Leading From The Heart

by Tracy Rosen, teaching & consulting since 1996, blogging about it here since 2007. All views are my own and you should take them with a grain of salt, I do.

Category: Tech

  • Why technology in schools? And how do I lead something that is constantly changing? ;)

    It’s almost a moot point – why technology in schools?

    Because.

    Because, as is so strikingly underlined in Did you know 2.0 (Shift Happens) technology can not be separated from the rest of life, it has become enmeshed with what we know, do, and understand about many things. In particular for our students today who were born in, around, and since the mid-90s.

    As a teacher I felt obligated to continue my learning around Internet and video technologies since those were the communication technologies through which my students learned best.

    As a leader I continue to feel that obligation because I whole-heartedly expect the teachers I work with to have the same kind of passion for how their students learn as I do. If I am going to work from within these kinds of expectations, I need to know the technologies that students are using now. I need to know the technologies that can help our increasingly visual and kinesthetic learners to know, understand, and do all of the competencies that are set out for them by the Quebec Education Program.

    In order to be an effective leader for technology I need to walk the talk. I can not expect the teachers I work with to try something new if I am not willing to learn as well. We know that as teachers we are constantly modeling the behaviour kids will determine as appropriate just because we are modeling it. The same goes for educational leaders, we are certainly not above that level of scrutiny.

    So how do I lead something that is constantly changing? That is the fun part! I need to allow myself to be a constant student, I need to be constantly learning.

    :)

    This post was inspired by Scott McLeod’s July 4th call for posts on technology leadership.

  • and now…youtube.

    my previous post about facebook got me to thinking about other online venues where kids are commenting on their teachers. If you go to YouTube and search for teacher, angry teacher, mad teacher, you will find quite a few cell phone videos of teachers who are out of control. (Teacher Yelling at Student, Angry Teacher)

    We can react by asking what cell phones are doing in classrooms. We can react with shock at the kids who are acting out. We can go on about how technology is taking over.

    I react by saying that kids are bearing witness to us. We can no longer expect what goes on in our classrooms to stay there. That is the reality. I choose to accept the fact that the technology is there and to teach my students about how to use it responsibly.

    I also choose not to yell at my students or to treat them in an unacceptable way. As a teacher I know that I am one of the biggest models in a students life. Everything I do is under scrutiny. When they see me angry and yelling they see a teacher out of control and no way do I want to model that kind of behaviour!

    Maybe this technology is a flashing light, reminding teachers to be accountable for the way they treat their students. More importantly, reminding schools to provide support for teachers so they don’t get to the point of not knowing what else to do but yell, scream, belittle, humiliate.

    Some argue that teachers are at times being provoked by students for the sole purpose of making these videos. Regardless – the teacher is the adult. At what point would I allow myself to get so provoked by events or behaviour that I would act in this way?

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  • facing up to facebook

    Over the past couple of weeks I have been hearing and reading about stories to do with facebook in (and out of) schools.

    At schools in Quebec and Ontario, students are being suspended for things that they are posting about their teachers and principals on facebook. These are the same kinds of things that students talk about to each other all the time – but when they put it in writing, in a public forum, it becomes a whole different story.

    The thing is, kids don’t realize how public the internet is. Anyone can read what you write in a group on facebook, and when what you write is damaging to the school community I think the school has a responsibility to address it.

    However, I don’t think that the issue is being addressed in the right manner. At a school in Ontario, students were suspended from a class trip because of comments they made on facebook while they were at home. According to one of the fathers, the parents and students were informed of this decision without any discussion. (Father: school too harsh on son for online remarks, ctv.ca)

    Schools and families need to work together. Arbitrarily punishing someone doesn’t make sense – and doesn’t work. We need to be teaching kids about the realities of online social networks like facebook, and we need to be helping parents to do the same.

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