Here's the thing, there's a lot I want to try, but I'm afraid. I've just completed my fifth year as a teacher and I still feel like a newbie. I'm not the type to get out there and advocate for what I want, rather I'm the type who does what he's told. However, the tweets I read from my PLN, the more I realize that there's so much I can be doing. Then there's the classes I'm taking for my doctorate on Servant Leadership and so much I want to try, but I'm not quite sure how to do it.
My school is a Title I school and, like other institutions, very cash strapped. Our principal loves to shop and often buys first and then asks who wants what she purchased. The "first come, first serve" e-mails go out and when I responded for an Interactive Whiteboard, it was dropped off with the caveat that I basically needed to figure it out by myself. I found some interesting resources, but I really want to create on my own, which I'm struggling to figure out.
Like most faculties, I guess, we've got a mix of teachers who are great with technology and those who accept it as a necessary evil in their room and let it gather dust. I try to use the newest tools, but due to my family life, part time jobs, and doctoral studies, it's hard for me to attend the professional development we do have on these tools. We do have some teachers using clickers, IWBs, etc. to enhance their lessons, as well as others who feel that they are simply flashy and distract from the real educational work they feel we are supposed to do. Trouble is, I fear we might have more of the latter working at my school than the former.
I also feel that my district is fairly strict on social media and cell phones. The school board recently voted to allow schools to search through student cell phones and the district wide policy is, "out of sight, out of mind," during school hours. We've also had some teachers misuse their social media to communicate, inappropriately with students, so the board has that view of social media and does not seem open to the positives it can bring.
So, in a lot of ways, I feel like a little fish in the big pond of education, floating by myself. I look over at some of the giants in my PLN, and to be honest, I get jealous. I see the wonderful things that they are doing and hear about how open their schools/districts are, and I want to feel that too. I just don't know how to go about it in my school and district and I feel that I need more support to effect change.
I have a bad feeling that the consensus is that we are a rural school where a lot of our students don't go on past high school (those that do finish high school) and end up doing menial jobs with little need for technology. I really wish we taught more in the way of life skills and tailored the curriculum towards the skills they will need and use, rather than what we think they might need. This does not mean I don't think our students should have access to the latest tech tools, but at the same time, I wonder if the tools we think they'll need are the tools they will, in fact, end up using.
I also don't want to give the impression that I'm down on my school. I love working there and I do recognize there are a lot of good things going on. Again, hearing stories on Twitter of the tools my peers are using and the projects their students are working on does make me jealous. I often feel that I don't have much to add in the way of resources, so I try to retweet the best of what I find and I also try to jump on a website or news story I see that to "pull my weight" in the PLN. On the other hand, I hope things do change and at some point I am able to pay my PLN back for everything they've given me, most of which goes into my Delicious Site.
So that's where things stand. I hope to update soon with my vision for a classroom run by Servant Leadership, as well as more ideas I have. Hopefully this will be the year I help shepherd my school into the 21st Century!
