The Moss-Free Stone

Two thought-provoking blog posts this week got my attention. David Warlick’s post, entitled Of Course I Think It Matters, brings up the issue of teachers as learners. We are in the habit of acquiring new skills and knowledge in the same way we are, by and large, in the habit of sharing them. New information is acquired through workshops or book studies usually mandated by administrators at the school or district level. Teachers spend precious little time seeking innovative practices and attempting to stay on the cutting edge. As we have become complacent and used to being spoon-fed new practices/knowledge, we have, by and large, forgotten how to go out on a hunting expedition for our own nourishment. Just as most educators recognize the importance of teaching students how to learn independently, we need to ask ourselves whether or not we have lost this art for ourselves. This is not an indictment of my fellow educators, by any means. Time is scarce, and the mandates of state and federal testing place severe limitations on the ability of even the most dedicated teacher to act as an independent learner.

I would assert, however, that the rapid evolution of the means by which the world is communicating, collaborating, and relating to one another does not allow for such excuses, however understandable they may be. Sacrifices must be made, if our children are to be equipped to succeed in the world of the new Internet and the one that is to come rapidly on its heels. We, as teachers, need to be so enthralled with the magnificent possibilities of our occupation that we actually enjoy spending time honing our craft, multiplying our skills. Imagine if every teacher eliminated, for example, 2 hours of television watching each week and devoted it to reading professional materials, poring over the web, or collaborating with colleagues. That would be a full three days devoted to growing as a teacher each year! Three days spent, not seeing a presentation on the latest method to prepare students to bubble-in an answer sheet on a standardized test, but on independently selected material that is specifically suited to the needs of the individual teacher.

One of the principals I have had the privilege of helping become addicted to the possibilities of Web 2.0 is Greg Farr. He is the principal of our district’s alternative campus, and, if I had a poster boy for the type of response I’d like to get from every educator I share this world with, it would be Greg. In just a few short months, he has become a prolific blogger, contributing to his own, Shannon Principal, and to Leader Talk. He is taking aggressive steps to educate his staff on the implications and possibilities of Web 2.0 tools for their campus. This week, in his post, If Technology Is the Devil, Time is the Exorcist, Greg discusses the early reactions to his efforts by his staff. He has a remarkable team at his campus, and they are no strangers to innovative techniques, as they have achieved remarkable successes motivating students who often struggled with traditional instructional practices. Because of this, he is justifiably optimistic.

Greg did receive something of a reality check, however, when he surveyed his campus about their familiarity with Web 2.0 and the possibilities it holds for their campus. Encouragingly, the campus was willing and open to learning about the new tools and their implications for their classrooms. The concern that they almost universally expressed was the same old issue: time. As stated by Greg:

A fair analogy would be to say that as I plan for implementation of Everything2.0, I want to use a stopwatch. But my staff wants to use a calendar.

I can see that I need to lose the stopwatch. In fact, I need to lose all watches and clocks and pickup a calendar, too. I need to think in terms of months not minutes.

Greg summarized his campus’s time-related concerns. They centered around three main areas:

• Time to learn about Web 2.0 and how to use it.
• Time to implement these tools.
• Time to stay current and maintain the tools they are using.

To his credit, Greg is vowing to stay the course, albeit a slightly altered one. He has assured his staff that they will not be expected to become experts by the start of school in August or to radically transform their teaching in the same time frame. They will begin the process, however, and I would reassert that part of this process must be to seek ways to encourage teachers to become independent learners and gatherers of new information. I’ve come to realize, slowly, that time is relative to our priorities. I’m not suggesting that we elevate our jobs above our families, churches, even leisure activities. However, for too many, the job ends when the doors close. Even the best time managers among us (myself definitely not included) is able to look back at the end of many a day, week, month, or year and see the missed opportunity of wasted time.

So how does it move up the priority list and become something that educators actually want to spend their time doing? I’m not sure, actually, and I’d be open to suggestions. I think it is important to recognize teachers and administrators who are going the extra mile, and I feel that our district does a great job of that. However, I think the greatest means of achieving this are the tools themselves. Web 2.0 and it’s incredible rate of change is exciting, and it has motivated me like nothing I can recall in 16 years as an educator. If teachers are exposed to these tools and encouraged to explore them independently, I believe they will take wings on their own accord. Some will take of and soar with the supersonic speed of a a cutting-edge fighter, others will be more calculating and careful, but I do believe it will happen. The atmosphere is certainly ripe. Most teachers want to teach in an exciting, motivating, meaningful way, and bubbling in a multiple-choice practice exam certainly isn’t satisfying that want.