Today’s class was interesting, to say the least. Christine and I had some time to narrow down our inquiry focus and we were frantically adding ideas to our mindmeister map. We decided to focus more on how iPads can be used to improve literacy in the classroom and mindmeister was the perfect way for us to organize our thoughts and share our thinking with each other.
And then we got to learn a lot of big words. Really big words. Adrienne Gear would refer to them as “triple-scoop” words and while I don’t see myself dropping them often in conversation, some of the ideas made a lot of sense. I see a lot of institutional isomorphism at work at my new school. I’m a teacher with 10 years of experience, but I’m the “new kid” at my new school. There is definitely a tendency towards the mimetic and normative. I can’t tell you how many times this year I’ve heard the phrase, “Here at Fleming, we do things this way…” No matter how stupid some of the traditions are, there is such a strong reluctance to change. I am one of the only teachers who is using a report card program to write my reports. Everyone else is still using Microsoft Word to type them up and some even write them by hand! It’s ridiculous, really.
Rather than rock the boat my first year, I chose to just quietly do my thing. I sometimes try to get my colleagues excited about something new in the world of technology, but the seasoned teachers have the mindset that everything is cyclical. They feel that they’ve seen “fads” come and go and no longer get excited about anything. I find this troubling. As educators, we have a responsibility to be on the forefront of technology and change in the classrooms. At what point do teachers give up and just begin to do things the way they’ve always been done or do things the way everyone else does?
I love that, “triple-scoop words”! Those are great examples of the constraints teachers are facing within their own profession, when it comes to engaging with digital technologies: for professional learning, for student learning, and for preparing ourselves and our students for life in the digital age. Yes, there have been many attempts to improve education over the decades. I find it interesting that these attempts to improve educational practice have been reduced to ‘fads’ and ultimately put aside to be replaced by the way things are always done. How many institutions of human endeavour have the luxury of resisting change over decades? It is really quite amazing that it has happened. We can’t only look outside for the reasons that technological resources available in schools have been so disproportionately distributed. Teachers have had a role in fostering a culture of non-engagement. That is why TLs may be uniquely positioned to lead the way into changing educational practices through inquiry, technology, and communicative cultures.