Teachers Talk

I’m presently in the middle of teaching four consecutive graduate level courses. The vast majority of the participants are K-12 classroom teachers, with a smattering of other staff such as librarians, social workers, speech therapists, etc. The courses mostly have a technology-education theme, except for one on Problem Based Learning, a course I very much enjoy to teach.

Working with teachers always interests me. They are the grunts, the ones in the trenches, and as such they are also the people whose thoughts we should always listen to. The following quotes are some reflections from these teachers:

--Sometimes shy students will participate more online.
--I need to stay current with what I know my students are already doing.
--I am here because I feel my teaching style needs to model my students' learning style.
--Are we engaged in the love of learning and are we engaging our students?
--Are we failing to embrace social networking sites such as My Space because of our lack of interest or understanding and choose to ignore and block them because that is easier than embracing them?
--My questions are how to get my staff interested and informed about the use of technology in wikis, blogs, etc. Our teachers are not against it, but like many elementary teachers, they are already swamped with other issues.
--I am excited! I don't have any questions right now, but I am sure that I will have them after we get the school year started and I get my students using the wiki spaces. This is so cool!!
--How do I get my colleagues on board with wikis and blogs when we have so little department time together to even share about these tools and our schedules are so full that we only have small blocks of time to communicate?
--As an art teacher, this is a spectacular way to portfolio student work. Each student could have their own wiki that shows their work. It could serve as a culminating assessment piece for a student's course of school. It also allows for a wider audience to view the work.
--(We need) easier access to computers, tech. support (it is a big hassle now) and more training. --Too many teachers just use programmed software products with the students when they go to the lab—they seem to be unaware of all the different aspects of technology that they can tap into.
--I have been consistently frustrated by people I work with or people I know who think that technology use automatically makes the lesson better. PowerPoint notes are not automatically better than overhead or chalkboard notes, if they are given and used in the same fashion.
--Technology will improve learning when it is part of an intellectually challenging lesson or unit.
--I wish principals would build reading the research and responding to it into their staff development at the building level. It is only when we are informed and come to understand the research that we will embrace the instructional practices we are being told to use.
--I feel that technology needs to be used for far more than increasing test scores.
--In my opinion, it would be nice to see each student with his/her own laptop at all levels. Of course, I know money is a huge factor but I am sure we could make this work if it was a focus. If teachers knew that the technology is easily available, they would do more with it. Once a week in the computer lab does not create or allow a technology literate environment, especially, today.
--I have started to learn how to write/submit blogs. I think blogs could have many functions, and I find them fairly easy to use. Plus, they seem somewhat informal, which is nice. I like that people can comment on what I have published. Also, I’m motivated at the idea of having others read what I post...just like the students! :-)

What reflections would you like to add?