all do as "Information Literacy and Collaboration". It's not a perfect
term, but it beats the heck out using the term "technology" and
"library". Our new website will not have top links to library or
technology; it will all be under Information Literacy and Collaboration.
Using these terms reframes the conversation when talking with teachers.
I have found that it's also necessary to help many teachers see the
difference between group work and cooperative learning, which most are
familiar with, and true collaborative work where students engage in
building knowledge.
As for faculty, very few are excited by technology--and rightly so. But
I've found almost all are excited by helping their students learn and
the ones who make the most use of our resources are the ones who are
focused on students and their learning.
Derrel
Derrel Fincher
Director of Information and Communication Technology
Graded - The American School of São Paulo
(Associação Escola Graduada de São Paulo)
dfincher@graded.br | http://www.graded.br ( http://www.graded.br/ )
(55 11) 3747-4837 | Fax (55 11) 3742-9358
>>> On 3/3/2008 at 8:53 PM, in message
<406BE7D79708644DAB78E5F25220FCCF400D@MX3.sfsnet.org>, Jennifer
Voorhees <voorheesj@sidwell.edu> wrote:
Fred (and Norman)
I am totally on board with struggling to envision the best way to bring
teachers around to engage in the many ways available resources online
and technology tools can be used to enhance the curriculum.
My current rant is that those of us with "technology" in our title
should try and shift to a new paradigm - if we were to refer to
ourselves more in terms of "curriculum coordinators" instead, then we
would be talking to teachers about the range of opportunities they have
to incorporate technology tools and resources (or not) as they think
about their changing curriculum. This follows Seymour Papert's rant that
we don't have conferences about how to use pencils and pens, so why do
we have them on how to use technology? The focus in schools should
always be on the students and the curriculum and creating a way for the
two to most successfully intersect.
Just as we need to engage our students, who seem tired and burned out,
in pursuits that are meaningful and inspiring to them, we need to invent
ways to engage faculty (also tired and burned out) in interesting,
relevant, meaningful professional development. But what is the hook that
will really get them on board?
What has been the most inspiring professional development (curriculum
or technology related) that anyone has hit upon so far?
Jenni Swanson Voorhees
Sidwell Friends School
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