Swimming in the technology ocean
I had an aha moment this afternoon. I was speaking to one of the teachers at East Lee about East becoming a STEM school next year, when she offered one of the best analogies I have ever heard. As we were discussing how to get the teachers involved, Misty offered this:
“You have given us an ocean of opportunities this year, but we need to learn the swim first. Start with very basic ideas and how to use them in the classroom, then when we’re ready, we’ll jump in and tackle some of those waves.”
Wow! I’d never though of it like that. She’s right. I have offered an ocean hoping that someone would like to try to find one fish, but if you’re afraid of the water, you’ll never jump in. I was approaching it so wrong. I was throwing so much out there that I was overwhelming everyone and not giving them a life preserver to grab onto. I should have listened to Jen Wagner’s Baby Steps post. What I thought were baby steps were actually giant leaps for many people.
Hmmmm…. so many things to reconsider. When you’re an avid swimmer, it’s hard to relate to people who fear the water. I need to go back to that first time I saw the ocean and start from there. To feel the excitement of the sand between my toes - the first time I saw a blog or a wiki.
Misty very kindly told me that I need to come up with step by step ways that teachers can use technology in their classrooms. As she put it, “just like the end of grade test manual tells you what to say and when”. That might be a challenge, but I think I can do it.
So, I think I will begin next year with wikis. I’ll show the teachers specific ways they can use them in their classrooms and write a lesson idea for each of the four core curriculum areas. That way they will have something they can read from a script if they need to do so.
Thank you Misty for opening my eyes. Hopefully, we’ll all be swimming in the ocean by this time next year.
Until next time,
Danita
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