The post highlighted a quote from Chris Betcher's Blog - "It’s time to stop being so “amazed” at things that are just part of the technological and cultural landscape of life in the 21st century. "
In regards to changes that we are making in our school and system my Superintendent often says - "It's just the train leaving on time." This is not meant as a knock on anyone who is making changes that others may have made long ago. This is simply a statement of fact.
As do most of us trying to become more competent using the vast array of web 2.0 resources, I am just trying to chase the exhaust fumes of the leaders in this movement. I do not want to be obsolete as a school leader, but more importantly I do not want my children and the students at my school to have an obsolete educational experience. I want them to be ahead of the curve.
I would be embarrassed for a student to get to the next step in their education and be amazed at something that should have been commonplace to them. I read, I tweet, and I blog because I enjoy it and I learn more in an hour than I have at any Principals' Conference that I have ever attended.
But I also do this out of fear! I don't want my children or the students I am fortunate to work with to have an education that is out-of-date. The need to change our schools has never been greater, but many of us still live in insulated environments where we are satisfied comparing our practice to what we did just a day, a week, or a year earlier. In some cases where we are more fortunate, we have colleagues in our buildings who we can learn from and improve, but even that is not enough.
We have missed the train if we have not started our integration of technological tools into our school and started our collaboration with teachers and students from other schools, states, and countries. While you might be amazed at what you see, I hope you will be more amazed by the fact that you took so long to get on board.
This is not another fad in education. The amazing changes today will be commonplace tomorrow and there will be a new amazing. Which amazing will you be amazed by? More importantly, what will amaze your students?
I recently had a teacher quit our year-long Powerful Learning Practices professional development with Will Richardon and Sheryl Nussbaum-beach, stating that she saw "no purpose". I told her that I was disapointed, not only as a district administrator, but also a parent of three children in the district. The lack of vision this teacher displayed, however, is not that uncommon. Educators who believe that teaching should be the same 10 years from now is irresponsible and the equivilent of malpractice.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I'm scared as hell that as an educator and a parent that I won't keep up with all that I need to in order to develop 21st century adults from today's youth (and my children). Change is the only constant in education, the time has come that we, as a community, accept that. When we do, we will begin to move comensurate with change instead of just trying to keep up.
Patrick, I wish I could say that you stole the words from me, but regrettably I cannot. Nice post! I am also past the shock and awe of all the tools that are available. I want to concentrate on integration of technology in everyday learning and teaching. My focus needs to be student engagement, production, and growth using the technology we can provide.
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