Why Are So Many Teachers Afraid of Technology?

I have been working with teachers for decades and am always amazed at how reluctant we are as a profession to embrace the next technology. We seem to be one technological generation behind the rest of the world. When we were still hand-cranking our beloved spirit-master machines (AKA Ditto machines – you know you loved the smell!) and mimeograph machines, the rest of the world was using photocopiers. And, how long did it take for your school to finally get LCD projectors and interactive whiteboards – Smart, Promethean or otherwise? And if you finally got one, did you get adequate training? That’s another topic altogether.

While I no longer teach in the classroom and seldom teach graduate courses any longer, I visit do the classes presented in New Jersey and Pennsylvania offered by the Regional Training Center in partnership with The College of New Jersey and La Salle University respectively. When I encourage teachers to LIKE us on Facebook or connect with us on Twitter, I get a lot of interesting responses and reasons why they can’t or won’t. Many teachers are either afraid of being “found” by their students or are told NOT to be on social media by their districts. (I’m not sure districts can really do that.)

Facebook has lots of ways of protecting your account. You control who sees your stuff and can make it very restricted. I have my personal account set for only friends, of which I seem to have well over 300; however, these are all people I invited to be my friends or people I accepted as friends. My life is fuller because of it. How else would I have ever reconnected with so many college and high school friends and been able to share memories, photographs, grandchildren, etc.?

I do have Facebook friends that are former students, too. These are “kids” that were very special to me and I to them, I hope. It has been fun to catch up with them, watch them mature, marry and move up in their careers and have children of their own. Many of them tag me when they find a really good grammar error or joke, because they know I’ll “get it. 

There is so much more to technology in the education world that many teachers do take full advantage of, but another large group of educators continue to drag their feet. We recently tried adding a simple online component to a face-to-face graduate course. It involved posting a paragraph as a mid-course progress report on how the course was influencing their teaching already (or not). While most teachers had absolutely no problem with this, some were so perplexed that they called our office to rant and rave! I’ve even had teachers tell me that they don’t use computers. My answer to that would be (if I were bolder) that I don’t think you should be in the classroom any longer.

There are plenty of ways to get training and digital immigrants, while they will never be digital natives, can certainly learn to use today’s technology. Just get some training. Every school of education has courses just for that. Our program has them too:

“Universal Design for Learning: Reaching All Learners in the Digital Age,” designed by a Dr. Jon Mundorf, classroom teacher and a leader in the field, is available face-to-face and online. UDL provides practical, hands-on, digital-age solutions to reach and teach all learners. Universal Design for Learning is a framework to help educators meet the challenge of teaching diverse learners in the 21st century. It also provides a blueprint for creating flexible goals, methods, materials and assessments that enable students with diverse needs and learning styles to succeed in an inclusive, standards-based, digital classroom. NOTE: A laptop with WiFi capability is required to participate in this course.

Another course that has a lot of Web-based tools build into it is “Skills for Building the Collaborative Classroom.” Designed by a teacher and media specialist, Jennifer Caputo, this course is based on the 21stCentury Skills of collaboration, cooperation, creativity and critical thinking (the 4 C’s). The goal of this course is help teachers engage students who will live in a global community and work in a global marketplace. NOTE: A laptop or tablet able to search the Internet and download applications is required.

RTC also offers “Teaching 2.0: iPads in Education,” designed by Allyson Lang, a teacher who uses iPads every day in class. Participants will increase their knowledge of how iPads work, learn how data collection, storage and management can be made more effective: examine applications for classroom use, lesson planning, presentations and much more. NOTE: An iPad with WiFi capability is required. Applications will be downloaded during the course.

Don’t be afraid – do something about it!

The Mandate of the 21st Century
 
from NASSP  Leading Schools
(National Association of Secondary School Principals)


Now that we are 12 years into the 21st century, it is odd and a little bit frustrating to have ongoing conversations about moving toward 21st century skills. It seems that schools should already be there. Many are. Some are not. Some are not, but think they are. And still some, quite honestly, do not have a clear notion of what 21st century skills are, which is understandable. The expression is often tossed around without any real context or definition. Even worse, the expression is just as often perceived as a bludgeon to remind educators that whatever they are doing is not enough and that what they have done no longer has value. That perception polarizes educators rather than building the consensus that we need to move all schools forward.
Those camps of educators are further driven away by notions that 21st century skills are the domain of those born in the 21st century and that such skills are synonymous with intensive technology integration. Our surveys of members reveal that reflective practice and continuous improvement are not unique to any age demographic; although the acquisition of 21st century skills is certainly enabled by technology, the mere integration of technology is hardly enough to develop the skills. So, what are these skills? I prefer a version of the definition promoted by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, often referred to as the 4Cs.

