. I made some assumptions, such as teachers would be open and welcoming to my offer to help and that my offer made on e-mail would be received by everybody.
Elaboration: Our school received our mobile computer lab (COW) for Christmas and the response from our staff has been mixed, at best. The grade 4 and 7 teachers had to use them for the FSA testing in February. A few teachers have used them as word processors to present projects or as a place for students to accentuate their learning with learning websites that incorporate games. But generally I'd said the computers are under utilitized. I hypothesize that there are a few reasons for this: the lab is unreliable and time consuming, teachers already feel like they don't have time to cover the curriculum and feel that this is just adding something new, and finally, teachers don't know what to do with them or how to use them effectively.
The first thing I did was offer my services to the staff through a general e-mail. I also asked them a few questions about how they intended to use the computers in their class and whether they had questions about anything related to computer usage in the classroom. The response was dismal...only 3 teachers bothered to respond and that was after I told everyone that I had sent this e-mail and would appreciate a response. Those 3 that did respond didn't want and/or need any help. So I was stuck, stalled, and stymied. How would I show leadership if no one wanted any?? Fortunately, I have a university class where I can express these feelings and some of them wisely suggested I narrow my focus. Was there any one teacher that needed help? And yes, there was. The Kindergarten teacher next door was talking to me about the computer in her class and how frustrated she was about a few things about it. One of those things was that when her students were on a website, they were inadvertently clicking outside of the window and then it would disappear from their sight and the students would need their teacher's immediately assistance again and again. I showed BJ the simple F11 key function which hides the menu bar and causes the website to fill the screen. Her students are now having more success on the computers and the teacher is able to do other tasks with other students without the constant interruption from the students on the computer.
First Evidence: The principal is acknowledging me as a leader
My principal chose me to go with him and another 2 teachers to a Technology conference entitled "Creativity and Technology." He has also offered to cover my class so that I can help other teachers during their computer times. He has also asked me to share the technology standards at a staff meeting.
Second Evidence: I'm learning what leadership is...and what it isn't.
In my journal Feb 9, I write "leadership...can't force it on anyone, but when there's a need I can step in and help along." In my research on this topic, I came across this quote: "Anytime we try to influence the behavior of another human being, we are engaging in an act of leadership." I am trying to help other teachers out where they need it. I now have administative powers to add students to our school list and a few other things on our system. I have used that to help some teachers put new students on their class lists. I have a book on top of the COW that teachers can use to describe any problems they have with the computers and I check that regularly and either fix the problem myself, or refer it on to the district IT department.
Third Evidence: She said it, not me!
On Friday, March 19, my principal came and covered my class so that I could assist another teacher in starting her students on the computers. It was their first time on computers and I was able to walk them through logging on and getting to KidPix without any hitches. I used the projector which was very helpful in showing the students what I was talking about. Towards the end of the class, the other teacher told me in front of the class that she would just call me "Mrs. Computer" from now on. 'nough said! :)
Friday, March 19, 2010
Cracks widening... :)
What a difference a few days make! As my first post says, I was very discouraged with how my school staff was responding to my attempts at showing leadership in the area of technology. But I went to school the next day armed with my strategies ready to try again. I stopped in at my principal's office first thing and said I was going to offer to help other teachers get their classes started on the computers if they would teach my class during that time. My principal said, "No! That teacher needs to be there, too, so I'll cover your class while you go help!" Then he says he'll put my offer in the weekly newsletter to staff and suggests I write it down on the staff bulletin board, which I promptly went to do. Before I had even finished wording this announcement, I had a teacher claim me for a time and we immediately went and booked a time that worked for all of us involved. So this morning, my principal was in my room and I got to lead another grade 1/2 class in their first exploration of our new computer lab. It went so well that the cooperating teacher expressed "I'll just call you Mrs. Computer from now on!"
What else has gone well? I was able to have a great discussion about the use of technology in education with teachers around the lunch table. I've already been approached by another teacher to help her get started on the computers with her class. My own class and I had a very successful time on the computers where we did research together. Their learning was definitely enhanced by using computers in the classroom. I had another conversation with the teacher librarian about how to communicate with the staff in this school. A lot of the teachers in this school do not use e-mail and refuse to use the district "first class" system. She had learned, when she first came to the school, that the staff prefer to use the staff wall as their main method of communication in the school, and that they don't want e-mails, but rather personal conversations. I've learned how to use the projector connected to the computer....
