Technology is NOT a Reward!

Change is hard.  I get it.  Trouble is, technology is here, and it's here to stay.  Why is it that some educators have such difficulty accepting it in their classrooms?

Let's think about how we ourselves use technology.  We use it to communicate, collaborate, and create. We use it to share, make people laugh, think, and stay connected.  But for some reason, this isn't the case in the classrooms of some educators.  Technology is viewed as an "add-on," a reward that must be earned for doing well.  Not only does this make no sense, it's flat-out wrong.  It is unfair to students, and deprives them of the tools and skills they need to grow and thrive in today's world.

Some teachers just dumbfound me.  For example, I know one teacher who makes his students use flashcards to learn sight words.  When I discussed with him the fact that there are several amazing apps that not only help students learn sight words, but track progress and allow teachers to tailor lessons, the teacher said, "I know.  And my students will be allowed to use those apps once they learn their sight words."  I know..... you are thinking what I am thinking.  They won't need the apps anymore.  Sigh.

Other teachers say things such as, "I don't know how I am going to fit in the technology."  As if technology is some isolated curriculum teachers must cram into their day.  Technology is a tool, and a powerful one.  When used correctly, students can produce incredible work.  Their levels of creativity and collaboration can thrive in new and exciting ways.  In addition, technology can be used in ways that make the teacher's life so much easier if the teacher is willing to do things a little differently.  It just requires making some changes and learning some new things.  Yes, you have to put in some time up front.  But the time you save in the long run is immeasurable.

So how do we help move these folks forward?  When I go to technology conferences, I always hear presenters say, "Focus on the people who are ready to move forward and forget about the negative ones.  You won't have an impact on them."  While I see the thinking here, that's not fair to the students, is it?  We have to find ways to push these folks forward.  It's not about us as adults.  It is about the students.  We need to do right by them.  We need to get uncomfortable, and if that means making others uncomfortable as well, so be it.  It's about best practices for kids.  Not what makes teachers feel good.  I think it is possible to work together in supportive and positive ways in order to move teachers forward and do what's best for kids.  Don't you?

Oh, What A Feeling!

As you can probably tell from many of my posts, I am pretty frustrated with what is going on in education these days.  I was certainly starting to feel burned out and depressed.

Back in February, I applied for a grant - the SCRIBES grant.  This is a two-year professional development grant through UC Riverside.  The underlying premise of the grant is: teachers know what kind of professional development they need.  Teachers should be the ones making the decisions rather than having professional development imposed upon them.  In the SCRIBES grant, 65% of the funds (up to $30,000) must be spent on professional development.  The rest can be spent on materials.

Now I had never written a grant in my life.  But I figured, go big.  So I asked two of my colleagues to be on the grant team, and I got started writing.  I received great feedback from my team, administrator, and district technology folks.  This helped me greatly improve the proposal.  Thirty pages and countless hours later, the proposal was done.  The focus of the grant was increasing student engagement and achievement through the use of mobile technology.  Included in the proposal were the following: the ISTE conference in Philadelphia, the CUE conference in Palm Springs, three technology trainings at the OCDE, one iPod Touch cart with 20 devices, three laptops, and various days dedicated to training our staff and having our own district people train us.

In early April I received a letter from UCR.  We had been awarded the grant!  I couldn't believe it!  (I still can't!)  So, last month our team attended the ISTE conference in Philadelphia.  What an amazing experience!  I learned so much, met wonderful people, and of course we jammed in some sight-seeing.  I cannot wait to start applying what I have learned in my classroom.

I feel so energized and renewed.  This grant has given me an incredible gift beyond the actual professional development and materials.  It has given me something I have been missing for quite some time - excitement about teaching.  Being able to choose my own direction regarding professional development has made me feel empowered in a way I haven't felt in years.  And being able to bring my own learning to my students and actually have the tools to implement that learning?  Priceless!