My Blog of Potential

I just re-read my post about ‘Moving off Dead Center’ – and I am realizing how negative that sounded.  I am so passionate about integrating technology and using it effectively that I get discouraged when I see us trying to shoe-horn the technology into our present way of doing things, instead of letting the technology transform the way we do things.  But I’m seeing the light at the end of the TAKS tunnel and starting to dream dreams for next year.

What if…

• …I took the laptop cart (15 wireless laptops) to one teacher next year and told her that she could have it every day for six weeks.  How would that immediate daily access transform her teaching?
• …I planned with another teacher to have her bring her kids to the lab every Friday for six weeks straight, to work on a digital storybooking project?  Would the longer duration of the project encourage the kids to revise and improve and edit their projects?  Would they come to the lab on their lunch hours in the interim to make changes on their own?  Would they take ownership and want to continue the project after it was formally concluded?  What if we obtained permission to publish the finished projects online?  I could set up a blog or a website for them to publish.  How would that help them take ownership of their learning?
• …I can get a math teacher to commit to setting up the TI-Navigators in her room and leaving them set up for an entire grading period?  If we started from the viewpoint that we were going to use them every day, how many new ways would we think to use them to graph data, poll the audience, etc?
• …I challenged teachers who really want to learn how to integrate technology, to join a Tech Development PLN?  If we set up a conference area in FirstClass to share ideas, discuss issues, and troubleshoot?

I have teachers who are beginning to see the value of videotaping their lessons for publishing on the web, both for review and to allow students who are absent to access the information.  They are beginning to see how repetitive lectures could be done once and then published, leaving them the freedom to discuss, clarify, and deepen their instruction instead of spending their time presenting the same material over and over.  They’re excited about the idea of having some sessions available to show the kids when they have to be away from class with a sub – so that the kids do not lose instructional time.

I come up behind teachers in the computer lab and see them reading blogs by people like Wes Fryer – that gives me great hope for the future of teaching.

I can tell it’s not time for me to change jobs yet, because I can  still get enthusiastic about ways to better improve this one.