Teacher Development: Feuling Teachers to Go High-Tech
As elementary teachers, time is always an issue. Between having scarce prep periods and many subjects a day to prepare for, it is important to use time wisely. It seems like new ideas and ways of teaching are introduced frequently, especially in the way of technology. To many it can seem overwhelming with new material and a time constraint, therefore some elementary teachers opt not to integrate throughout the school year.
This article’s main points address these issues elementary teachers seem to have. Forest Lake Elementary School has worked hard to find a way for technology integration to seem more attainable to all ages of teachers. First off, whenever their technology team brought up a new idea to their staff, they made it a requirement instead of a choice. The team would set a reasonable deadline for all teachers on implementation. Next, the team made themselves extremely available to the faculty. During teacher prep periods, the tech team always had refreshments in their office for whenever staff would visit to ask for help on a particular tech tool. They wanted to make them feel comfortable. One particular woman on the technology team, a past teacher, made herself very available. Williams would assist teachers in making lessons using different tech tools, she would supply teachers with ideas on how to integrate, and she would also take a teacher’s upcoming lesson and model with that during institute days. Another way the school has tried to accommodate for teachers is by providing them with common time for collaboration on tech implementation. They can use this time to discuss their successes, their failures, and they can also bounce ideas off one another. Williams would take what was going on at these collaboration meetings and ask the groups of teachers to present the tools they felt useful at staff meetings in order to share.
It seems to me that this school is on a great path leading to successful technology implementation. All of the article information is important because the school as a whole is on the same page, and is being provided with resources, time, and a specialist who not only knows the field of technology but also has been in a teacher’s shoes. This elementary school has addressed all the obstacles in integrating in the younger grades. Because of the pacing this school has put in place, working with technology is less overwhelming therefore more exciting to work with and brainstorm uses.
I agree with all the points this article made. If we had a plan similar to this in our school, I know more teachers would be on board in being progressive in new technologies and program implementation. In the school I am working in, we already have an early out on Wednesdays for Professional Learning Community time. This would be ideal for grade level meetings to discuss experiences with integration, programs, and applications. At staff meetings, we could take turns each week giving a short presentation on the tool of our choice. Teachers could become “experts” on the tool or program and on institute days we could host mini seminars on what we have been using in our classroom so others could learn about it.
In other thoughts, as mentioned earlier, time is invaluable. In order for a majority of the elementary school to be excited about progressing in technology implementation, our leaders will need to set aside time for educating teachers, map out blocks of time for groups to meet, and have a professional in the building who can relate to teacher struggles and provide us with new, useful programs as well as examples of their uses.
I love the idea of having a team of tech experts available to the rest of the school! We started this school year with changes we were unaware of, until we started using the equipment and realized it was not set up the same way it was last year! A teacher I work with just said yesterday, "Why does everything have to change every year?" We too have early outs in Wednesdays and I think using that time to learn new programs, apps etc and requiring teachers to use it, having deadlines, etc would be great! We have a great tech department at Eureka and they work very hard to get things up and running. Sounds like this school mentioned doesn't have to rely on the tech department, but certain teachers who are tech savvy and willing to work with others within their buildings. Other teachers may feel more comfortable working with a colleague or someone who has been in their shoes before.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there is oftentimes so many ideas thrown out there that is tough to pick one and go with it. I feel that I am always wanting to change something after a read an article. I do completely agree with making technology integration a requirement. If we gave our students the option of doing extra work or not doing anything at all would we be surprised when they chose the latter? I do no think teachers are much different, they do not want to change, it is much easier to stay the same. Sometimes we have to be forced to do something in order to see its benefits. Much like our students need to experience something versus being told. At WCHS we were required to each create website and I now see teachers that are against technology continuing to update their sites, which is exciting.
ReplyDeleteModeling is another important factor in the integration process. It is difficult to understand some of these lofty ideas without seeing it in action. Teachers need to see the technology in action before I think they will fully understand its capabilities.
I also agree there should be experts for teachers to refer to. I think our district does a good job of this but I think they are so busy and swamped with the entire district that there needs to be a few in each building so people have someone to refer to.
ReplyDeleteI agree that technology integration should be a requirement as well. I think this will really allow teachers to dive in and find that they might actually like what they are trying. I think so many are fearful that they don't even try because they don't see the impact but by making it a requirement teachers will be able to leave their comfort levels and find a new interest. I think its great Dan, that your school required teachers to at least have a classroom website. I think our school needs to do that because there are only a handful of teachers that have a website. Again, I think there needs to be some sort of a training to show teachers a few sites that are easy and available to use such as weebly, wiki, or shutterfly. I think some teachers would be shocked at how simple and easy it is to do once they play around with it for a little bit. I think again, it is important to stress to teachers that they do not have to be an expert in technology but at least be willing to give it a try. We are constantly telling our students to be confident and take risks, so why not have teachers do the same?