Dr. Harland’s Hangout

I’m pissed! Sorry for the foul use of language. But since I made the move from high school teaching to university teaching, I’ve realized how much I should have been doing–and all the opportunities I had that I didn’t take advantage of. My Ph.D. is in educational technology, but in the time I was designing, collecting data, and writing my dissertation, then teaching for 2 years, I got behind. Then even when I was done, I was isolated. I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t get any support from my administration to pursue what I loved–which is integrating technology into the classroom. I was one of the few teachers who had a projector hooked up to her computer…that was high tech! But I wasn’t using it to its full potential. I should have known better.

I’ve spent several hours today getting twitter contacts and as I read blogs of you all, I have to say I’m impressed. Where do you get the energy? Planning is hard enough already! But there is a big group of you out there that really are doing some AMAZING things. I’m diigo’ing your sites, and hope to share these with my future teachers in the fall…meanwhile, I’m feeling guilty. I have so much I could have done with my high schoolers but I just didn’t have the support or connections to do it. I was unfamilar with the new ways to connect with like-minded individuals/educators on the web. Man-oh-man, I’m going to make sure my future teachers don’t make the same mistake I did! The high school classroom can be so isolating! But with the www, and Web 2.0, it isn’t that way any more!

I had an ISU student that I had 4 years ago as a biology and English high school student come by my office today. She had studied abroad (England) and will be working in France, teaching English this fall! While we didn’t have a whole lot of time to talk, she did mention that it was a comment that I made to her her senior year in high school that encouraged her to pursue a career in English. I do remember this, but didn’t know it was that much of a turning point for her in her own life.

When I was a high school student I had a photography teacher pull me aside, and tell me that I had a natural gift for composition, and an understanding of basic photography, that others in my class did not have. I was so surprised. If it had not been for her taking that moment out of her day, to let me know this, I would have thought that everyone had the same skills I had, because it came naturally to me. I guess, this is what I did for this former student. I pulled her aside, and let her know that her writing and insight to literature, was above someone her own age, and wondered if she’d ever considered “going into” the field of English. Apparently, until then, she didn’t even know how far advanced her answers were to her peers. I am just so pleased that I was able to do for another student, what a teacher had done for me!

Most of us (teachers) assume our students can see with the clarity we have. But they don’t. So when I see those moments…I seize them!  Its just nice that every once in a while, a student comes back to say “Thanks!”

Also…if you have had a teacher influence you in this way, please let them know!

I just read Karl Fisch’s post titled, “Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?” This post won “Most Influential Post of 2007.”

You can read the post http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-it-okay-to-be-technologically.html

I consider my self new to the educational technology community, and I’m still getting used to hearing people say the things I’ve observed and never had the guts to say (or had anyone to say it to for that matter!). Like, Karl I was often offended when parents would say “Well, I never did well in Biology either, so I wouldn’t expect my kid to like it either.” It was as if they were giving their kid permission to give up and settle for mediocrity. All teachers–no matter the content area–are most likely offended by this statement. So why do we give teachers a pass on their ability to use technology?

Students use technology in every aspect of their life and they thrive on multitasking. When they come to school and are forced to sit through a lesson that could just as well have been taught 30 years ago, its no wonder students are bored and don’t see the connection of what they’re learning to their personal life. As one student so eloquently said, “I have so much to learn, and I’m stuck here in this classroom!”

On the other hand, future teachers often don’t see the power of the same technology they use for socializing in the professional world. Therefore, if even the young teachers coming up, keep technology compartentalized and out of their teaching life, we are doomed and students will continue to be bored!

The problem may be with how we teach future teachers, or the types of individuals who are attracted to education in the first place. Very few college students I’ve had in my courses have had high school teachers (or college for that matter) model the effective use of technology in their courses. If future teachers don’t see technology modeled well, they won’t use it. We can talk about how to use technology (just like we can talk about using cooperative learning, instead of modeling it) but if they don’t see it seamlessly used as part of the educational process, technology will continue to be viewed as “something else” a teacher has to do.

Frustrated but trying to make a difference!

I was asked to teach a Literacy in Secondary Education summer school course. While I was apprehensive for several reasons–never having taught the course and it being condensed into 3 weeks–I have come to throughly enjoy the students and the content. I chose to integrate the use of a class blog site at 21classes.com. My original intention was to give students a place to “flesh” out what they’re reading and discussing in class. I knew that the amount of content we were having to absorb would be lost if they didn’t have time to reflect. I encouraged students to personalize their space, and spent a lot of time discussing what quality blog posts look like. (Being the organized crazy person that I am, I developed a check list for myself, to keep track of each student’s postings.) I read AND responded to the first night’s posts for each student, giving them feedback on the content and quality of their post. It did not take long for the students to take it over. It has become an extension of our class. Students often say, “I loved your blog.” And within 3 days, students were becoming a very tight-knit group. This is an incredible side effect I had not really expected. The students, used to social networking sites for their personal lives, really took to the use of a blog for professional purposes. They encourage one another, spur discussion, and show amazing reflection on what they’re learning. I’ve overhead students talking before class about how much time they’ll spend reading the posts. One even laughed as he was sharing with some friend that he got to “blog-for homework!” I know many of you out there have been using blogs for a while, and this is old news. But I’m telling you, I have goose bumps as I read these entries. It’s like I’ve hit the jackpot–the jackpot of reflective teachers and its AWESOME!