Salon 9 Response

Salon #9: Minds On Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail and Learning 2.0 (John Seely Brown and Richard P. Adler)

This salon session was a really engaging conversation for me. I always struggle with the fact that we, as teachers, are expected to do so much (integrate technology into our lessons, create fun activities, interact with the students) but aren’t given the time to do it because of high-stake tests. I thought I was alone or in the minority with this feeling but apparently, most teachers across all districts are feeling this stress and pressure.
Specifically, we spoke about a “disconnect” between what we are instructed to do by administration in our buildings and what we feel that we actually can do with technology in the classroom. One specific disconnect I see is within my own district. This year, we have had a district-wide initiative for technology integration in the classroom. Hours of professional development have been devoted to ways technology can be integrated into lesson plans and everyday activities. While this sounds like a perfect and very smart plan on paper, it leaves out the part where we get 42 minutes a day (which by the time students get settled and homework and do now’s get checked turns into 35 minutes) to teach a specific topic. In math, which is my content area, we move very quickly because of the rigorous and crowded curriculum we have to cover. The problem is, math is one of the subjects that students have the most trouble with. Knowing this and fearing the results of my students in June, how can I worry about making a Jeopardy PowerPoint, or making a presentation on Geometer’s Sketchpad, or making an interactive lesson on a SmartBoard? Sometimes, it takes me more time to explain the new use of technology then it does to explain the lesson! This is when integrating technology becomes more of a frustration than reinforcement. Or what about when you’ve planned a beautiful lesson using technology and it doesn’t work for some crazy reason that you can’t figure out??? That’s another whole discussion though….!!