The Danger of Pockets of Wow

It's funny how a single conversation can stay with a person for a very long time - even for an entire career.

20 years? ago I was at an open house in an elementary school. A parent came up to me to compliment a teacher, Ms Smith, who was using technology with her kids - KidPix drawings, computer generated graphs and charts, even samples of e-mail pen pal exchanges - lots of interesting stuff for the time. 

As the tech director I puffed up a little, assuming that I shared some of the credit for creating this technology star. Until the parent said, "The problem is my daughter doesn't have Ms Smith for a teacher. My daughter is in Mr. Brown's class and he doesn't use technology with kids at all. When are YOU going to do something about that?"

We're going to have a public "tech fair" in our district in a couple weeks. The Ms Smiths and their students will be there, demonstrating all the fun, cool stuff they do with technology. And that's fantastic! I love these "pockets of wow" we have in every building in our district. They will be rightfully recognized for their courage and innovation.

The Pockets of Wow don't need a lot of help. The teachers are instructional adventurers, self-confident explorers. If the district doesn't provide the tools they need, they will figure out how to get it themselves. No worries.

But I also think about those kids whose teachers haven't embraced technology and those ringing words "When are YOU going to do something about that?" Might our Pockets of Wow, our bright stars, be lulling us into a false sense that technology is being "done right" in all classrooms?

My job is to make sure every teacher, not just the early adopters, uses technology to improve teaching and learning. It's not a very sexy job. So the district's tech plan we are devising  is not the most cutting edge. It would disappoint many of the tech and education reform pundits who advocate for tech's more disruptive uses. But it is a plan that has all teachers, not just the stars, using technology with kids in what we hope are effective ways.

And I am proud on that.