So, I’m finally a week-and-a-half into my new job as an “instructional specialist” for a professional development organization focusing on inquiry-based teaching through technology. It’s very different from teaching 4th graders; that’s for sure.
Here are a few of my observations…
PD (professional development) providers talk about the teachers in the same tone and manner as teachers who talk about their students. What I mean by this is that teachers joke about problem children and blush over star students. PD folk do the same thing over their teachers. Since I was a teacher just last month, I don’t know how I feel about this. Shouldn’t we treat the teachers with respect and not like children. Of course, maybe as a teacher I should have treated my students with more courtesy.
I am all on my own. Sure, I am constantly chatting and emailing with others on my team, but it’s different when you can’t just walk to the next room and discuss a difficult situation. I’ve had to learn how to do Dreamweaver on my own which is no small feet. Thankfully, someone on my team is meeting me in town on Monday to sort out my website.
Adults are a whole new beast for me. Thinking about ways in which I can affect teachers in order to affect children is a new challenge in itself. I know how to wow nine and ten-year-olds, but the same tricks won’t work for adults. I’ll have to continuously tell myself to not to baby them too much or I’ll lose them. On the other hand, those who need the baby steps to attain some proficiency with the technology and inquiry-based pedagogy, will provide different challenges.
The days of knowing what to expect are gone. I have a school full of teachers to train this year…and a few minor-leaguers to be named later. The state has extended applications for a program that will stick a few extra bodies in my group. How many? Where from? What grades/subjects do they teach? Who knows. This is in addition to the wide open schedule of events to come. The teachers at my school want to know when we’ll meet, but we won’t determine that until our first meeting, and some of that scheduling will be up the in the air. It’s going to be an interesting year.
I’m sure there are many more differences that I’ve failed to mention, but that’s where I am now.
Standardized testing has done away with learning in schools. To show that a student has learned, all we have to do is teach them how to take the test. They don’t have to do science experiments. Reports about inspirational or famous women in history are out. They don’t even have to read an entire book.
Of course, the purpose of these tests is to make sure that students are prepared to succeed in the real world.
Part of succeeding in the real world requires inquiry and constructing meaning from our experiences. One of the primary tools for such student-centered learning is technology. None of these ideas are valued in the new standards-crazed world of public education.
The states and feds don’t care if a student can really read, write, or solve math. They don’t care if a student lacks the skills to compete in the market with more-tech-savvy members of the same global community. Politicians really don’t care if these students are prepared to solve the world’s problems. That’s supposed to be their job. So, Why aren’t they doing it?
I’m really excited about my new opportunity to work for an organization that provides the tools for inquiry-based learning through the utilization of technology regardless (or in spite of) today’s arbitrary governmental standards. By providing teachers with much-needed training in new technology and inquiry-based pedagogy, students will get the teaching they deserve in order to compete in the global market. In addition, the organization provides several resources in the form of hardware and software that too many studens do without. I can finally step out of the classroom that is defined by state-mandated standards. I can help teachers help students find their own way. This is going to be exciting!
I have finally seen (even if it’s late) the need for blogs and wikis in the elementary classroom. Back in my student-teaching days, schools prided themselves on actual “publishing” room where students were able to type their reports and stories on computers and construct a book cover of some sort. Now that anyone can publish on the internet, it’s even easier. Blogs can be places for students to post daily thoughts and observations for others to comment. Wikis can take the classroom conversation to a whole new place and make students construct their own meanings to be revised as their knowledge grows.
I have an interview with an organization that brings technology-based inquiry to the classroom. In addition, through my partner, I know several rhet-comp faculty that utilize digital media in their work. Through this (possible) job opportunity and my connections to the academy, I hope to help students realize a new digital world of publications that they will create.
I have been blogging for about a year and have become pretty adept at posting once or twice every week. My posts have primarily been about music with some personal woes mixed in, but now I want to fully bring my professional life in to meet my blogging life.
Wikis are new to me. Sure, I use Wikipedia every day. Of course I realize the limitations of a website that provides its information from any and all comers, but there is something revolutionary about the average Joe having a part in the creation of knowledge. Michael on the Office put it best, though, when he said something to the effect of “anyone from anywhere in the world can say whatever they want about any subject so you know you are getting the best information.”
My next step beyond blogging and wikis is to figure out podcasting. I’ve been playing around with Garage Band on my Mac and really want to begin posting my podcats alongside my blog posts. However, I haven’t quite figured this out. Maybe when my coding catches up with my imagination…
I’ve taught fourth and fifth grade students for ten years. Last year, I began blogging. Today, I am combining these two pieces of my life in an effort to take my teaching into the next generation. I hope to one day post student blogs and many of my own. Who knows what my students will write about. I’ll be certain to blog about how I see things in the classroom.
