Teachers Who Won’t Embrace Technology is the title of my latest post on “In Practice,” the group blog written by several of us who teach in low-income communties.
You can also see my previous In Practice posts here.
Teachers Who Won’t Embrace Technology is the title of my latest post on “In Practice,” the group blog written by several of us who teach in low-income communties.
You can also see my previous In Practice posts here.
Larry, This is not a new story for me as I live it every day here in Mexico. But, I keep my eyes bright and keep searching for ways to clear the path forward. I think fear and lack if education are the biggest factors keeping not only teachers but also administrators and parents from playing a more proactive role here.
Of course technology must serve pedagogy not the other way around. Throwing technology at education helps nobody. But, at the same time we have to stop enabling ourselves and those around us that we are responsible to for professional development and learning. In the end it is the student that pays the price. Our eye must always be primarily on the student’s needs and work back from that. Just as we should do backward design in lesson planning … to start with the end in mind in setting the course of action and the resources needed to get there!
If teaching is to be constructivist, authentic, motivating, inquiry-based and preparing students for the world today and ahead in times of information explosion and increasingly tough problems to be solved … then teachers and all those that network with them must get moving. Enabling is dangerous. Because everyone loses in the end.
Technology is necessary to sort through, capture, organize, synthesize, analyze, summarize and report on huge amounts of data out there and essential to have access to and make sense of in a globalized competitive world. Even students here in Mexico are not exempt. They too are right smack in the middle of this world. No one is protected or insulated anymore. There is no where to hide. This is why the program to get 1 computer to every student in developing areas is so important. They aren’t exempt from the world’s realities either.
Teachers as facilitators and coaches need to prepare students to enter social and professional environments that did not exist just a few years ago. And, we have no idea what is to come. But, if students are taught to learn to learn and use the tools that are in front of then … and to explore their curiosity in a critical thinking and inquiry based fashion is groups and independently, then they will succeed and contribute positively to society, their communities, their familes and friends and to themselves.
Teacher that aren’t introducing technology because they don’t know much but want to grow should be trained. Teachers that know how to integrate technology to serve pedagogy should be supported and not hindered by administrations. And those teachers that only teach because it is a “job” or are riding out their last 10 years to retirement without any interest in keeping up should be let go or reassigned. Enabling apathy and fear is disabling education and futures! Even if big steps can’t be achieved in some difficult areas, little steps can. A little by little the word is better.
Thanks, Frank