Critical thinking and problem solving. As the partnership describes it, students are well-served when they are encouraged to use different kinds of reasoning and apply systems thinking to determine how parts of a whole interact to produce outcomes. This category also captures such skills as evaluating evidence, arguments, and points of view; synthesizing and connecting arguments; interpreting information and drawing conclusions; and reflecting critically on the learning experience and process. Dust off your old Foundations in Education textbook, and you’ll see shades of Bloom’s Taxonomy in much of this language. Yet there is a greater urgency than ever before for schools to push students higher up the taxonomy, and we see more and more schools developing these skills in the context of realworld problems. Such instruction carries many names—inquiry learning, problembased learning, project-based learning, challenge- based learning, and so forth.

Creativity and innovation. Innovation is very much in vogue in education policy circles, but we rarely stop to consider where innovation comes from. It is, in fact, inseparable from the skill of creativity, which requires the application of a wide range of idea-creation techniques and the ability to elaborate, refine, analyze, and evaluate ideas to improve creative efforts. Creation techniques include brainstorming, assumption busting, guided imagery, and many others. (For more techniques and definitions, visit www.creatingminds.org.) As the partnership explains, students should be encouraged to “view failure as an opportunity to learn and understand that creativity and innovation is a long-term, cyclical process of small successes and frequent mistakes.” And schools, by extension, must become places where mistakes are encouraged as part of the creative process.

Collaboration. In his book, Where Good Ideas Come From, author Steven Johnson develops the notion of the “adjacent possible,” a premise that innovation flourishes only when ideas encounter one another and recombine to create new and more complete ideas. As Johnson explains, even those great aha moments in history were actually slow hunches that stumbled across other slow hunches to create a breakthrough—whether a new theory such as evolution, or a new invention such as the light bulb. The message for schools is that isolation is a dead end for innovation and that we must replace the framework of competition with one of collaboration. To foster the creation of new ideas, we have to explicitly teach students how to work effectively and respectfully in diverse teams, how to make compromises to accomplish a common goal, and how to assume shared responsibility for work while valuing individual contribution.

Communication. Linked closely to collaboration, the skill of communication includes the ability to both deliver and critically receive messages. As the partnership defines it, students must be able to articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts. But they should also learn to listen effectively to decipher meaning. Digital-age communication requires that students use multiple media and technologies and know how to judge their effectiveness and assess their impact.
Little about the content of these skills is new. Humans have been solving problems and communicating since the dawn of time, and we have all enjoyed the benefits of the creativity of the generations that preceded us. Yet if we look at recent history, can we be confident that those innovations took place because of schooling and not despite it? If we embrace the mandate of the 21st century, our schools will prepare students to innovate our way out of the biggest problems we face. This is a goal we can all embrace. NL

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The following is a repost of the first entry I ever made. It's the basis for the name of this blog. Enjoy!

The following is a repost of the first entry I ever made. It's the basis for the name of this blog. Enjoy!

 Education shouldn't hurt . . .

. . .Your brain!
. . .Your self-esteem!
. . .Your family!

. . .Your body!

. . .Your future!

 

The other night I was lying in bed, wide awake and my mind was going a mile a minute. So, I got up, for the first time in my life and started to make notes -- I did so for several hours. The notes I wrote down were all about the things I've been talking about for years in my graduate courses and in-services as it pertains to school. So please indulge my ramblings.

As I was thinking about how education hurts, I thought of five categories - I'm sure there are more - in which education does hurt.

 

It hurts one's brain. Kids are forced to prep for tests at alarming rates. In fact for many educators, schools and student - it's all about the tests. When I think back on my education, I don't remember it being all about the tests. It was all about the learning! What new, cool, interesting, crazy, amazing thing did I learn today? I looked forward to school (now I'm sure there were many who did not) and wanted to be there. Please note that it was not a perfect world for me, because I was -- overweight! I those days that meant that phys. ed., lunch time, etc. was painful!

I guess that logically brings me to:  

It hurts one's self-esteem. School should be a place where we get energized and recharged (or charged). So often, it's the place where kids get deflated and beaten down. In a course I teach, Cooperative Discipline, we talk about helping kids feel capable, connected and contributing. Gangs certainly do that for kids, but I'm not so sure that school does that all the time. Teachers who understand these 3 C's can make an amazing difference in the lives of the students they interact with each day.

It sometimes hurts one's family: It 's often said, "If Mama ain't happy: ain't nobody happy." Well if kids are not happy at school, there are repercussions at home. I've sen parents at their wits end trying to figure our how to make their child succeed. An unhappy kid can be the product of an unhappy home or the cause of it.

