Consequently, and naturally, with little or no dissenting perspective a "group-think" develops and the members of the group start believing that their perspectives are universal and ubiquitous. Seemingly forgotten is the reality that there are others who don't share that mindset.
Being as deeply immersed in and enthusiastic about technology use as I'm guessing most readers of this piece are, we tend to lose sight of the fact that many of our colleagues barely are dangling their toes in thel pool.
I've worked with teachers who didn't have some of the most rudimentary computer skills. I was stunned when a teacher told me she didn't know how to copy-paste text. Another didn't realize that there might be more to a web page than the visible screen showed.
Some colleagues were unaware of the difference between "reply" and "reply all". There are still a few teachers I know don't have cell phones at all nevermind smartphones, and many who do don't text and don't understand texting.
So when we ask them to use a piece of technology, we may be asking them to virtually put their hand in the fire. What we take for granted as simple and intuitive may look to some of our coworkers like nuclear physics or brain surgery.
It can be frightening to these people to be expected to integrate technology into their classrooms when they have not yet integrated even the most basic tech into their own lives.
Teachers need to encouraged to embrace technology on a personal level. They have to see how things like social networking and Web 2.0 can be leveraged to achieve positive personal and professional benefits. If they don't get that, why would we think they could perceive how such things can be beneficial to their students.
Furthermore, teachers are being asked to incorporate teaching practices such as differentiated instruction and project based learning which may be new and unfamiliar concurrently with the integration of technology which might be an even more daunting proposition. Is it surprising some of them feel as if they're drowning?
Supporting and encouraging our colleagues to be explorers and users of new technology might possibly be our greatest challenge.
- Posted from my iPhone using BlogPress
3 comments:
Thank you for posting this. I have always loved technology and its integration has been both a challenge and a personal goal for me. However, I have several colleagues that range from mildly interest in what I am doing to completely clueless and even defiantly against its use. It has been a struggle to get them to see the benefits, but I have found that if I don't push them into it, but instead invite them in, when they have a minute or two, they are more open to exploring with me.
This is so true! I often leave #edchat energized and excited, it is good to know there are others out there who are on the same wave length. It makes us feel like anything is possible. But, we can't forget that there are many who don't get it, who are so far behind in the tech world it is incredible.
I was helping a teacher fill out an online form and told her to hit the tab key to get to the next field. She answered "what is the tab key?" and "what is a field". We are still speaking different languages.
This is a perfect description of what I face every day. I am very guilty of setting my expectations for teachers too high. I assume that because I am so immersed daily in technology and even studying things like differentiation, they should be too. I assume they should be doing it because it is what's best for the students. I need to back up and realize that they are doing what is best for their students with their current capabilities and I need to help them ease into these changes one step at a time rather than pushing. Thanks for the post.
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