People ask me how I’m doing, how school is going, and I say fine as if that were the truth.
It’s not, not really.
Some people read between the lines of the Wondering post a few weeks ago, and tried to offer some advice. I appreciated it, truly I did, but the gods’ honest truth is that the advice was not all that helpful.
I need to be happy, fulfilled and supported in what I do in order to feel like I am doing a good job. That comes from a number of factors; the kids are a large part of that but are not even close to the whole picture. Continuing on in a situation that is not making me happy for the sake of the kids is not a good alternative for two big reasons: 1) I am just not that selfless as to put the needs of other people’s kids above my own needs, and 2) the world does not need yet another unhappy teacher turning kids off of a subject.
Don’t misunderstand, I am not leaving the school or the profession any time soon, but the event has appeared on the horizon as a possibility. I’ve been at this job 50% longer than I have ever been in one place in my entire adult life and there is a reason why. I respect and admire the people I work with (for the most part) and I strongly believe in the school’s mission.
It wears on me though, being the only real geek in the staff. I often end up doing three jobs for the price of one - teaching the kids, planning/implementing/fixing the technology, and training the staff. In the past I haven’t minded too much as along with that comes the freedom to plan my courses in line with what the kids need, to teach them in a way that I know that they will learn best.
But I tell you, it is incredibly frustrating to teach new technologies to the staff, to make it as simple as possible and to explain the usefulness of it as a tool and then find it has been utilized half-assed if even at all. The disconnect between some of the staff and the mission statement we are trying to exemplify is becoming quite apparent. Publicly saying that you stand for things like “utilizing the most current and credible resources” and “learning as a lifelong process in a community of learners” is pretty damn wonderful, but if you’re going to use the same old methods, if you’re not going to walk the walk so to speak, it’s all just hot air.
I’ve long been talking about the rise of the Digital Native, kids who are used to technology and who have been immersed in it as long as they can remember. Ongoing research is indicating that due to this influx of technology and information, there are neurological changes happening. Patterning is changing from linear, with it’s standard beginning/middle/end format, to hyperlinked, sparking off in all directions to only get the information you need at the time.
In an article written in 2001 (2001!), Marc Prensky says,
Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.
I’ve been seeing this for 5-6 years now. I listen to the staff room talk about how student X doesn’t concentrate and how student Y can’t seem to understand the information from the textbook and how they weren’t going to allow student Z to submit her report in anything other than written essay format because that’s “not the assignment”. Heaven forbid the teacher have to extend themselves a bit so the student can demonstrate her learning and understanding in a way that is relevant to the student.
So yes, I’ve been a tad frustrated with how things have been going. I can only bang my head against the wall so many times before I quit and go find an advil. I almost slipped into a why bother? mindset which is the first indicator that it’s time for me to polish the resume.
However.
Today I feel a little less alone. I spent three days at the conference for the Educational Computing Organization of Ontario (ECOO) conference. Three days with people who are on the same page, who read the research, see the current practices and know as I do that they are becoming out-of-date faster than anyone in charge is planning for.
These are people who are walking the walk, using social networking and collaboration tools to engage and teach students as well as each other. I paid for the wireless connection in the conference area just so I would have access to the twitter feeds, online presentations and wikis from other sessions. Sure, I talked to teachers and IT people from both boards and private schools about technology, but we also talked and shared ideas about how to engage and reach and teach in a meaningful way.
I can’t tell you what an incredible relief it was to talk to people on the same page as I was, and not have to backtrack and explain terms or technologies. What a joy to talk to people either as passionate as I was about meeting the oncoming changes or open-minded enough to want to see how practices could be altered, amended, or changed from within.
Along with the relief and joy has come a renewed sense of purpose and passion, that yes, I do know what I’m talking about, and that yes, it is time to ensure that people walk the walk. Now I have some support with connections with colleagues through twitter and wikis. I have research and resources from a wide array of credible sources to act as padding to protect my noggin when I go back to school tomorrow and resume banging my head against the wall. Here’s to eventually knocking a wall down.
