greater pay-off working with those who are ready to move, and in rare cases,
there are teachers who are so gifted in other areas that who cares if they
use technology?
It's tough to let some people go on in ways that don't challenge them to
stretch and grow, but let's be realistic about not letting the tail wag the
dog and becoming a drag on other innovators. Isolate and control their reach
is the tough love that may sometimes be required. The recalcitrant are
adults and make their own decisions.
s
-----
Steve Taffee | Director of Strategic Projects
Castilleja School | staffee@castilleja.org
1310 Bryant Street | www.castilleja.org
Palo Alto, CA 94301 | taffee.edublogs.org
650.924.1040 (Google Voice)
Women Learning, Women Leading
<http://twitter.com/sjtaffee> <http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevetaffee>
You don't *really* need to print this do you?
On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 12:47 PM, Seth Battis <seth@battis.net> wrote:
> I think it's tricky to figure out how to bring in that last 12%. We can get
> into trouble when we bring them along simply to make them the same same as
> everyone else. We need to be able to articulate reasons for change that
> reflect not just an abstract understanding of technology and pedagogy or
> curriculum, but actually the concrete goals of a specific classroom. We
> don't keep moving forward like sharks just to survive. We keep learning
> because we are members of a learning community, because we're modeling
> learning for our students, and because we always, always want to be
> providing the best possible learning experience for our students. Really,
> process is as important as the end-result here (as in so many places).
>
> I'm engaged in a series of classroom observations from the vantage point of
> our Education Technology department right now. In the end, as we think
> about
> going 1:1 in the next couple of years, my goal is to have been in every
> high
> school teacher's classroom, and to have had a discussion with that teacher
> not about technology and teaching, but about teaching. Teaching. Period.
> Full stop. _Of course_, when I talk to teachers, we end up talking about
> technology and education -- it's what's in the air, and I'm who they
> identify with technology -- but the conversation starts with a discussion
> of
> what's going on in the classroom now, and then we can branch out into
> places
> that that teacher would like to explore, is nervous about, is wondering
> about, etc.. The hope, of course, is that this discussion and class visit
> will be the first of many, not the last.
>
> Renee really hits the nail on the head in describing the need for
> immediate,
> personal support for teachers who are wrestling with technology -- as we
> should also be providing immediate, personal support for teachers wrestling
> with other aspects of teaching and learning, from classroom management to
> lesson planning to assessment. Anecdotally, my experience has been that
> teachers who are able to engage in a real conversation about their teaching
> are much, much more likely to be willing to experiment with new techniques
> and approaches as part of that conversation.
>
> Of course, this puts an enormous onus on the school leadership, from senior
> faculty on up, to be engaged in this sort of support of our faculty, in
> addition to the manifold responsibilities of raw logistics, day-to-day
> management, etc. that are on their/our plates.
>
> -- S
>
> Seth Battis / http://battis.net / seth@battis.net / @battis / (323)
> 638-7384
>
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