This post is a mash-up of more thoughts than should go in one post. I'm inspired right now by the books The Speed of Trust, The Power of Full Engagement, Bernajean Porter's work, my social networks, and the work of our district LTT.
The start of a New Year causes me to reflect not only on my own personal and professional growth, but also on the growth of our organization. Over the next month or so, we should all focus on reflection.
Last night's teacher laptop class was an example that we do not, on a regular basis, initiate good conversation as a whole. However, our staff development model has used the power of video and Tanya's opening movie last night accomplished the task of empowering voice. No longer is it acceptable to be ignorant. It was a good night, but we continue to have non-participants whom we can not reach. Sad.
Reflecting... As usual, I have more questions than answers. What do we, the "LTT", stand for? What is lacking in the area of 21C skills, thinking, and knowledge among those we teach and work with? How do we "bridge that gap"?
Are we Innovating? Inspiring? Assessing???
Are we teaching the skills that teachers need in the new media landscape? Do we agree on those skills? Are we remembering, among all the distraction technology brings, the power of the Socratic method?
I started the school year with an email full of questions that we have not formally addressed. Aimee brought them back to us a couple of months later with her own thoughtful answers. I challenge each of us to do the same.
My team works very hard and our district is blessed. I am nothing without my players.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Here's my two cents worth! You mention you have non-participants. Why is that? It could be because the participants don't know enough to participate. Not all teachers understand web 2.0 or the power of networking. It is so far-fetched for some people to comprehend. You should see people react when I mention twitter!
Also, I've been frustrated when I ask questions of the group and only one or two people answer. I have learned that it is MUCH more effective to ask a question, have them talk with a partner, then add to that team another team of two, so they are sharing out in groups of four now. More dialogue occurs this way. Some people just don't feel comfortable sharing out in a crowd. Sometimes it is the fear of being wrong, laughed at, or ridiculed. Yes, that happens with adults too! Someone in each group of four then could share out with the entire group. It is just very important to create an environment where people feel safe.
I have to say that I was thinking about this very thing today and was disappointed at the lack of enthusiasm that was generated among the participants that were present last night at the teacher laptop class. I was even more frustrated with the number of people who didn't bother to participate at all. Top it off with the comments I heard today about us not meeting the needs of the participants and my dismay grows. Something has got to change.
Reflecting on the progress of the LTT for the district leaves me with many unanswered questions. Where are we going? How do we get there? What will it take to get everyone to go with us? I am constantly amazed at the lack of cohesiveness in a group that calls itself a team. We have a lot of key players, but we all are playing for our own glory. As a group, we have a love of technology in common but that is about it for us. We all have our own agenda or game plan for what we would like to see and yet that is no way to come out victorious if we are all playing for ourselves. We need goals, a plan, a strategy for implementation and then effort and practice until we get where we want to go. We need to sit down, have the conversations that need to happen and get moving in the right direction again. The LTT has had a positive impact on our district in the past and we need to continue our efforts so that we have a positive impact today and into the future.
Mary, thanks for posting. You know how much I respect your thoughts. Just to clarify, our non-participants I mention are already enrolled in the course. Sometimes questioning why we can't just do PowerGrade or other tasks instead of ..... I must admit it is hard to meet people who are just opening the door to Microsoft Office.
You are right, not all teachers understand the power of networks. You know I believe pedagogy before the tools. Could this be what Alan November wants us to understand?
Communication is so important and is always in need of improvement.
Aimee, I so appreciate your candor and I would not be honest, knowing what I know today, if I didn't admit this "lack of cohesiveness" is primarily a leadership issue. If we believe that "change is powered from the top down", I have much reflecting to do about my own leadership skills on this team.
As a coach or a teacher I see not only where a student/athlete is but where I think they should/could be. It is called a vision or a plan. All to often where I think the person can get to is not where they are willing to get to. Yet I try to get them to get to the picture in my mind. Am I wrong in doing that? I don't think so. We can picture in our mind what we want to have happen but all to often what we picture is not what we achieve. Or at least it isn't for me. But we must always strive to push,pull, drag our students to that vision even if it is not shared. Aimee mentioned something about everyone being on the same page( if I misquoted you I am sorry) Does, will, can that ever happen? Some will never want to be on the page I am on and I may never want to be on the page they are on. Isn't it the Bible that says you can only plant the seed? Plant seeds on fertile ground and then weed and fertilize as necessary. It is always good to look back but one must also remember hingsight is 20/20. I really do feel we are now dealing with those that are tech scared or limited in the vision of what it can do in the classroom.
As for myself the last 3 years have been really tough and with things that are on the burner I sometimes lose myself in my on pity. I get overwhelmed with how little I know and have lost some of the discipline I had earlier. Not an excuse just a fact. I know everyone is busy and then add personal problems sometimes things become overwhelming. Sorry for the rambling.
As a coach or a teacher I see not only where a student/athlete is but where I think they should/could be. It is called a vision or a plan. All to often where I think the person can get to is not where they are willing to get to. Yet I try to get them to get to the picture in my mind. Am I wrong in doing that? I don't think so. We can picture in our mind what we want to have happen but all to often what we picture is not what we achieve. Or at least it isn't for me. But we must always strive to push,pull, drag our students to that vision even if it is not shared. Aimee mentioned something about everyone being on the same page( if I misquoted you I am sorry) Does, will, can that ever happen? Some will never want to be on the page I am on and I may never want to be on the page they are on. Isn't it the Bible that says you can only plant the seed? Plant seeds on fertile ground and then weed and fertilize as necessary. It is always good to look back but one must also remember hingsight is 20/20. I really do feel we are now dealing with those that are tech scared or limited in the vision of what it can do in the classroom.
As for myself the last 3 years have been really tough and with things that are on the burner I sometimes lose myself in my on pity. I get overwhelmed with how little I know and have lost some of the discipline I had earlier. Not an excuse just a fact. I know everyone is busy and then add personal problems sometimes things become overwhelming. Sorry for the rambling.
Sorry I screwed up and posted twice. Karla how do you get your words to be hotlinks in blogger? Have you seen the blog I have started? Would like to do one for school just haven't figured out what to put in it.
Post a Comment