I have to do a presentation on the conference to the staff. I’m going to open it with a line taken from Ian Jukes’ keynote speech:
If we keep doing stuff that we know doesn’t work, then who has the learning problem?
on Nov 15th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I see it with my son, and sometimes its frustrating - he just approaches problems differently than I would. I’m not sure which is better or not . . . but I’m starting to really understand that there probably isn’t only one way . . . and I don’t know if our teachers are all ready for that.
on Nov 15th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Hey Katitude,
Methinks you have found your tribe…as Sir Ken Robinson would say!
Great that you enjoyed ecoo and I think this year, because we are so many already networked using new tools, the conversations aren’t going to stop. Awesome.
I share your pain about being the one at school who is the geek…Just how many beginner workshops can people attend before they jump in and try new things???? (A lot apparently).
And…now that ecoo is over, I’m getting down to some knitting…are you on ravelry.com?
on Nov 15th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
You’ve got half of it down pat. As to brains wired differently. The thing is that teachers — for the most part — have the same problem.
Teachers seem to feel they must exhibit a superiority. (Generality … exemption granted) That creates structures that are hard to surmount.
I remember a seminar for teachers I participated in back in the early days. I was the last speaker over 2 days of presentations and through my text out the window. I’d been in the meetings and listened in the display area and they didn’t seem to have a clue. I changed to simple explanation of what they’d heard. I was the glossary and it was only then they started to get some value out of all that stuff that they’d been exposed to. And, there was no indication from them they were lost lambs. They were too proud to have just told the various presenters to explain further. I hope I sent them home with at least half a clue. One of the good ones asked me to address her computer classes and I did. One good session and I sucked at the other. I am not saying the job is or even could be easy. But I felt gratification and enjoyment from better one and I can see where you are and why.
There was another instance where I was asked by the principle to put some computers in the classrooms. I did and then we met with the teachers. They hated them. More work. Not part of their lesson plan that they’d used since they started. It was actually a lot of spite directed at the principle and me for even suggesting something beyond there comfort zone. I wouldn’t have wanted to be a student in any of their classes.
on Nov 15th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Kat … keep banging you head against the wall, because if you can reach one kid a class, a year and make a difference then it is worth it IMOHO
I spent my entire education fighting learning disabilities (and still do), and even worse fighting a teaching system that had no fuckin’ clue how to deal with kids like me. I feel your pain in trying to change a sytem that is still in Dicksonian times
If it was not for a a handfull of teachers who stopped, put down the book, and took the time to try a diffrent approach with me, I have no idea how I would have survived.
You are one of those rare teachers who educate, rather than just teach … you understand the diffference
So go out there, bang your head you head, and you will continue to make a difference
Moose
BTW … the link to Marc Prensky was awesome - I have been reading his articles
on Nov 16th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Oh the teachers are going to love that line.
I’m in that middle tech generation, not raised on social networking, but using a Commodore 128 before I hit double-digits, and programming around the same time. Why? Because my mom, a high school teacher, grabbed the most computer-savvy kid in her class and had him tutor me at home. He introduced me to BASIC, and making a computer do what *I* wanted it to do.
I spent high school breezing through the computer classes, because I obviously knew more than the teachers who were reading from the textbooks. To the point where one didn’t want me in his class because I’d show him up. I took it anyway because it would be an easy credit.
The Web and Internet started taking off in my mid-teens, and I was on XMosaic within a year of it debuting. I consider myself lucky that I was born at the time to catch the wave as it was starting and have enough exposure to the technology to understand it as it evolves.
Part of the problem is generational. Teachers are still largely in the 40-60’s range, and the percentage of people in that group who understand, or even don’t fear, technology is much smaller than the generations after that. As more teachers from my generation and younger emerge, the technological skew should start to move in the right direction. Sadly, they won’t be in positions of real power for a while.
Keep at it, bust some heads, and try your damndest to get through to those who still care more about the kids than the ease of recycling the same old plans and methods. If they fear they’re failing the children, then maybe they’ll care enough to put some effort into updating their own outlook.
You’ll still have to fix the paper jams for them though.
on Nov 23rd, 2009 at 2:35 pm
As someone who is not involved in the teaching profession, but has noticed the shift in the way people think (my thinking, included), it was very enlightening to read about your thoughts on a subject I really knew very little about. I guess that’s one of the best parts about blogging…you can share your thoughts with people who are open to new ideas. Thanks.