Monday, April 6, 2009

Blings, Rings and Things That Go Pop!

I haven't been blogging lately due to a close family member passing away but as he would say ' Life goes on so don't stop because of me' so here I am back on board the ICT train.

It's been interesting watching teachers responses to new learning and technology. Some have embraced it, others have been blown away and some have just sat and watched waiting for it to age expecting things to happen as time passes by.

Today was like every other day I spent time organising, working and planning ideas for my next teaching journey but today's encounter was an interesting scenario... so here is the story.

As teachers, we are aware that we have a huge melting pot of children that enter our door each year. They arrive with different walks and talks of life and I guess as a facilitator I to have a huge pot, just with teachers.

We celebrate and embrace the ones that show interest in what to we are passionate about but how do their successes affect those who are unsure, hesitant or unsure.

I have a group of teachers who are very skilled with I.C.T and like to use all the bells and whistles to make things look good, this can at times be off putting for others who are not as confident and today I saw this.

After a long lengthy discussion with some teachers it was heart breaking to see how one little bit of excitement can shattered a persons confident. Yet how do you say to someone that is excited about their learning not to do what they do!

So what are your thoughts?? I would be interested to hear how you would deal with this situation...

2 comments:

  1. I have these types of conversations with staff every day. We have a whole range of responses, from the 'That's cool for you but not for me' to the 'I'll say it's cool to your face but secretly I'm hoping it's all a phase because it scares me!' Tech integration is becoming something that's creating what I'm calling, 'The digital divide' amongst teaching staff (Not sure if I started it or read it somewhere). Staff are absolutely getting polarised on the advantages of tech in classrooms. What to do about, how fast / slow to push change and whether everyone should be changing is something that we all grapple with. My own opinion is that teachers should be professional in their approach to this and jump on board! No one ever asked me as a beginning teacher if I would LIKE to embrace the Nump project! I was TOLD this is what I will embrace. Let's stop pandering to people and start treating tech integration as it should be treated - a crucial progression in every teachers day to day pedagogy for the benefit of the next generation (who will inherit a deficit if we don't). Sorry for the rant, you asked for a comment!

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  2. Mmm...I hope that wasn't me! I know I can get a bit carried away at times too. I agree with Mark.. we need to have expectations of our staff and they need to ensure that they are joining the waka. At times it is challenging but small steps work well. I think it is a shame that someone else's excitement means another feels shattered. The culture needs to be lets ask and see how we do that, or it's not for me at the moment but something I would like to try.Surely if we look at children we could say "I'm not sure how to handle this child" so therefore I am not going to try new ideas or ask someone who may help. Is this not what teaching is all about? If we tone down our teachers who are passionate and excited then they will become disallusioned and will stop sharing. Who will then share?

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