BFTP: What tech use should NOT be optional for teachers?

I don't see the issue of what technology use should be required by classroom teachers discussed in the literature much. (It's boring management stuff rather than the exciting visionary stuff.) It is a touchy subject, but since I am bit touched anyway, let's proceed...

The debate about whether teaching is truly a "profession" has been bandied back and forth for a loooong time - at least I remember discussing it when I was a little education student growing up on the prairie.  Teachers are supposed to be autonomous practitioners somehow all contained within in a bureaucratic organization - and that leads to some interesting boundary questions.

In general I am very much appalled by efforts to teacher-proof curricula and to generally de-professionalize our jobs. Such theories and strategies are political - not pedagogical. In general, individual teachers should be given very broad latitude in how they teach and the tools they use to meet local, state, and national objectives. Good teaching has many faces and a variety of teaching styles is good for meeting a variety of learning styles.

That said, teachers are a part of a larger organization - a team, a community, if you will. We have an obligation to our clients - the community, parents, and students we serve. Our community hires us for our output and pays our salaries, after all. Common tools and expectations are a necessary part of any organization.

So for better or worse, here would be my technology use "requirements" for all teachers were I King of Schools. All teachers will:

• Use the student information system to track attendance and record grades.
• Use the student information system's online gradebook to list individual progress/results on student work (quizzes, tests, projects, etc.) in a timely manner so parents and students have access to real-time information.
• Have a web-presence that includes (at minimum) contact information, classroom expectations of students, and general course outlines with clear learning objectives and time lines. Any large projects should be described along with the assessment tools used to evaluate them.
• Make available online all forms, lists, and guides useful to parents.
• Use the student information system, school e-mail system, and school telephone system to electronically communicate with parents.
• Use tools provided by the district that are a standard part of each classroom -  projection system, voice amplification system, IWB, etc. and participate in training needed for the equipment's effective use.
• Word process all written materials to be given to students (for ease of reading).
• Receive/access all district communications online.
• Use any district-adopted learning management system to provide blended learning experiences for students.
• Use any digital content resources (e-books, databases, full-text magazine indices, math/reading programs) adopted by the district.
• Use any school provided student devices as regular part of instruction. (added to original 2010 list)

Is this too much to ask? Does this put a huge crimp in anybody's style of teaching? Or is it just "professional" to use the tools one is provided - whether a soldier, banker, or physician?

One of our tech keynote pundits (sorry I don't remember which one) reminds us that if anything is optional, some people will choose not to do it. A simple, but profound observation.

Modify my list - make it better...

Original post January 29, 2010 (Read the comments on the original post - great thoughts!)

Putting the wind in an author's sails

 

Unless you are Charlotte Danielson or Doug Lemov or Alfie Kohn, your odds of becoming a "famous" educational author are pretty much slim to none. I would guess that most of who write professionally do it for reasons other than celebrity (See Why I Write for Professional Publication.) And I am just fine with that.

But every once in a while, it's wonderful to be made to feel like a bit of a celebrity, and that's what happened last Wednesday evening. A group of librarians in the Chicago Public Schools used my The Indispensable Librarian, 2nd ed, for their book study and I was their "culminating activity." I Skyped in and participated in a little stump-the-chump Q&A session. I blew the question about the best source for teaching citing an online reference, but other than that...

The follow-up e-mail was one of the most thoughtful thank-you notes I ever received...

Thank you sooooo very much Doug! You were extraordinarily delightful and insightful. Our group has enjoyed every chapter of your book. Your Skyping session was certainly the highlight of our club. Thank you for being so generous with your time and knowledge. My colleague Colleen designed the adorable "I'm Indispensable" nametags which truly capture the way we feel about librarians and library programs in Chicago. One of our Indispensable Librarians, Katherine, chose the quote below as her favorite:

 “Indispensable librarians are leaders,and leaders share knowledge and visions. You cannot lead your school community, you cannot guide others in new and emerging information and communication landscapes if you yourself are not a continuous learner” (Johnson, 182). This quote reflects this professional book club - we all joined together to continue to learn, reflect, and share with each other.

Thank you for everything!

 

I've grumbled in this blog before about how long, difficult, and tedious writing a book-length publication is. I worry that I spend to much of my leisure time behind a computer screen writing instead of being more active and diversified in my hobbies (golf? making fishing jigs? burglary?). I truly wonder if what I have say in my writing has actual value and if I should turn thinking about libraries and education and technology over to younger and better minds.

So thank YOU CPS librarians for putting a little wind back in my sails. If I write another book it is all your fault.

The $3400 piece of chalk

I recently walked by a classroom where the teacher was demonstrating how to solve an algebraic equation by writing it out and talking through the steps. On a piece of paper with a pen.

• Under a $500 document camera
• Connected to an $800 computer
• Wired to a mounted $900 projector
• Displayed on a $1200 interactive white board.

If my math skills are right, that teacher is using $3400 worth of technology to do what could be done using a piece of chalk on an existing chalkboard.

And should each of his 30 kids had $300 devices in hand taking notes? Would this be $9000 solution to a spiral ring notebook?

So what's the moral of the story, technophiles?