Mounting Frustration...
The Promethean Board, the computer, blogs, wikis, both my grade and plan books, and even the telephone in my classroom are technological innovations or at least linked in some way to a "TI" and I need to make friends with all of them so that I can be the best teacher possible. This means that I MUST LEARN how to use them proficiently enough so that I can TEACH my students at least the basic idea of how to use them and then hope that they will turn around and teach me a thing or two in the process.
I am in no way against technology; in fact, I adore it's intention to make my life easier. However, in the process of trying to save me bucket loads of time so that I can spend more time with my students, I am actually spending more time learning how to use these various gadgets and how to integrate them into my already existing lessons in addition to creating new lessons that are completely based on the new technology.
It's a process, I know. My principal, among others, has told me so again and again. "Things will be better next year" is a phrase that I don't care to hear again anytime soon. The reason? It is next year and it isn't any better. Why? Because teachers are not being given any time to learn, plan, or reflect on all of this new technology. Teachers often are not offered extra planning time or compensation for all the time spent learning outside of the regular school day. It is simply expected, and often, no support is given once the technology is received.
All of this is done in addition to an already overwhelming workload and then others wonder why teachers burn out so quickly.
Now that I have that off my chest, I must say that I really enjoy using all of this new technology even though "the process" is taking much longer than I think it should...
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Oh Rebecca, You made me laugh with this "rant" of yours. I see the training, planning, and prep not there with all of the technology that the districts offer...or it might be for a 1/2 day in-service. How can anyone learn like that? I try to support the teachers anyway that I can, but sometimes I am just the listener and they "rant" like you. What I do want to say is don't give up the fight. I remind districts that effective teaching practices need to be put in place for the in-services also. I tell them that you can't just bring them in show them the stuff and "spray and pray" that they get it and can use it in their classrooms. Are they joking??!!I understand the frustration. Until "they" realize that teachers need the planning and training even the latest and greatest technology won't be utilized the way it should....what a waste!
ReplyDeleteI totally understand your rant! For the past three years, I worked in a school where you had to beg for the technological resources that our school had. If someone wanted a SmartBoard, then we had to essentially promise to use it all of the time because so many teachers wanted one. The problem, there had only been ONE SmartBoard training! Our districts expect us to make use of these wonderful resources but they don't provide us the necessary support and then they hire individuals who are unwilling to help teachers with their technology problems. We call them ECS's here in Vegas. I don't know what ECS stands for but I do know that I'm lucky to have a cooperative and nice ECS. School districts spend so much wasted money on programs that teachers don't even use because they don't provide the adequate training. This is probably the real source for our budget problems - money spent on wasted technology :)
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