As I just finished reading Of Mice and Men with my 10th graders this week, I can't help but think about the famous quote that inspired the title."The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry" (Robert Burns, "To a Mouse"). How appropriate this quote can be when considering how we are following through in our GAME plans. I know that I must be flexible within the realm of my game plans and be prepared for some things not to go the way I had planned. This is just part of be an educator, right?
To update about my GAME plans:
Am I finding the information and resources I need?
For my process of integrating blogging into my 11th grade classes, I am having great success finding everything I need. I have had no problem locating a wealth of potential blogging sites as well as some tutorial pages on how to use blogs successfully. In addition, I also have received a great deal of information from my colleagues and fellow bloggers who have had experience with classroom blogs. I have also polled students to make sure all have Internet access outside of school. As for my other GAME plan involving becoming the technology advocate for my building, I am not struggling to find online resources regarding technology fads in education, but I have run into a bit of a road block with observing how other teachers and schools use technology. Although my principal has been very supportive in working with me, I have met some resistance with other schools and teachers not believing it to be important enough to respond to my emails about arranging time to observe.
Do I need to modify my action plan?
As of right now, I really only need to modify the action plan related to my observation and report of technology. Since I am running into some road blocks scheduling time to observe teachers in other buildings, I will need to modify my action plan to only include observations in my own building for right now. This will make it easier for me to track down and solidify plans for observations as opposed to sending repeated emails until I heard something. Given that I am scheduled to start presenting my findings to the faculty, this action plan would also have to change. Since I have not yet observed any other classrooms, the first presentation would have to be limited to the resources I have located online.
What have I learned so far?
So far, I have learned that blogging will be a natural transition for students in the classroom. Since they are so engulfed in texting, tweeting, and facebooking already, I have found that blogging is really only an elaborated version of this, and I am hearing positive feedback regarding the idea of classroom blogging. I believe that I will be presently surprised by how easily students will jump right into blogging. In contrast to my students' positive reactions and my optimism about blogs, I have unfortunately learned that not all educators value ongoing education and the importance of keeping up to date on technology. With the frustrations I have experienced this week with trying to schedule observations, I have really seen some true colors regarding opinions of technology in education. I believe that many teachers are dragging their feet because they recognize they do not take advantage of technology in instruction and do not want to be reminded of this shortcoming by a visit from me. I have really seen how many educators in my building have given up on technology when they get frustrated with our lack of resources or with their own lack of knowledge.
What new questions have arisen?
Overall, I have developed a few new questions relating to my GAME plans-
1) How do I get my students to treat blogging as a respected extension of the classroom and not just a glorified social circle?
2) How do I get the staff in my building to really buy-in to the importance of technology?
3) What happens to my GAME plan if I cannot get others to open their classrooms to me?
I am anxious to see how things continue to play out with my GAME plans and I am truly hoping things do not go awry. Any input you have regarding my questions, please let me know!
Happy Thanksgiving!
-Jen
6 comments:
Hi Jen,
Maybe once the holiday is over, the other schools will be more willing to schedule observation time with you. I know I was running around like a crazy person all last week. Are there any other schools in the area that you haven't tried contacting yet. Maybe they will be more welcoming to observations.
Also, I can empathize with your frustration in terms of a lack of motivation from other teachers. My colleagues use very little technology (actually, they do very little differentiation as well). I've found that if I bring back exciting stories with positive results from my classroom, then they tend to experiment in their classrooms. For example, after talking about group projects and presentations, one of my colleagues who only lectures and assigns papers actually assigned student presentations! It's a start. So I bet if you show excitement and positive results, then it'll spread like wildfire!
Kim Bick
To answer your first question, I believe that as educators, we direct how our students respond to things. In many cases, our students feed off our enthusiasm. If we show excitement about teaching a concept, our students will experience this excitement too; likewise, if we are bored about something they will experience this boredom. When introducing blogs to their students, teachers must remember that blogging is more than simply writing. Through blogging, students have the opportunity to see reflective writing in action and to begin to develop their own thinking on topics by leaving comments for other bloggers. Also, they are able to form a community of learners. While the concept of blogging may be viewed as something similar to face book or twitter, the teacher must explain the purpose and objectives of using this form of technology in the classroom. When students understand the reason for a particular strategy, they are more receptive to it. According to Guay (2004) educators need to make sure their pupils understand that “the conversation possible on the weblog is also an amazing tool to develop our community of learners. The students get to know each other better by reading blogs from other students. They discover, in a non-threatening way, their similarities and differences. [Blogging] puts students in a situation of equity" (as cited in Downes, 2004, p.4). In essence, therefore, you will have to let your students buy into the idea of blogging and ensure that they see it for what it is worth.
