"School has evolved a hierarchical system of control that sets narrow limits within which the (cont) http://tl.gd/2lskig
anderscj
anderscj
I see this all the time. Our current new superintendent is a prime example. I have heard her introduce herself as a teacher three times now and it is clear she longs for that role. I also had a former principal who would from time to time stop by and trade roles with teachers for a class period or two. This was both empowering and informative. It also reinforces my opinion that teacher professional partnerships are necessary for the future of formal education.
"As soon as she decided not to control the students, she took away School's established way of controlling her." Papertanderscj
anderscj
I had the pleasure one year of experiencing this when the ALC I worked for decided to go to a student-led project-based model. The district did not know how to deal with it. I found this year of work to be one of the most rewarding. The following year they crushed what magic we had created by forcing us to put it into clearly defined boxes that could be mapped according to established curriculum.
RT @anderscj: "As soon as she decided not to control the students, she took away School's established way of controlling her." Papert
Darcy Moore
Darcy1968
@anderscj source? :O)Darcy Moore
Darcy1968
RT @anderscj: "As soon as she decided not to control the students, she took away School's established way of controlling her." Papert
Shani Hartley
shhartley
"The question has moved from how power is distributed within the educational hierarchy to whether hierarchy (cont) http://tl.gd/2lsn1panderscj
anderscj
Silly iPod, keeps turning Papert into Papery.
"The learning of a dead subject requires a technical act of carving the knowledge into teachable bites so (cont) http://tl.gd/2lstilanderscj
anderscj
"Most of the work he made his students do was too boring to entice him to join in!" Papertanderscj
anderscj
"School does not have in it's institutional mind that teachers have a creative role; it sees them as (cont) http://tl.gd/2lt6qaanderscj
anderscj
"The major obstacle in the way of teachers becoming learners is inhibition about learning." Papertanderscj
anderscj
"In education, the highest mark is not having imitators but inspiring someone to do something else." Papertanderscj
anderscj
"As long as there is a fixed curriculum, a teacher has no need to become involved in the question of what is and what is not math." Papertanderscj
anderscj
"The problem for society is to give teachers the same pluralist support that the best of them give their students." Papertanderscj
anderscj
"The practical consequence is that change cannot come about except pluralistically." Papertanderscj
anderscj
I found this chapter about teachers to be highly instructive about many common issues I face when it comes to doing technology integration with teachers. Our biggest challenge to overcome is a hereditary concept that learning and content can be neatly put into boxes. The result of this is dead subject matter and a misguided belief that the teacher has no active role as a learner in the classroom; the teacher is only a technician in the Schooling process. All of which is shadowed by a singular view of teaching and learning that only assimilates other ways of knowing and does not accommodate them. Thus, I get asked on a continual basis when working with teachers, "How does this help me teach _________." or "What content standards does this help me address in my classroom?" instead of, "How does this change learning?" or "What kind of learning does this allow to happen?
Corral all your computers into a "computer lab," get them out of your classroom, close your laptop, put your cellphone away, make computers a subject of its own to be examined (not used), give it a curriculum, assign someone to teach it, and kill it before it erodes our assumptions about how students learn. "Why should I devote my time to learning about technology? I have so many other subjects to learn about that I have to teach."
1 comment:
I see the same thing in schools, mine included. Technology is in the computer lab and because it is working there, the school has officially successfully integrated tech. Not kidding, that is really the feeling here.
Post a Comment