Get off your RSS reader and get a reality check!

Just finished watching Stand and Deliver (again). Been spending time out in my schools upgrading VC carts. Listening. Hearing about new curriculum. Untangling wires from summer cleaning. Dealing with twisted wires. Too many technologies, not enough support. Hearing about tighter and tighter budgets; having to do more with less. Gratefulness for free programming we offer.

Watching students check out books in the library; remembering some blog post that we don’t need books. The contrast between reality in a book-celebrating (but also technology using) media center and what some ed-tech big names are saying was too great. Ludicrous.

If you’re not regularly in a school, I challenge you to get out there. Get on the ground. Listen to the teachers. Listen to their challenges. Realize the big picture; so you know what else is going on in teachers’ lives besides the technology tools you’re encouraging them to use. See it from the other side!

Watch Stand & Deliver again. See first hand again what’s happening in schools. Let that knowledge temper and revamp your work! Think from the teachers’ perspective! I challenge you!

0 replies on “Get off your RSS reader and get a reality check!”

  1. Amen!! One project I ran for 2 consecutive years we termed….technology infusion. Basically I “adopted” two classes at each of my two campuses. When I wasn’t scheduled in a meeting or training or desperately “trying to get it together”…I spent my ust hanging out in one of my classrooms. I’d like to say my time there dramatically changed the teaching in those four classrooms, but that was NOT the deepest impact. The deeper impact was the connection I made back to the trials and joys of reality. I encourage all of you to try it as well! Pick a class at the school closest to your office, get the principals’ buy-in, and just hang out.

Leave a Reply to Linda McDonaldCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.