Your second question speaks to staff. I must admit that I have found teachers to be the worst students. I have found that some teachers are territorial and set in traditional ways of teaching. They are likely to spurn anything that is new. Some others are reluctant to try because they are afraid to leave their comfort zone and might not feel confident utilizing technology. For this group the challenge is to get them equipped with the skills needed to operate the technology. A practical step which will assist these and others is to make available, technology-rich lesson plans with (demos where possible and) detailed instructions regarding the use of technology. Other teachers (especially new staff) may be more willing to try. If you can work with these teachers who are willing and excited about technology, do that, and share their successes of this implementation during whole staff meeting. This could induce other members of staff to, at least, give it a try.
Your third question touches on, what is in many institutions, a raw nerve. The fact is that many teachers are not comfortable with the idea of having their lessons observed. This discomfort might be further aggravated, in this instance, since the observation is not a school requirement. There are two ways I could suggest you go about this but one would not necessarily help to maintain or improve cordial staff relationships. Since your principal has approved these observations then probably he could simply advise the teachers concerned that there will be an observation of their lessons at a particular time. This observation would no doubt, have to be carried out, ostensibly, by him but you would accompany him. Now as indicated above, this approach might not go down well with staff members and it may also damage staff relations. The approach which I’d recommend, but which will involve some challenge, is enlisting the cooperation of the teachers concerned by sharing with them the purpose on your observation and assuring them that the data you are interested in does not relate to them personally or to their teaching in a general sense but rather to the use of technology in the classroom. It would help also to assure these teachers that the information collected would not name them or in any other way, provide clues that could be used to identify them.
Reference
Downes, S. (2004). Educational blogging. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume39/EducationalBlogging/157920
Hey, Jen,
Kim has a great idea - share your class projects with your peers and maybe they will want to try something new. You mentioned two reasons teachers have for not using technology: frustration with the lack of resources and their own lack of knowledge. There might also be other obstacles to consider. Some teachers think that technology is just another irritant keeping them from the real content. Helping teachers to find something to use in their classrooms to further their content - and not a game or something trivial - will help them see the usefulness of technology in their content. Anything that will save them time will also help. I know you are not supplying information but hoping to get information. Sometimes the two can be related. Have you let teachers know what they will get out of this observation? Maybe Kim is right and the staff are just extra busy. But, they also may be thinking that this is just one more thing to do. Could you send a startling statistic about student technology use today and then say you are trying to gather info to help the content move into the 21st century? Would that be too much? I suppose an email survey would not give you enough or perhaps accurate information? These are just suggestions and I know you will find the right way to approach the other staff members. Positive persistence is the key. Don't give up!
Enjoy the final hours of Thanksgiving Break :)
@ Kim Bick,
Thanks for the suggestions! I am glad to hear that other educators are struggling with the same issues that I am. It can very frustrating when your colleagues don't understand or share your ideas about the importance of technology use in the classroom. I believe that most of them just have the attitude, why try when we do not have effective technology available? I can obviously sympathize with the frustration of being in a building that is very limited with technology, but that should not be an excuse for not finding other ways to engage learners.
-Jen
@ Patrice,
Thank you for your detailed responses to my questions! You are right on in your explanation of blogging with students. It is easy to let them fall into a more social than academic realm. Your suggestions are right on, and I appreciated your article on educational blogging. I will add it to my list of resources.
You put it exactly in the right context when you said sometimes teachers are the worst students. It can be a bit ridiculous the amount of resistance from educators when it comes to doing things that will benefit students. Isn't that the whole point of teaching? You had great suggestions about getting them motivated with already created technology lessons and demos! I can defitnitely put something like that together to present easily to staff.
Finally, you are right about asking permission to observe touching nerves with some. I wish there was a quick fix to that, but unfortunately, I just have to tread lightly. I do not know how my principal would feel about making tag team observations, because he may add more to his plate, but it is worth asking. Thanks for all your advice!
-Jen
@ Mrs. H,
An email survey may not be able to provide all I am looking for, but it would be a good place to start. It could even allow me to find a starting point for observations if I approached those teachers that listed a high amount of technology use as the ones I observe first. You also had a great idea in communicating with staff regarding what they will get from allowing me to visit their classrooms. That is something I didn't think of, so that you for that great idea. I believe that maybe if they see they value they will receive, they will become more open to the idea of an observation. Thanks!
-Jen
Post a Comment