I was just thinking about my experiences this year with Laptop Focus, my Lead Tech Team, and Kal-Tech and I can't help but think about the growth we have made, as an individual, contributor, creator, teacher. Wow!! My brain can't hold it all :-)
My Team#155 is made up of a great group of educators from Ellis, Kansas. They are excellent educators struggling against the forces of change in their small rural community. They are the "cream of the crop" in their district. I also have four FHSU professors who work in the college of Ed. in Hays. They are also "cream of the crop" and struggling to keep up with the curve of technological advances in their profession.
Life is an upward battle.
We all have these people, the cream, living inside our organizations. Are we fostering their skills? They can help design new learning opportunities. Leadership. Leadership. Where is it?
This year was HARD work for all of us "change agents"! The more we introduce change the "messier" it gets!
To my Kal-Tech team here in this wikispace ... I would like to invite each of you to think and reflect about your experiences over this past school year.
What had the most impact on your life professionally?
What had the most impact on your life personally?
If you could change ONE thing in your building next year, what would it be?
If you could design a 21C skills class, what would you include?
What knowledge is of MOST importance?
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
K-12 Education ~ Kal-Tech ~ Culture Shift ~ Distributed Leadership ~ Web 2.0 ~ K20 Partnerships ~ Leading & Learning With Technology
About Me
- Karla Murray
- Learner - Tech Coordinator - Parent - Grandparent - Concerned Citizen
5 comments:
The greatest impact on my professional life has been acknowledging that change is not easy. While learning is change, there seems to be an unwritten question among those that do not want to move forward as to why we should learn new things. This is clearly saying, “Why should we change?” That answer is simple if we would just take one look or take a minute to listen to the students and what they are doing in their world.
While they have a lot to learn, they are not afraid. They have already established means of communicating, accept the process of change easily, and work as a team. They are ready and willing to live in a technical environment. In fact they expect to have all the tech gadgets they can get their hands on and they use them.
Personally, the greatest impact is probably realizing that I can’t stay ahead of the students. They think differently than I do. On the other hand, I do have something that a lot of them still don’t have and is very important that we, as educators, give them. That is “intellectual curiosity” and “self-direction.” Without these, the students will flounder even with all their technology.
Another valued asset is that like the students; I am not afraid. I read and hear about all the rest of the world and their advancements and how our children may fall behind. I can’t buy that because I have faith and trust in our children as they become adults. As a wise man once said, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.”
I know that I can’t communicate with students according to traditional standards; I have to allow them time to explore and I have to be willing to allow their creativity.
If I could change one thing in my building next year it would have to be morale. I would like to see the entire staff work as a happy team. I think fairness to all through accountability should be present without being threatening; change would be more acceptable and learning would occur professionally. If the group morale were better, I think that it could be a fun journey with each other and our students.
If I could design a 21C class, I know that whatever I included technologically must be driven by what the students need or want intellectually. Some of the more important would be the usual: engaged learners, controlled chaos, creativity, thinkers, communicators, and collaborators. Those words are all great lip-service unless they are actually incorporated in an inquiry setting. So, in designing a 21C class the important issues become change of scheduling, teacher plan and collaboration time, creativity, freedom, and no fear.
The knowledge that I think would be the most important would be “intellectual curiosity.” Students have to be interested in something enough to want to find the theories, the answers, solve the problems, or expand their knowledge. They have all this information at their fingertips, but without “intellectual curiosity” it has no value.
Finally, I think it is important to remember that technology is a tool and that it doesn’t stop evolving. That is the key: it doesn’t stop evolving. We cannot stop learning, which is saying; we cannot stop change. Right now we need to start asking questions of ourselves and we have to be willing to shift back and forth from teachers to learners.
I have a sign on my door that I took from an article some time ago. I don’t remember the article or author, but the theme was plainly what I put up to remind myself of what I am very slowly trying to help my students learn. It reads, “Take a Chance..Let Them Dance.”
The one thing that affects my life professionally every year is the State assessments that I have to give each year. I teach 3 different levels of math 4-6th grades so I have a lot of responsibility in getting students prepared to learn information that they need. I usually do not sweat it but it is a relief every year when I am finished. Professionally technology is definitely making a change in the way we teach, and with the quickness of technology we need to keep on top of the new trends, because our students definitely are. They want to learn this way so why are so many teachers holding them back.
This year the biggest thing to affect me personally was have both of the kids going to school with me everyday. It takes its toll when Kim goes to work before the kids and I, not only on me but the children as well. It is a lot different having their mother taking them places then their step-father. As far as technology goes, seeing my 6 year old pull out Kim’s computer turn it on log on and get on the internet and his favorite site all by himself has a big affect personally. It shows where are children are going to, 10 years ago, I was almost afraid to turn on a computer, now it is amazing how children are so accustomed to it.
The one thing I would like to see different next year in our school would be the teacher morale. This year it just doesn’t seem teachers are as happy as they have been in the past. It would be nice to see us all work together and make the kids come first.
