May
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New Tricks?
May 21, 2008 | Tagged experience, learning, professional development, technology | 5 Comments
I hear it often said that “older” (some may prefer the term “more experienced”) teachers are the ones who struggle/resist technology integration & use. As I reflect on recent experiences I have to wonder if the Baby Boom (and earlier) generations aren’t getting a bum rap.
Case in point #1: Right now I am working with two teachers on two different projects. One is a second grade teacher and we are working to have her students create Voicethread projects. She has been teaching for over 20 years and is a self-described novice when it comes to technology use. The other is an AEP teacher working with 1st grade students to make a movie about playground rules (they’ve written the entire script with poetry-very cool 
). She has recently returned to teaching after being away from the classroom for a number of years. What is most impressive has been their willingness to jump in and try something new (and somewhat foreign) because they see how excited the students get and how it can benefit them.
Case in point #2: My soon-to-be-retired professor from ASU West, Dr. Alice Christie. She is teaching her final class this summer after a teaching career that covers more than 40 years. I would be hard-pressed to find someone more in tune with current technology trends and how they impact (or could impact) students, teachers, and learning. Not to mention the fact that her energy level could out-pace others half her age…
Anyways, the point of all this… Let’s be careful about our assumptions and just what lengths good teachers will go to in order to help their students. Indeed, many are in fact the leaders when it comes to using technology tools as they have the experience to build new tools into what they do. For those not as comfortable, they will recognize the value if we take the time to show them how it works… So, yes indeed…new tricks…
Comments
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Thanks for standing up for us boomers! I am coming to the close of my 31st year in education and am a techlover. If we are to reach our students, we must be willing to change our strategies and techniques. I try to promote Web 2.0 tools that will enhance the student learning experience. This old dog has to learn new tricks to stay up with the young folks!
Great post. I am often frustrated by young teachers at school who won’t attend training on Web 2.0 tools because they “did that at uni” but they won’t use the tools in the classroom either! The only ones I can get to have a go are the teachers who, like me, have been around for 15+ years.
@Mrs C
Thanks for your comment! I think sometimes one of the challenges new teachers face is that, even though they just graduated, they’re really only beginning to learn about teaching. So it can be a hard sell sometimes to get them to see that a PD workshop is going to be something other than a quickie version of their college class. The trick is getting the new teachers, who probably have more experience using some of these tools in their personal life, to see how they can be used in class (and actually start using them!)
Ideas?
First of all I want to say thanks for the site and the great looking links. It’s too late to check them out now but I’ll be back. I am trying to catch up on some of the comment challenges. Tonight I started at a blog I read frequently and then clicked on a new blog link, read some entries and then clicked on another-repeat 3 times. Your blog was the 3rd one out and is a good find.
I think trying to get teachers of any age to learn about, see the value and use new tools in a meaningful way is a challenge, at least in my district. But it’s worth the battle! I have two teachers that are willing to try new things next year and I feel that’s a least a small step in the right direction.
[...] up in a few other blogs I’ve read as well as in comments to previous posts on my blog (see New Tricks). It seems many schools want to depend on younger teachers to take the lead in technology [...]