The Unfortunate Thing in K-12 Technology

I had the pleasure of visiting a K-12 school district and former employer recently and wasn’t prepared for the experience. I didn’t realize it was a half-day for students when I pulled in the parking lot but was nonetheless encouraged to go in anyway-the rest of the day was devoted to allowing teachers time to develop their web page using a district supported template which would allow them to create a web page with very little knowledge or investment of time.

I recall hearing something about making sure all NY state teachers were now deemed “highly qualified” and would have to meet certain criteria to be considered so. I also know that state and federal initiatives (maybe NCLB) and technology plans need to exhibit effort by districts and teachers to foster school(classroom)-to-home communication.

I thought how great it was that the teachers (and friends) were interested in taking advantage of the training. After all, this school district was one of just a few hundred schools across the country that was considered a “silver” award winner by a major news magazine in 2007-08. So it’s safe to say, as far as test results and programs were concerned this is an excellent school district.

But then I had the experience of listening to one teacher who, not only left the training early, seemed “above” the technical training and said that he would not have the time to update a web page- something about “too hard to keep up with” or something?  He was very “put off” by the expectation of the administration that teachers would have a web page that could be used as a tool for communication and instruction (remember it’s 2008). Even more disorienting was that this individual is technically skilled and would have no problem adapting to this training.

Regardless of legislation and mandates, budgets and purchasing the latest and necessary technologies, we all have heard that the most important factor in a classroom is the teacher- more specifically, the attitude that teacher brings to the room, towards the kids and how they perceive their job. I believe this is the total truth- the person in front of those kids everyday and what this person offers and brings to environment is the single most important truth to whether it’s a learning environment or not. The degree and certification is necessary but it makes a teacher nothing other than credentialed.

As a parent I know that I would like my kids to be in a classroom with a teacher who thinks enough of their job that they will take the extra time to adopt methods to be effective and improve communication with students and parents. Additionally, someone willing to explore the vast tools of educational technology available these days. But with comfortable, tenured teachers who are not intrinsically motivated to learn new technologies and feel that something is usually owed to them for their service, technology integration into a classroom has no chance. So let me get this straight…”It’s ok to expect the students to learn new things and develop themselves but I don’t have to”….

I always thought that the greatest thing about teaching besides helping kids was you could always improve and learn new ways of practicing your craft. As long as the teacher is thinking of him/herself and not their students, not only have they robbed themselves from the glory of teaching, but technology or any other initiative the district supports is nothing less than a battle.

Don’t despair…the good news is most teachers enter the field for the right reason to begin with. They will do whatever it takes to be effective and evolve as a professional regardless of mandates, legislation and any other obstacle. There’s a few who adopt an attitude which will always be their own personal obstacle but it prevents students from having a vibrant, evolving learning environment.

For those interested, here’s one  study  from 2002 on student internet use. Although a bit dated, it still seems applicable.

Advertisement