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The current state of skills that are possessed by the faculty at the school in which I am being mentored ranges from people knowing very little about technology and hating the fact that they have a Smartboard in their room because they do not know how to use it all the way to teachers that use every kind of technology that they can get their hands on. I feel that there will always be those who are fearful and resistant to learning about new technology, especially since it is always changing is becomes outdated so quickly. What is also a constant factor is sometimes teachers will go to a conference and learn about a great software or technology that can be used in their classroom only to find out that the school system they are in cannot afford to purchase it. When I first learned how to use the Smartboard, my school system would only buy it for the ninth grade academy. What was especially unfortunate about this is the students became accustomed to using the Smartboard in ninth grade, and then they had to go back to the boring overhead projectors or dry erase boards once they went up to tenth grade.
In Madison County, staff development is provided during teacher work days or during preplaning. New teachers come in during preplanning. Some training is held during planning periods and some occurs after school. If it were my responsibility to provide technology training, I would have it during planning periods as much as possible. Teachers already have enough to do after school and need their time during preplanning to get ready for their classes.
One thing I would do before giving an inservice on technology is give a survey to see what my staff is interested in learning about so that I am not wasting their time. I would probably be best to do this on-line using Google Surveys so I would get a good number of responses back. Jurkoski suggests using the same things that we do with our students: handouts (1-2 pages) with simple directions, various fonts and colors to keep things interesting, images & Clipart (2006). Do not just lecture. Give teachers the opportunity to practice what they have learned with partners or in small groups.
Jurkowski, O.L. (2006). Technology and the school library. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
In Madison County, staff development is provided during teacher work days or during preplaning. New teachers come in during preplanning. Some training is held during planning periods and some occurs after school. If it were my responsibility to provide technology training, I would have it during planning periods as much as possible. Teachers already have enough to do after school and need their time during preplanning to get ready for their classes.
One thing I would do before giving an inservice on technology is give a survey to see what my staff is interested in learning about so that I am not wasting their time. I would probably be best to do this on-line using Google Surveys so I would get a good number of responses back. Jurkoski suggests using the same things that we do with our students: handouts (1-2 pages) with simple directions, various fonts and colors to keep things interesting, images & Clipart (2006). Do not just lecture. Give teachers the opportunity to practice what they have learned with partners or in small groups.
Jurkowski, O.L. (2006). Technology and the school library. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Your idea to survey teachers before giving an in-service or technology workshop is a great one. It would be better to know what some teachers already use and understand about a particular technology before creating an in-service and making them listen to something they are already implementing.
By surveying and talking to teachers about what they know and what they want to learn, you are demonstrating your own ability to listen and that you really do respect the teachers’ time.
Another way you could use surveys is to determine other teachers’ strengths. One of the great things about my mentor is the fact that she fully admits that she doesn’t know everything. She says that she is still learning, and in fact, she and I learn from each other.
As I’ve mentioned before, most of the technology specialists in Coweta County were laid off. Last year, each school in the county had its own technology person. My school had a great one who was up on all the latest technologies and loved to put them to use. Even though Web 2.0 tools are blanket-blocked in the county, she learned about them on her own time and made sure she understood how everything worked. She would come into the media center and discuss things with my mentor; often explaining new technologies and how they worked.
She taught all of the teachers how to use their ActivBoards and taught the one class that had clickers how to use them. The students loved her and the teachers kept her hopping from the time she set foot in the school until way after she was supposed to leave for the day. How the county thinks schools can go from this to having one person one day a week is beyond me.
Because now, the tech person that does come to the school one day a week spends all her time fixing hardware and software that has messed up over the last week; and doesn’t have time to teach anything.
My mentor is trying to pick up as much as she can. And she and the teachers are often so desperate to learn from each other, that a teacher will come into the media center and say, “Dr. Child, can you help me figure out this web site? I want to use it for my class.” The teacher will be on her planning time or her class will be at lunch; so she rarely has more than a few minutes. But Dr. Child will scramble to find out everything she can about that particular site and how it will be serve the students. In fact, I just saw this happen last week. Dr. Child is not concerned about formality when it comes to helping teachers; she just wants to provide any support she can.
As I said, though, Dr. Child readily admits that she is not an expert on everything and she is still learning. So, when she hears that there is someone in the school that knows more about a particular technology than she does, she enlists their help. She will create an in-service – even a short one – in collaboration with the teacher who already knows about the technology. The teacher can provide the working examples of how the technology can work in the classroom and Dr. Child can make sure everyone else knows how to use it. She believes in hands-on learning.
Frequently, Dr. Child will have a mini in-service at staff meetings. These can be four or five minutes, but show the teachers new technologies and how to make their lives better. She will do full in-services a few times a year, but she really tries to keep things informal, short, and efficient – especially this year.
I believe, though, that surveying all of the teachers would be very beneficial, because that would be a record of who knows what and who might be willing to help other teachers.
Kristin,
I think you did a good job of covering many challenges of technology training. Like you, I see a wide range of abilities when it comes to technology. When we had a inservice on Discovery Streaming earlier this year, it took half the session to help a handful of teachers sign up for an account. As the rest of us waited patiently, participants began to fall off and leave when the allotted tiem ran out. It comes as no surprise to me that teachers, not unlike students, are at different points on the learning curve. Some try to learn while others refuse to take part, resistant to what they cannot master even before putting forth much effort.
That is where a tech savvy media specialist can step in and provide a little one-on-one to bring a very discouraged and somewhat disgruntled teacher up to speed. We must stay ahead of the learning curve, at least when it comes to things we will be asked to demonstrate. The next step is to convince already busy teachers to set aside time for such demonstrations. Some bellyache, but when it comes down to it, the adage, "busy people get things done," holds true. Take a busy teacher who is genuinely interested, and I'd bet money they'd find a way to be there. I agree with you with regards to conducting a needs' assessment to find out what interests teachers before jumping into technology training with both feet. Making the inservice interesting and providing visuals also ensure that teachers will find value in the experience and participate in future sessions on similar topics by the same presenter.
It is also my opinion that teachers are easier to tackle than the financial aspect of obtaining new technologies. My heart sank when I heard about budget cuts, furloughs, and salary decreases. How is the world is a school library supposed to function without a budget? (or in Coweta County, without Media Assistants)? Book fairs and other fundraisers bring in a limited amount of money. Grants are great if you are able to score a portion of the awarded funds. When there's little money, media specialists must make hard decisions such as whether or not to renew Renaissance Place or buy more books, or whether to purchase awesome new software or upgrade the current program. Also, from what I understand, media specialists had more money 6-7 years ago. I can't even imagine how frustrating that must be as we're faced with cuts again. Geez Louise! The budget never fully recovered the first time! Budget constraints may be why my district went back to using Microsoft Office 2003 after a brief, but unsuccessful, stint with Open Office last year. With Office 10's arrival just around the corner, this means we will be two versions behind in our technology. We still have laptops with Windows Me on them. It's a sad situation, but at least I know we're not alone.