A Vision of Students Today -Where I have come as a teacher and educator.

  This week we are required to post a youTube video on our blog. Back in week 2 we were introduced to Dr. Michael Wesch. I had to do some searching to find out more about this person that created a very simple video with a lot of meaning.

The video posted below is one from his youTube channel. "A Vision of Students Today". The video got me to thinking about my last year of college at Grand Valley State University.



I graduated in 1994 and lived at the address below. About a week after I graduated I moved out to Crested Butte Colorado and taught there for a little over 5 years. The pay was horrible but the experiences as a teacher and student were priceless.


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While I was at Grand Valley I one of my favorite classes was an Educational Technology.  We had the opportunity to have hands on experience creating hyperlinked Lessons plans with HyperCard. Wow! My best "stack" was my personal rock and mineral collection. Students could view the rock on screen and in person. My Geology teacher loved it. I am sure it was not the last electronic collection he saw.

While teaching in Crested Butte I managed to get my hands on an Apple QuickTake Camera.  I always had plans to hike all the surrounding peeks and create panoramic views.  The 1st time I recalled I got to the top to find I had filled the memory up with pictures on the way up. I should have used the 320x240 resolution then I could have gotten 32 pictures. The next time the batteries were to cold to work properly. I was winter camping. I lost interest and when back to taking mental pictures that play in my head still today.

To close off this posting and connect to my blog topic: The actual procedural and skill sets I needed to work with technology in the way I do today were  not taught and I doubt were even thought of in 94.  Most I had to learn on my own by experience or exploring and thinking about how I could find an application for the technology.

So.. when I leave the room I teach in now how will the walls speak of me?

My Diigo Tags

Replace audience response hardware with Poll Everywhere

Reflection on reading: Why cant we just play with the fun tools.... I know why..

The Internet and Web have and will continue to impacted  educational programs at all levels. When I look at the advancements in the past 10-15 years in technology it seem education tends to lag behind in adopting the new innovations. 

Looking only at the way we communicate with adults and students in our buildings. Meetings- class and staff take up most of our time. Paper and pencil or maybe keyboard and word processor is the tool used for organization of ideas, thoughts, and plans. Next Email is most likely to be the next form of adult communication. Students are not allowed to have email.  A close second is the telephone (the one connected to the wall) and our mailboxes (also connected to a wall). We all 35+ staff members, meet once a month for an hour for something and snack. A group of us struggle to find a time when 18 teachers and administrators can all meet to formulate a "Vision of Technology Usage in the District".

After a few weeks in this course I am finding that the available technology, most of it free, could be a much easier and more efficient form of communication.

For example: This week and last week all students were pulled from various hours to schedule for next years classes and to register for the upcoming testing.

Standard procedure every year:

• Staff meeting - Testing is x day. Scheduling on y day. Grones and debate follow.
• Staff meeting - Training on giving the test
• Staff email - Grade x will be registering for the test hours x,y,and z
• Multiple Reply's to all about the interruption to the learning process
• Staff email - new/revised schedule for registration an test hours
• Student announcement "This day this hour you will be doing your next year schedule.
• Staff email reminder of scheduling (Replies)
• Forms for students to fill out are in mailboxes please pass out to your students day of scheduling. (I don't get my mail until 3rd period - missed hours 1 and 2)
• And this goes on until schedules are passed out and lost or left on the students desk.

Now if we would only leverage the power of technology. This entire process could be a lot less painful. No super computer needed or propeller head geeks to make the process more efficient. Just a little time and effort spent learning and applying the tools that available. Using current, low cost, easy to use technology, and snacks I could see the process describe above to go as follows:

• A reminders to check the electronic calendar for the upcoming dates and/or to subscribe to get text and/or email reminders.
• The counselors have prepared a video for your testing training. The video was recorded with their district issued cell phone. Edited online at jaycut.com. 
• The video is embedded on their blog for teacher review prior to testing date.
• All students have been sent a text message with instruction on how to register for the test and schedules. 
• This should be completed by x day. 
• Any stragglers will be sent a text message prior to report to Lab C to complete their registration during the enrichment hour. 
• Further details may be found on the counselors blog. The link has been emailed to you on the agenda.

• A gentle reminder from the principal that we need to keep the district provided cell phones close in case we need to contact the teacher or student. The replacement for the wall connected phone.
• Finally close the last couple of minutes with brief updates on current building discussion happening on the building wiki pages. Ideas for student intervention, PLC times, and others.

To return to the question: Technology is not the silver bullet to our educational problems; it however a change in the path we follow educating our kids. Schools especially public K-12 school have observed, critiqued, a talked plenty about how best technology can be used in eduction. Given the current budgets of time and money I do not feel schools can continue their current path with out being retooled with educational technology playing a major role.