Blog Junkie

I firmly believe that the use of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom has such teaching potential, but I’ve never had anything in my teaching career so far that is as frustrating as attempting to use this technology with students on a tightly controlled networked computer system!  The system is so slow that in a 35 minute lab session it takes 10 minutes just to get onto the data-base!  Lab time in a school that is over-crowded is at a premium so getting the lab time and the time slots needed is a battle.  The Admin and staff are unaware of the role technology plays in the teaching of library/research skills.

The next hurdle for this novice user of technology in the classroom is to think 10 steps ahead of the upper intermediate students to be aware of exactly what they are up to.  Some wanted to create a web-page about themselves so I, the new teacher, would get to know them better.  Hmmm, really??? Such a noble gesture!  So exactly where would this web-page be hosted?  Web-page indeed.

A very explicit Internet use policy is manditory and I must say we have one.  Very quiet in that classroom when I told them I knew exactly what was in it and what would happen if it was breached.  Ah, the Internet Nazi was teaching.

Result was things went quite well besides the frustration of computers operating at glacial speed.  Students enjoyed Britannica Online and are looking forward to mind-mapping on Inspiration.  Hmm, wondering how that mind-map will work out?

Also, discovered that contrary to my prior post, with some candid conversation about equality in education, these well-off students were able to understand the concept of social justice and have empathy for others more disadvantaged than themselves and are now enjoying this research much more. Made me realize I should have had more faith in these young people and been far less cynical and jaded.  They really did rise to the occasion.

Next group – Thursday.  Wonder how that will go?

I expected problems in starting my field study as I had heard enough from the past TLITE cohort members to be prepared, so I thought..

I expected glitches and boy did I get them. I saved the PowerPoint in the wrong format and had to correct that.  Should have known better.

I had a class of 30 grade 6/7’s coming in and I wanted them in the library where there were tables to write on, but I needed a laptop and projector for my PowerPoint presentation part of the lesson.  The laptop would not log on to the District server, the remaining laptops logged on, but the cords to connect them to the projectors were lost.  Surprise!  Saved by my TECHIE MAN.  Thanks bud, those brownies are coming your way.

Tech problems were solved in the last minute of the final hour before the kids came in.  Phew, nothing went wrong technically.  But at the end of the lesson, I realized that I was so focused on the technology that I completely blew the teaching!  Shocked would be the descriptor.  I was floored.  I’ve been teaching long enough that this is EMBARRASSING!  The mapping work that the kids handed in was appalling to say the least.

LEARNING:  Remember to focus on the content, the skills, the expectations, NOT the technology.  I considered this a trial run for the second gr 6/7 class to come for the same lesson, re-vamped the lesson plan.  Glitch: had to have a sub teach the lesson!  Notes from sub – new realization:  technology does not make an uninteresting topic any better.  Topic was directly related to the need for no prior knowledge and it is going to be a problem. Once again, I was too focused on the field study and not focused on the PLO’s or on connecting the research project for the kids with their ability to connect with the topic. Should win the “stupid teacher award” for this. Possible solution:  cut the lessons to the minimum to meet the prescribed learning outcomes, finish with students creating a short PowerPoint presentation and cut my losses.

The Ah-Ha moment:  attempting to tackle a field study as a prep relief teacher in a new school, in a new position is not the best of plans.  It may be the reality, but it is not a good reality.

In the September 2008 issue of the BCTF newsletter, the BCTF President talks about being at a Tri National Conference in Defense of Public Education.  It was a conference attended by teachers from Canada, US and Mexico in Los Angles.  The newsletter states:

The public education system is the US has been fractured by underfunding, overtesting, militarization, and privatization.  Rather than providing students with an equal opportunity to succeed, as public education was intended, it serves to reinforce the extreme have-and have-not society the US has become.

“…an equal opportunity to succeed, as public education was intended…” is all very well in theory, but it is definitely not what happens in practice whether in the US or in Canada.  Inner city schools are sorely under-funded and lacking in basic resources, schools with low enrollment find themselves in the same predicament as the inner city schools whereas schools with high enrollment find themselves with much more money and are resource heavy.  So my child’s quality of education appears to depend on where I live and in what catchment area I am in.

I am not implying that the teachers in any one school, resource poor or resource heavy, are any better or worse than one another.  I am saying that if I live in an area where my catchment area is for an inner city school/low enrollment school, then my child will go to a school lacking some very basic resources such as complete sets of textbooks, textbooks for each subject area, enough computers, novel sets in good condition with enough books for each student….But if I live in a catchment area for a high enrollment/wealthy school then my child will have all the needed/prescribed resources, including technology resources.  How can it be that in a first world country, we can have this disparity in funding?  Why is the funding for each school not equal?  How is this just?

Is all fair in education? The haves and the have-nots do not just exist in the US.