The Changing Role of Teachers |
| A great deal of discussion and work goes into planning a 1:1 initiative. The vision is embraced, funding is found, budgets are developed, a communication plan for the school, parents, and the community is outlined and put into action. Finally, once everyone is on board for the big adventure, the infrastructure is put in place and the support services are ready, each student is given a laptop. End of story. But as I think most, if not all, of us recognize, this isn’t true. Laptop deployment is just the beginning of the story. I’d like to think no one goes into a 1:1 program to do more of the same or even to do a slightly enriched version of the same. Just adding laptops doesn’t automatically create change, especially if the laptops are used sparingly and for mundane tasks. Digital worksheets are still worksheets. One-to-one professional development often begins with examining teaching methodology and exploring how this can be changed in order to begin to include the use of the technology to create a profounder, more engaging, more creative learning experience. This usually includes some focus on new skills around creative and critical thinking, connecting ideas, and communicating and collaborating with a variety of people, ranging from local students to experts from around the world. All these changes mean teachers must now be pedagogical designers, mentors, coaches, evaluators, as well as content-deliverers all the while creating individualized learning opportunities for each and every student. In the meantime, the community, parents, and even the school leadership too often view teachers as first and foremost content-deliverers. It can be difficult to shift your role when all around you people are expecting and even evaluating you based on the old definition of what a teacher should be and do. The pressure to change expressed in a vision statement may be overwhelmed by the pressure NOT to change, based on nostalgic assumptions and expectations of what school should be. So change needs to be managed not just within the school walls, but within the school community and maybe the community at large. I would very much like to hear from you about whether or not you think the role of teachers has changed and, if yes, how? What do you think the main role of a teacher should be? Does your school community and the community at large support any shift in the role of teachers? What is the role of the media in shaping how the community reacts to changes within your schools? Is it supportive? Is it critical? I’m very interested in your thoughts on these questions. |
| May 16th, 2012 @ 11:48AM | 0 Comments | Post a Comment |
Practice Learning, Not Teaching |
| A current buzzword in education is personalization, connecting learning to students’ interests and even, for some, their passions. We read about the success of a school program here, another there, focused on students exploring big ideas based on the students’ own questions, generated from their curiosity and interests. It’s one thing to read about and intellectually understand why this is important, but is an ‘intellectual understanding’ enough to create changes in attitudes and actions? Wouldn’t it be better to experience this learning yourself? We urge students to develop their interests and passions, we talk about having more passion-based learning environments, we want students to develop meta-cognitive skills about learning how to learn, yet educators don’t have the opportunity or the support to do the same and experience how profound this type of learning is. Unfortunately, with long working days that include afterschool supervision, meetings, grading, reports, etc, teachers have little time to spare for apparent ‘non-essentials’. On top of that is the expectation (with financial enticement) that if they take courses, they should be courses designed to build pedagogical knowledge and make them better teachers. There’s little time left over for teachers to pursue other interests and passions. Therefore, I propose that all teachers be given both the time and financial incentives to take a course in something about which they are passionate, have an interest, or about which they are curious and just beginning to explore (there’s nothing more eye-opening and humbling than learning a new skill as an adult!). Let teachers be learners, too. I once helped run a workshop to demonstrate how Logo (the programming language developed for education), can impact learning. We asked each of the participants to create a project of interest to them. Instead, they all began creating projects designed to teach something – after all, they were there to see how the software could be used in the classroom. When encouraged to create something of interest to them – to think as learners, not teachers, they found this a difficult shift. They worried they would be wasting time wondering how they could understand how to use the software from a teacher’s perspective if they created something not focused on teaching. As the week progressed, we saw a shift as first one, two, then more participants began to create projects of personal interest to them. By the end of the week, instead of talking about how to teach with the software, everyone was chatting about strategies for debugging (problem-solving) and articulating thinking strategies they were used and then applied to multiple challenges. They were thinking about their thinking. The workshop had shifted from one about Logo and teaching to one about learning. So, I would like to strongly urge administrators and policy makers - support your teachers and encourage them to connect their learning to their interests and passions. Then ask them to share their insights on learning with colleagues at team meetings, in PLCs, at pedagogy seminars or during embedded school/district PD and together reflect on the implications for teaching. In my opinion this would be an extremely powerful way for teachers to build their pedagogical knowledge and improve teaching practice. I welcome your thoughts on this idea. |
| March 7th, 2012 @ 11:16AM | 0 Comments | Post a Comment |
Finding Harvey |
| I’ve recently taken part in an interesting collaborative effort in which I reviewed a number of articles about schools trying to make fundamental changes in how, where, and for what reason learning happens in their communities. The ones that were most successfully progressing were the ones that took a big picture approach, looking at every aspect of school and community life to understand the role they played and how everything connected and interacted. We all know the expression that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but how often do we tweeze this apart to understand why? Adding laptops here, or a PD course there, are good steps and good parts, but it is the interaction between parts that creates the important added benefits. If there is no connection, no interaction, then you merely have a random assortment of costly programs. What’s worse is that each of these can be a distractor, so that those involved become so caught up in the minutia of each particular program they forget to understand how it links and contributes to the bigger picture. Add to this the very real possibility that some programs may contradict each other or negate their outcomes, and you end up with an end that is much less than the sum of its parts. There are no slackers in a good orchestra – everyone’s role individually is important, but it is the collaborative work that brings about the transformation. Yes, the violin section may be superbly talented and the piano solo breathtaking, but if they are playing in different keys or tempos, all you end up with is ear-splitting cacophony, convincing most audience members that, not only is the orchestra bad, but that the community could spend its limited funds elsewhere. On the other hand, when all programs and participants are working towards the same goal, what results rises above the individual components. In music, when tones of a pure harmonic scale are sounded simultaneously, another harmonic tone is created, a combinational tone. Denny Doherty of the singing group the Mamas and Papas called this the ‘fifth voice’. But it was more than just an additional voice. This harmony transformed the sound of the whole group from four individual voices into one new harmonic voice. Doherty even had a name for this voice - Harvey. (If you don’t know who the Mamas and Papas are, check out their harmony here). So, when it comes to transforming learning in your school, step back and look at the big picture. Don’t just add laptops or send some teachers to a PD session or rearrange the desks in a circle. Take the time - seize the opportunity - to rethink all your ideas of how, where, and when learning should happen. If you think laptops will enable more self-directed learning, than consider what perspective and knowledge the teachers need to have to make this happen, what type of ongoing professional learning will support them, how students should be organized to enable this, what curriculum and content mean in this context, what physical environment is most conducive to this type of learning, how time should be used, etc. Each piece should contribute to your vision and you should be able to articulate how it does. Don’t do what happens so often - get so distracted by one component, that implementing it suddenly becomes your singular goal (Yay, we distributed the laptops! ..or…Look – we’ve created a 21st century room! …..and so on). Always focus on the big picture. In so doing, make it your mission to find Harvey, too. |
| January 11th, 2012 @ 10:16AM | 0 Comments | Post a Comment |
