Not knowing the tools
Today I worked with a middle school teacher who was “referred” to me to help her integrate a SmartBoard into her classroom. She was new to the technology and was interested in learning, but had some considerable reservations about where to start and how to go about using the technology effectively. We spent about 45 minutes talking through the software and brainstorming ideas for her lessons and when I left she had high hopes for using the technology with her classes.
While 45 minutes is not a long time to really exact change on a teaching strategy, it did get her thinking about the next steps. She had no idea how to use the software though. I didn’t even know that she had recently gotten a SmartBoard for her classroom otherwise I would have reached out to her and scheduled a time to help her understand the possibilities that exist there. While I don’t believe that this is a unique position for a teacher to be in, it concerns me because in this instance, she just didn’t know the tools or understand the possibilities. Sure we provide trainings, but I can only be so many places at once. I guess it makes me wonder how many teachers are falling through the cracks when it comes to the supporting and meeting their needs when new equipment is brought forth. For how many teachers is it simply that they don’t know the possibilities and don’t know what questions to ask? As a Technology Integration Specialist, how can I find and reach out to those teachers who want to work towards integration, but don’t know where to start? Yes, there are many answers, but for me, every answer just brings up more questions.
“…don’t know the possibilities..and don’t know what questions to ask.” I’ve been working as a TI for a while now, and I still hear “We just don’t know what’s possible.” after asking a satellite elementary school teachers to email a few days before my next visit what they’re studying and what area(s) I should focus on at my next visit. The TC and I met with them to explain why I needed to know in advance; still, sometimes I don’t hear. So what I do is to grab the bull by the horns, ask, “Do you study science?” if no communication has been received before my visit, and put the students on an interactive web page as they make circuits or control a virtual reactor. The students learn, the teachers are “wowed,” but I still don’t know what the teachers have learned. I’d like to work myself out of a job, but it isn’t easy. Do teachers see us a “specials,” as “pull outs” when they come to the lab or when the lab on wheels comes to them? I think most still do, and I’m not sure how to change that perception except one teacher at a time.
-penobscotriver.edublogs.org