As I listened to Yong Zhao, I really agreed with what he was saying and feel there is a great need for change. The greatest problem that I see is that there are not enough resources in the schools to keep up with the technology that our students need. I know many teachers want to do new technological projects with their students, but it is so difficult to get to the computers. There are too many teachers for the amount of resources available to our students. There are also some using the computers on a daily basis, they are the ones who sign up way in advance for the whole year. By the time you know when you can fit a project into your curriculum, it is too late. Also, I like his point about giving more power to the people up front.....the teachers. The board members are not in our classroom and do not know what it is we are trying to do for our students, yet they make the decisions about how much money we can spend. They don't understand our needs. Lastely, money is limited and travel is almost impossible. We need to visit other countries/states to see what they do and how they do it. This all fits into resources and the lack there of.
I want to conclude by saying that I feel our district does a good job of trying to supply us with all that it can afford. We are able to take these courses to learn how to help our students and I know many other districts are much less fortunate than ours. I do appreciate that and feel lucky.
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I completely agree with you. I feel pressured ( by myself and others) to use technology with my students but then struggle with resources. If every student had a computer, what a wonderful world it would be. I feel that we are doing such a disservice to students because we don't have the materials they need. It is too bad that teachers don't have a say in how the budget money is spent.
ReplyDeleteI think both of you hit the nail on the head. Limited resources are a problem, but there are still many teachers/assistants that need to learn to use the technology before they can work with it and teach it. I wish you could see my hand waiving in the air to indicate myself (but I'm getting there, slow but sure).
ReplyDeleteNicole, I agree with the wish for ALL kids to be able to have a computer. Then we could do away with agendas, folders, copies, paper and go totally green (what a wonderful world it would be)!
I don't feel a lack of resources, at least not at Hilton although I have in other districts I've worked for. But I do feel a lack of direction. I have the knowledge of how to use various pieces of technology, but not a clue as to where to use it since I am supporting other people's curriculum.
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