A 21st Century classroom! There are a lot of ways I have thought of implementing technology in my classes, but there always seems to be restrictions. I would like to have the students making not only power points but learn how to do movies. I would like to get my students to start making video’s similar to Unitedstreaming, then the students will learn the concepts first hand instead of just listening to them. I hope I can take the time and start implementing more technology into my classes.
I would say that what has impacted me the most in both areas is an extreme distaste for always doing the same thing. I live and work for change. I feel very strongly that progress can only be achieved if a person is willing to accept change. I don’t agree with change simply for the sake of change. I believe that there needs to be evidence that warrants the pursuit of change, but that requires the willingness to investigate alternatives to what you are doing already. In my life, I have been a grocery clerk, a delivery person, an ice factory worker, a watchmaker and jeweler, a coach, a teacher, a technology coordinator, and finally an administrator as Director of Curriculum and Technology. My life has been spent changing what I do and how I do it. I will continue to search for ways of doing things better in the field of education. It isn’t always an easy road, but I would never trade for a life of going to work and doing the same, or nearly same, job assignment for 20 or 30 years.
I feel that the one thing that needs changed more then anything is attitudes. Many educators have the attitude that schools are fine and if everyone would just leave them alone, they would successfully educate students. This is an archaic belief that was great 50 years ago, but the world outside of the school walls is changing so rapidly and so many teachers ignore it. Are all teachers like that? Certainly not, but the need for honest dialog and realistic self-reflection is imperative. I find it very interesting to hear teachers make the statement, “kids today are so different then what they were in years past”, and yet those same teachers attempt to conduct their classes the way that they have for years.
I like the skill set that has been defined by the Partnership for 21st Century Skill. This is a very good list that all educators should pay very close attention to. I think that these skills could possibly be summarized into an ability of students to find answers to questions, not just regurgitate answers. The biggest mistake being made today in education is preparation of students for high-stakes tests. We work very hard to feed our students facts and information that they can remember long enough to pass a test, but what can those students do with that information, provided that they remember it a couple of weeks after the test is completed. I find myself remembering when I was teaching and how students would ask the usual question, “Why do I need to learn this”? I replied with all of the answers that my education training had provided, but did very little to demonstrate why they needed it. If I would have had today’s resources, I could have replied, “You do an Internet search and tell me why you need to learn this”. High Order Thinking skills need to take precedent over rote memorization.
I would have to say that getting the TRC classroom grant for our school has had the biggest impact on professional life. The whole experience really changed the way I teach. In the beginning we struggled with hanging on to the old methods and taking on the technology. That didn’t work so well, so we took out our standards and started planning learning activities based on standards. I took the standards and developed a checklist and kept track of the content I had covered. It’s amazing the standards you cover in a single project. The problem is the time it takes to complete a project, especially on our departmentalized schedule. Assessment is also something I struggle with; I revised my rubrics and now go with a clear and concise list of concepts needed to be included in their projects. I still feel there is a gap between what they do on projects and their performance on traditional classes. This makes it hard when a student is referred to summer school due to state test scores. How do I make their learning on the projects transfer to traditional tests?
Well, I have come to the conclusion that I can only control myself so what I would like to continue to strive for and change next year is closing the achievement gap and helping kids develop vocabulary so we can build common background knowledge. I will be giving the reading assessment for the first time next year, so want to integrate as much of those skills into my subject matter as I can to use time more effectively. I would like to continue to work on assessments and effectively find out where a student’s level and work from that level. This fits into differentiating instruction, so that would be another professional area I would like to grow in.
As for a 21st century skills class, I would take those skills mentioned at our Kal-Tech meeting in Topeka and tie those skills to real world applications. I would also tie a service project making their community a better place to live in as a result of their project. An example was North High School in Wichita did extensive lobbying against the state of Kansas doing business with businesses that support the country of Sudan. As a result of their efforts, legislation was passed and Kansas no longer will support businesses with financial ties to Sudan. Pretty powerful, real life learning that makes a difference.
I would have to say the the biggest impact and challenge in my professional life has been the continual integration of technology in my classroom. It has been a continual learning proces for both myself and my students. Although it has been a very positive thing....there have been and will continue to be bumps in the road as we continue to integrate and meet the needs of our learners.
Personally...I love change...I am continually changing everything from the lessons and ways that I teach to the ways I relate to my students, etc....The continual push and integration of technology has had a huge impact on my family, as well. My 7 year old daughter has become obsessed with my laptop and iPod....we now use a webcam to communicate with relatives....we've even set my 85 year old granmother up with email...times are changing!
The one thing that I would like to see change in our building next year would have to be teacher morale. I believe in order to be a progressive school, teachers need to feel good about what they are doing and work together to collabotate. This is currently a huge struggle and needs to be something that changes in order to stay progressive.
The ultimate 21C classtooms in our building, I feel, needs to teach kids the skills that they are going to need for their future jobs..not sure what those skills are yet, because things are changing so rapidly, but we do need to be getting these kids ready to go out into the work force. I can honestly say that I feel the MOST important sills are the ability to work with peers and to be a self motivated learner.
Post a Comment