EdTechSwami
Not another expensive paperweight
School of the Future Part 2: Infrastructure
Feb 19th
The way I see things, in the school of the future there will either be a building where everyone meets to engage in learning, or there won’t be. Let’s look at both possible scenarios.
Scenario 1: A building.
A far less radical scenario than the one to follow, let’s imagine for a moment that the school of the future is still actually a school. Meaning a physical structure of some kind where students meet at the same time to engage in learning. Now, just because the students all meet in a building, does not necessarily mean that instructors need to be in that building with them. To begin with More >
School of the Future Series: In Defense of Daydreaming
Feb 19th
After generating a little interest in this series and a some scorn, I need to answer one question for myself before I continue this fantasy. That question is, why waste your time daydreaming about the future when the present state of education is in such disarray? The inquiry is a fair one to be leveled, and I answer in this way. The average, hardworking classroom teacher knows that the emperor has no clothes, but is either two frightened, powerless or disenfranchised to take any action. I know this from experience. The few colleagues who cared about the issue would come into my room after the students had left More >
School of the Future Series: Introduction
Feb 15th
My PLN and I spend a great deal of time talking about the future. We often bandy about phrases like 21st Century Skills, Digital Citizenship, Digital Native and others. We also spend a great deal of time bemoaning the current (undeniably broken) state of things in the educational system. After many conversations I started thinking, ‘what does this magical alternative’ look like, how does it work? So I would like to embark upon an exploration of this very topic with the few readers I have. I would like to break the conversation into pieces, since the traditional system is my only real frame of reference, that is where I will More >
I Was Wrong: Google Wave is Just Underwhelming
Feb 11th
This looked fun at first!
A number of posts ago, I felt compelled to defend Google’s (then) newest tool against a barrage of what I deemed to be hasty criticism. Feel free to refer to that post for some context if you wish. The crux of my argument was that because we were teachers, we were used to just making things work and that we had already developed solutions to the things that Google Wave was supposed to solve. Well, some time has passed since I wrote that post and I have actually had the chance to work with, or attempt to work with the Wave. Much to my More >
The Quest for a Quiet Mind
Jan 27th
Its fourth period, about 10:45 in the morning. I have been at school for about three and a half hours and taught three classes. I ease into my desk chair as the last of my students file out of the room and into the hallway, with a mind for being as productive as possible in the 40 minutes I have without students. I no sooner uncap my trusty pen to begin marking, when my email alert chimes and I begin to read it. As I begin to read the email that has come in while I was teaching, Tweetdeck conveniently alerts me to a new batch of tweets from the people More >
Teachers: Go Back to School, In Your Own Building!
Jan 18th
In this golden age of global communication and collaboration I sometimes forget that I teach in a very small district (except of course during gloomy budget meetings), with really great people. On Friday I did something that I have been meaning to do for a long time, but have continued to put off for one reason or another, I attended a class right in my own building. During my planning period I asked if I could sit in on a class that my neighbor, Mr. Sherwood was teaching about economics. Mr. Sherwood was very hospitable and enthusiastic about me sitting in and immediately the students took notice of my presence. It More >
Maybe We Need to Cut Our Administrators Some Slack
Jan 10th
Almost enough for that 1:1 project
I often bemoan, if not openly criticize the seeming slowness with which administrators are leading (or not leading) the charge to transform our schools. From my perspective as a teacher, they are an easy target, having voluntarily placed themselves squarely in the bull’s-eye after all. But just the other day I had a conversation with my superintendent that gave me pause. My superintendent has been holding small, informational meetings outlining the status of our district within the current New York State budget crisis. He explains how New York has filled budget holes with federal funding that will expire More >
Interactive White Boards: Engagement Is Not Interaction
Jan 6th
What are the other two kids doing?
Summer break has ended; you are feeling refreshed and renewed, ready to tackle the New Year and all of its new challenges. You enter your room after your morning meeting to discover an interactive whiteboard (IWB) hung neatly in the front of the room where your white board used to be. The district is involved in a grant to integrate technology into the classroom.
Immediately your mind begins to whir: “think of all I can do with this.”
Move forward in time to January and the IWB hangs there, appearing slightly tarnished. Oh sure, you begin your lessons with it, posting More >
Making Resolutions, Not Wishes
Dec 31st
The end of anything is always a good time for reflection, and the end of a year is the most obvious time for these considerations. Every year I set goals in my personal life, some I am able to meet, many I am not (mainly those associated with my expanding waist line). Curiously enough this is not a tradition that I have kept in my professional life. Perhaps this is because the school year does not change with the calendar year, maybe it is because we are asked to reflect formally in our annual performance review. But this year, in conjunction with my teaching twenaissance its time to More >
Are Teachers Leaders?
Dec 14th
Is this leadership?
The other day I read an post by Russ Goerend (@RussGoerend), which raised a question by making this statement: Teachers aren’t leaders [Self-fulfilling Prophecies]). Russ wrote this post in response to a conversation he had with Scott Mcleod, where Dr. Mcleod stated that teachers are not “leaders and policymakers who have influence/power.” This statement was in reference to an event in Iowa where Will Richardson was meeting with a handpicked group of ‘educational leaders’ (which appears to include two graduate assistants, not sure how much power/influence graduate assistants have, but that is neither here nor there). I commented on the post and tweeted about it, More >
