EMPOWERING TEACHERS & EMPOWERING STUDENTS

Empowering Teachers 1& 2

When reading these chapters two things jumped out at me; 1) using data from 1956 to show how far we haven’t come and 2) the money we spent to get nowhere.

I felt as though those “leading authorities” on education hadn’t been in the classroom since 1956.

If teachers were given the $29.2 billion dollars that was spent getting us nowhere with technology in the classroom (funds don’t include the Apple experiment and other donations), I can guarantee the true “leading authorities” (teachers) would make sure it was used to get somewhere in the classroom.

As I thought more about it in relation to my District, I realized that the only department that truly used the technology to its best ability was the Math Department. Why? The math coordinator for my District is very technological savvy. He has not only provided fabulous lesson plans, he has written or found programs that give the math teachers technology at their finger tips. One great example is the ability to attach the TI83 calculator to the projection system allowing the teachers to demonstrate its use to the entire class.

Comparing that to the English Department is similar to the studies in the textbook. The online curriculum provides worksheets for vocabulary that are to be printed and passed out, worksheets for fill in the blank, tests and reading assignments. There are Power Points for various areas to be covered but nothing that stands out as true technology in the classroom. When I taught English I, I had the students draw from a cup slips of paper that had various areas of Shakespeare’s life on it ie., parents, education, where he lived, etc. They had to research on the Internet whatever area they had chosen and then create a Power Point to share with the entire class using a broadcast system. This activity was no where in the “assigned curriculum”, but was well received and presented by the students.

My point is “leading authorities” are the persons on the front line of education, the teachers. Until the assigned leaders become technological savvy as our Math Coordinator, the technology will remain a useless tool in the classroom.

Empowering Students

When the attention turns to empowering students through technology, the challenge returns directly to empowering the teachers via information vs automation. In the preface of Empowering Students a statement validates my opinion of “leading authorities” when November writes … “most importantly, responsibility shifts to the person who is the closest to solving the problem,” which in turn links to the problem of power and control. The technology department blocks, the department coordinators tell, and the teachers regurgitate what they are told. Perhaps instead to worksheets placed in the on-line curriculum, examples of validating sources, plagiarism, educational uses of e-mailing, video cams and even fax machines as suggested for the younger grades.
Our District prohibits students from accessing e-mail. However, I use my e-mail address to allow them to send work to their parents, questions that may come up during the day or as in one case, communicating with a college football coach.

I have not used the video conferencing as a tool to draw in parents but I think this is a wonderful avenue to engage parents in our schools. I am going to attempt to do this if I can get permission from our technology department (it will be a control issue as well as a privacy issue).

Our school is very active in Service Learning. Three or four times a year our students visit a local nursing home sing and read to the residents. I am going to propose (possibly through grants) that we set up a web cam for the students and residents to communicate. I feel this would be a triple win situation; our students, the residents, wonder teaching technology tool and a service learning experience that has not been address – the use of computers to improve the community.

I am going to contact my niece in WV and see if we can do some technology integration between our classrooms as a “beginning” project of online buddies. Again, I will get permission from technology. If they will not allow the online cam projects then I will video my students and we can send videos back and forth through my e-mail.

Currently I use two sites to publish my students work. One is Artsonia and the second is Worth1000. I was introduced to Artsonia by my granddaughter in Waco. Her art teacher uses it to share the students work with family all over the world. I can use it to share my Communications Graphics and Multi-media students work. I am currently working with Worth1000 to enter my Photo Shop students work into contests. It is a fabulous site to stimulate creativity – thinking outside the box.