I can hurt one's body. Think about the last time you sat in a school desk. The word ergonomic probably does not come to mind! Schools are uncomfortable places. We buy "Postur-pedic beds" for our kids and send them to school to sit all day in chairs and desks little changed since the pioneer days. We're proud of our seven foot tall basketball stars, but make them sit in the same desks as the petite cheerleaders. We also think that it's a good thing to SIT for 5 or six hours a day with few breaks, bad food and little water. Then, just for good measure , we shorten recess (or take it away). The research on nutrition, movement and hydration as it relates to learning is strong and getting stronger. If we want our kids to learn, we need to get them up and moving (more on this another time) and for goodness sake, let them have some water!

Finally, It can hurt one's future. Even the kids who are getting high grades on the standardized tests are not necessarily ready for the outside world. Which job, exactly, requires their employees to take practice tests all day? Obviously, there need to be standards, but as Susan Ohanian states in her little orange book, One Size Fits Few, so many kids in this standards-crazed education system in America are "falling through the cracks."

So I have a list of courses I wish I had taken:

• How to make/save money
• How be a good father/husband
• How to be healthy - and live to be 100
• How to make a difference in the world
• How to be a nice person
• How to stay out of gangs
• How to care for the environment
• How to help create a peaceful world

I'll bet you can add your own.

I guess that's enough for today, but I love the motto in Rafe (Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire) Esquith's classes, "Be nice - Work hard!" If that could be accomplished in America's classrooms, what a wonderful place they would all be.

RTC introduces "Instructional Technology in the 21st Century"

The Regional Training Center, Randolph NJ, is rolling out another new TCNJ/Gratz College course this spring: Instructional Technology in the 21st Century. The course has been designed by Jodi Levine a media specialist in NJ. 

This course will be offered in three locations in NJ this spring and summer: Saddle Brook (Mar 2, 3, 4, 17, 18), Mahwah (Apr. 27, 28, 29, May 19, 20) and Oradell (July 9, 10, 11, 16, 17) 

The course will also be offered in two locations in PA this summer: King of Prussia (June 8, 9, 10, 23, 24) and Stroudsburg (July 13, 1, 15, 23, 240

Here is the course description:

Technology is changing the world at an alarming rate, and teachers are charged with preparing students for jobs that do not yet exist. This course assists educators in meeting the demands of teaching “digital natives.” To understand the 21st century learner, educators must be aware of and be able to use a myriad of tools: new hardware, new software, interactive websites, global collaboration, Web 2.0 skills, etc. This course will address all of these, as well as, the critical thinking skills needed to evaluate the validity of websites, the importance of ethics responsibility in the digital age, and ways to address cyber-safety.

Register at www.theRTC.net or 800-433-4740

RTC ROLLS OUT THE BULLY PROOF CLASSROOM IN RESPONSE TO RECENT EVENTS AND THE ON-GOING ISSUE OF BULLYING IN OUR SCHOOLS

Randolph, NJ, (March 8, 2011) – Bullying is one of the most important issues facing our families, schools, communities and society today, yet most educators have never taken a class or a course regarding this serious issue. As a response to this need, The Regional Training Center has implemented a three-credit graduate course entitled The Bully Proof Classroom designed by James Burns, Paul McEnerney and James Gilbert. The first session will be offered in Mahwah, NJ starting April 29, with two offerings this summer: One in Saddle brook/Paramus, NJ (June 27-July1) and another in Edison, NJ (July 13,14,15,21,22).

This course will help educators better understand the issue of bullying and develop strategies for addressing bullying in their schools. The Bully Proof Classroom is based on the premise that an educator's primary professional duty is to help students learn and that frightened students who feel that they are in an unsafe classroom environment cannot reach their potential as learners.

Furthermore, this course emphasizes the inclusion of socialization curriculum, which becomes part of the general school curricula and continues year to year. Through this course, teachers will gain an understanding of the basic knowledge pertaining to bullying. Participants will engage in hands-on, experiential activities that will help them gain a better awareness of bullying behavior, the reaction of the victim, the responsibility of bystanders, and how to create a bully proof assurance in their classrooms and schools.

For more info please follow the follow the following link:

https://www.thertc.net/main.php

Bullying - take the test

Blood (work) for Halloween!!!!!

These readings certainly show the effects of two weeks in Maine, a week in the Adirondacks and four days in Cape May. It's all about the Triglycerides! Yikes!

Cholesterol: This time: 200, Last time I posted: 171
Triglycerides: This time: 240, Last time: 122
HDL: This time: 45, Last time: 47
LDL: This time: 107, Last time: 100