Please Step Away from the Textbook!

Textbooks are a staple in most classrooms and can be a great resource for teachers. The problem I find (not that I am even close to the first person to realize this) is that a large number of teachers use their textbook and accompanying teacher's guide as the ONLY resource for teaching. This is prominent from kindergarten all the way to post-secondary education. The problem with this is that teaching from the textbook shuts the door in the faces of students and locks them into their classrooms. Our world holds so many resources for educators - all we have to do is open our eyes and minds and look for them. 

Students today are collaborative, communicate with their peers on a highly frequent basis, create, explore, adapt, and design - except when they are in school. Often times when students enter school they are asked to “power down” their phones, computers, and themselves. On their own, students use technology to explore their world and communicate with others. But in their classrooms, many times the option to use those tools is not available to them. In a large portion of these classrooms, the reason isn’t a lack of access, but rather teachers simply aren’t allowing the students to use the tools available to them.  This lack of use is usually born out of one thing - fear. A fear that the technology may not work properly, a fear that things may not "go as planned," a fear that the students might abuse the technology, and probably mostly a fear of not being the expert in front of students. While it is okay to be afraid, it is not acceptable to allow that fear to prevent you from creating a more appropriate learning environment for students. Even if nothing works they way you plan and the students end up having to show you how to use the tools, the learning that will occur in that time will be completely worth it. The experience may even allow you to see strengths in your students that you may have never before seen.

If you are reading this post you are probably not tied to your textbook, but I'm willing to bet that you know someone that is. So why not offer up a few ideas to that person that will help them expand a learning environment beyond their classroom walls, or at least beyond the covers of the textbook? Introduce someone to the power of the internet for not only creating more engaging learning environment, but also as a way to extend their own learning network. If you're just starting to explore your options outside of your textbook, seek out another person to either explore with you or someone who could act as a mentor and guide in your journey. Trust me, whether you enter the partnership as a guide or "student" you will find yourself learning from the experience and eager to do more learning and exploring.

A couple of days ago someone on Twitter posted a link to David Warlick's article If you can't use technology get out of teaching! which inspired this post, so thanks to my PLN in Twitter (and David Warlick of course.)

Image courtesy of  joewhk and Flickr.

Exciting New Opportunity

Well I'm very excited about a new project that I've been able to undertake this semester. I have the privilege to be able work with a local middle school's instructional coaches to not only embed technology use into their weekly professional development sessions, but also to add technology integration ideas into their actually delivery to the teachers. Meaning for every topic and concept they're covering in PD this semester, I'm going to add ways to embed technology into specific curricular areas. I'm very excited about this because this school already has a good amount of technology in the classrooms, but the teachers still aren't using the tools to their potential - some aren't even using them at all. In my experiences, there is a large portion of the educator population that will embed technology and 21st century skills into their instruction if they are simply taught the skills to do so. Most technology PD is simply teaching participants how to use the tool. I firmly believe that if you follow that instruction will curriculum specific ways to integrate the tools and skills teachers are much more likely to do so.

I have also offered to the entire staff to personally come into their classrooms and help them plan technology rich instructional units, help them deliver the lessons, or even to teach a lesson their classroom. I really feel that most educators would are willing to integrate more technology into their instruction, thereby greatly enriching their students' learning environments, but they are simply not equipped with the skills to do so or afraid that "things might not go right." It is my hope that by giving them the skills and impressing upon them the importance of allowing the students to lead the way (even if things to always go according to plan) that their students' engagement and achievement will increase. When this happens the job of being the teacher becomes less "work" and more of a learning experience for everyone involved.

Image courtesy of tinaylin and Flickr