Interesting thesis. I elaborate a different approach in my T.I.D. (tome in
development) "Organic School Computing: Diversity, Sustainabiliy &
Transistors". I'd be happy to elaborate here but I'm afraid people would
either throw things at me (well actually at their computer screens) or
fall asleep.
Fred
A forum for independent school educators <ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> writes:
>While I might agree with Jonathan's analysis I come to an alternate
>conclusion:
>
>Leadership is just that: Leadership. It is the school's leadership, in
>particular those
>who manage academic personnel, who must lead. Whatever the obstacles be:
>teachers, board
>members, deans, and other school administrators, the leadership must
>embrace, use and
>insist that the teaching professionals utilize the tools of the 21st
>century. Leadership
>must turn faculty culture from the ways of the nineteenth century to one
>that embraces
>the dramatically different 21st Century.
>
>With a thoughtful technology plan (perhaps similar, perhaps different
>from the one Fred
>described) and a comprehensive professional development plan we can
>accomplish this. But
>only with many of our teachers. The ones who will not or cannot adapt
>cannot continue to
>drain classroom resources - instruction time with students. We need to
>let them go.
>
>To those who say this is cruel - to cast off revered members of a distant
>philosophy - I
>say this: I admire the stone cutters and stone masons of gothic
>cathedrals, but there is
>little need for them today. If I could train stone masons to use those
>skills in brick
>laying or cement foundation work; well, then, they could be employable in
>a new trade
>similar to the one they had been accustomed to. In the education of the
>21st Century
>there is little need for some of the teaching styles we have relied upon
>for centuries.
>Likewise, I can see the need for a Socratic style (occasionally), but the
>reliance on a
>didactic style has little relevance. Moving towards a media rich,
>collaborative,
>experiential model requires good teachers who are willing to embrace this
>change. That
>means we have to invest in teachers who are willing and good at their
>vocations:
>continuous technology professional development.
>
>We can help those willing to be helped. What are we going to do with
>those who won't be
>"helped"?
>
>That is Leadership.
>
>That is the unanswered question.
>
>That is the struggle.
>
>
>jonathanemartin@gmail.com writes:
>>But here is where I counter David a bit, and instead embrace Ezra's
>point: I
>>think there are already many school administrators ready and eager to
>>embrace digital tools for authentic problem-solving education. I'd even
>>suggest that the average school administrator is ahead of the average
>school
>>teacher on this front. But that is where the problem lies. Neither
>boards
>>nor students are posing obstacles to the swift advance in this
>direction--
>>but too many of our teachers are. I think faculty culture, in some
>places,
>>is still too set in its ways, too reliant on its longstanding norms and
>>routines. Of course I am not talking about all teachers-- and maybe I
>am
>>only identifying a minority of them. But it can be a powerful minority,
>>these teaching veterans with strong connections to alumni and parents and
>>board members, whom Heads or administrators can sometimes cross only at
>>their peril.
>>
>>I think we need as a school leaders need to keep being loud and clear:
>the
>>21st century is a dramatically different era, and hence teaching and
>>learning need to change, and change swifly, not because the previous ways
>>were faulty or poor, but because they are no longer congruent with their
>>age. By helping our teachers recognize this, we then have an improved
>>conceptual framework for them to then understand why they need to do
>things
>>so differently from before.
>
>
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