So what have I learned about leadership?
- leadership takes time to develop relationships, trust
- leadership can happen unexpectedly
- leadership means recognizing what is already there and working within the system
While researching, I came across this quote: Because technology innovations require support, input and knowledge from so many diverse components of school organizations, they stand to benefit from an emerging view of school leadership style called “distributed leadership” (Spillane, Halverson and Diamond, 2001). In this view, leadership is an emergent property of how organizations operate, instead of as traits held by individual actors. In an environment that values distributed leadership, knowledge, feedback and most importantly, decision-making authority can be shared among those who are most integrally involved in enacting the innovation."
from part of a research paper by Judith Keegan Yoho entitled Technology Leadership, Technology Integration, and Student Achievement: A Correlation Study in K-12 Public Schools Technology Integration
http://www.lhup.edu/jyoho/psu_website/researchproject.htm
What else has gone well? I was able to have a great discussion about the use of technology in education with teachers around the lunch table. I've already been approached by another teacher to help her get started on the computers with her class. My own class and I had a very successful time on the computers where we did research together. Their learning was definitely enhanced by using computers in the classroom. I had another conversation with the teacher librarian about how to communicate with the staff in this school. A lot of the teachers in this school do not use e-mail and refuse to use the district "first class" system. She had learned, when she first came to the school, that the staff prefer to use the staff wall as their main method of communication in the school, and that they don't want e-mails, but rather personal conversations. I've learned how to use the projector connected to the computer....
So what have I learned about leadership?
- leadership takes time to develop relationships, trust
- leadership can happen unexpectedly
- leadership means recognizing what is already there and working within the system
While researching, I came across this quote: Because technology innovations require support, input and knowledge from so many diverse components of school organizations, they stand to benefit from an emerging view of school leadership style called “distributed leadership” (Spillane, Halverson and Diamond, 2001). In this view, leadership is an emergent property of how organizations operate, instead of as traits held by individual actors. In an environment that values distributed leadership, knowledge, feedback and most importantly, decision-making authority can be shared among those who are most integrally involved in enacting the innovation."
from part of a research paper by Judith Keegan Yoho entitled Technology Leadership, Technology Integration, and Student Achievement: A Correlation Study in K-12 Public Schools Technology Integration
http://www.lhup.edu/jyoho/psu_website/researchproject.htm
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Cracks in the Walls
I'm a teacher facing walls. I want to help my staff (and myself) use the technology we have in our school to help our students in their learning. But the walls I'm facing feel overwhelming. My staff (as a whole) haven't expressed any interest in collaborating with me on computer use in the classroom. The IT specialists in the district are too busy dealing with system problems through all the schools to help individual teachers like me. And my administrator, although supportive in language, is lacking in knowledge to be of any real help.
But there are some cracks in these walls, and I intend to capitalize on those. Although most staff have brushed me off in my attempts to engage them in this conversation, a few teachers have asked me for help. For example, BJ was frustrated that when her students were on a website, they were constantly clicking outside of it. I showed her the real quick and simple F11 key trick, which hides the bar and makes the website fill the screen. She was so appreciative of this simple solution and it has meant that her students are more fully able to use the learning websites their teacher had picked for them.
So what do I do? Where do I go from here?
Some ideas I have include being open about websites I'm using with my students. Knowing that some teachers are frightened of the initial student experimentation with the computers, I'm going to offer to lead their class during this time.
But do you have some ideas? What has worked for you in your school?
Here's a blog I've found from someone who's a technology coordinator at her school:
http://cougarramblings@blogspot.com
But there are some cracks in these walls, and I intend to capitalize on those. Although most staff have brushed me off in my attempts to engage them in this conversation, a few teachers have asked me for help. For example, BJ was frustrated that when her students were on a website, they were constantly clicking outside of it. I showed her the real quick and simple F11 key trick, which hides the bar and makes the website fill the screen. She was so appreciative of this simple solution and it has meant that her students are more fully able to use the learning websites their teacher had picked for them.
So what do I do? Where do I go from here?
Some ideas I have include being open about websites I'm using with my students. Knowing that some teachers are frightened of the initial student experimentation with the computers, I'm going to offer to lead their class during this time.
But do you have some ideas? What has worked for you in your school?
Here's a blog I've found from someone who's a technology coordinator at her school:
http://cougarramblings@blogspot.com
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