We heard a lot of big words today, institutional isomorphism, sociocultural homeostasis and conservative dynamicism. Really what does this all mean? Well, I am not sure I know the clear answer to this but this is what I do know. I am an active part of an institution, a dynamic institution in that the individual characters are always changing, however the roles tend to remain the same. this institution encompasses teachers, students, parents, administrators and all others that participate in the daily lives of our schools. I know that there tends to three different camps of teachers in our schools. There are the teachers that will find any excuse and reason possible to never touch technology in their classrooms. There are teachers who use every opportunity to embrace technology and use it to enhance what they are doing in the classrooms not just directed to students, but involving students in an active way. There are also teachers who, as Larry Cuban states, “hugged the middle” and used technology in their lessons without transforming how they teach. (You can read his blog here http://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/dynamic-conservatism-and-stability-in-teaching/) I would argue that the vast majority of teachers fall into that last category. Many teachers have been presented with technology and have begrudgingly begun using it in their lessons but have simply transferred their lessons from overhead to Powerpoint to Smartboard and are not using the technology beyond a glorified presentation tool.
As the teacher librarian in my school it is my job to be the one to buck the trend and be on the cutting edge of facilitating the use of technology with my students. How do I do this? By not being the teacher who says don’t even try because the internet will fail. By not being the teacher who sits in the staffroom and complains of a failed lesson if something doesn’t go right and then just give up trying. I need to be the one who is designing learning explorations that embrace technology. I need to be the one to advocate to my principal, my district and my province for the support needed to teach what is being asked of me to teach. How do I do this? Well, I am not sure. I think that in my case. my first conversation will be with my principal who is quite on board with any technology ideas as long as you can show that the technology will actually be used. I look forward to this conversation and by the end of this course, I suspect I will have a long list of points to present and questions to ask.