Recently a school administrator shared a story that reminded me why I need to spend more time talking to more people outside of the echo chamber.
She said that a group of parents had requested a meeting to discuss the methods of a particular teacher and his use of technology. It seemed this teacher had decided to forgo the textbook and have students write their own on a wiki, that he published a great deal of his students’ work online, that he taught them and encouraged them to use Skype to interview people who they had researched and identified as valuable voices in their learning, and that he shared all of his lectures and classwork online for anyone, not just the students in his class, could access them and use them under a Creative Commons license.
When the administrator got the phone call from the parent who wanted to set up the meeting, she asked for some sense of what the problem was. The reply?
“Our students don’t need to be a part of a classroom experiment with all this technology stuff. They need to have a real teacher with real textbooks and real tests.”
Sigh.
Oh, so sad! But I guess this just means that educators/administrators need to just keep communicating to and educating the parents on the value of technology in the classroom too.
These are old belief systems that are sometimes difficult to kill, because it is all that the parents know. (The same can be said of teachers who are not on board yet with technology).
Maybe we need to hold more meetings with parents to educate them more fully on the benefits?
I have heard similar stories, and been a part of one, in the past.
I keep reminding myself, that there are only two groups of people who really want grades – school administrators so they can schedule classes for kids they don’t know (like from middle school to high school transitions) and parents (so they can compare their child with their friend’s children as some kind of contest in which children become trophies).
If teachers will stay the course of using the technology (and more will join them), the students of today will become the parents of tomorrow, and eventually parental expectations will change.
Translated :
“Our students don’t need to be engaged in their learning with all this technology stuff. They need to have a really boring teacher with really boring textbooks and really bad tests that do not help to demonstrate learning has taken place.”
Who will be the first to complain when they leave school that the students were not prepared for the real world?
This is often the reality I see in my work with parents and some teachers and administrators. The old adage “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” is now the domain of the ancients – with some of the ancients still trying to force the ship down the same creaking, outdated lanes. The problem is, it is broke and has been for some time. I love working with and supporting the educators I’ve been privileged to form relationships with, however, as our kids continue to evolve technologically at a pace that frightens and intimidates most parents and some educators, the mandate should be to introduce these technologies and learning styles that students are gravitating to, in a palatable and user-friendly manner to parents. This, as I see it daily in schools all over Ontario, is the biggest hurdle, and gap, that exists today. The future is bright. Let’s bring our parents aboard gently but persistently. If done properly, the buy-in will be huge!
Sounds like some parents have the same problem that Greg Whitby describes in his video about “the pedagogical DNA of teachers.” It’s so ingrained as to preclude understanding other forms of pedagogy. Good reality check about the echo chamber and needing to play the role of public relations with parents.
In the past, there were limited options available. It is now 2010 and we have many more strategies and tools available then ever before. Let’s leverage that reality in the best interests of our students.
It will be beneficial to remind people that no evidence exists which supports the superiority of textbooks and lecture over other methods of instruction and teaching. in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a decrease in student outcomes if we were to do a research study in 2010 comparing traditional methods of instruction with the new tools that engage learners, allow them to have multiple methods of presentation to reach all learners and provide the ability to demonstrate what they have learned in a variety of ways. (See Universal Design for Learning http://cast.org)
As a classroom teacher I hear this alot. As a matter of fact, there have been questions of what I do and post with our class wiki. We just went one to one yet a large group pf parents/teachers are set to derail it. Yes, they could succeed. Very few get it and even those who do don’t understand everything. This is supposed to cause a shift in pedagogy. If a vast majority of people are not truly learners (and really it is not just the resistant teachers and lazy students that are not learners), how do we make the case that this is where we need to be? The experimented with argument has been used a lot here but I know from the kids that they know they are learning more here than in the rest of their classes.
I’m sure communication is part of the issue…
Sometimes parents need explicit evidences and clear data:
How many times in the last month have they (adults) checked an encyclopaedia? And a web page?… How many newspapers have they bought? And how many webnews have they looked up?… How many leeters (postmail) have they written? How many emails or MSM?…
How is it that good students cannot manage to finish university degrees? What’s missing in their initial preparation?
Why US students are not making such a good performance in International PISA exams? Why isn’t there a direct correlation between economical investment and test results? What’s missing?
How many people with good degrees are there out without jobs? Why?
… If we keep telling parents how much things are changing, they will eventually understant that the best for their children is to adapt schools for real needs.
The ability of New Generaltions to adapt, grow and survive might depen on it!
http://www.internetworldstats.com/
I wish more teachers did what that teacher did and didn’t use the textbooks and tests quite so much. It’s interesting that the parents put so much emphasis on the tests; lots of people would rather not have the tests be so important.
I applaud the teacher for having the students use their brains–to find information, weigh it, and reconfigure it. To create something new and useful and to have the confidence to share it with a Creative Commons License for others to use.
I am thinking about using this post in my summer Technology and Education class as a discussion spring board.
Many many parents are still caught up in the old cycle where you learned one skill set, one set of rules, from one singular source of information (usually a teacher who had done the same thing when they were educated), and this carried you throughout life.
When information was limited, hard to find and sequestered away in dusty library stacks, teachers were the tour guides and students were the ignorant touristas trying to find their way to a familiar and comfortable place in unfamiliar worlds. This has gone on for millennia, and it has so much inertia that it will take us all decades to just stop it, much less alter its course in a new direction.
We all, like Sisyphus, kept rolling that rock up that same hill day after day, over and over again, doing what we learned “back in the day” until our demise. We took what we learned to our grave; and until recently it functioned well enough for pretty much everyone. But, hey, it doesn’t work anymore. Countless thousands are now turned out of their jobs with old skill sets into a world which has no need for them, and these people are ill prepared to learn new ones.
Alvin Toffler saw this decades ago when he revealed the new learning strategies of “learn, unlearn, learn” to a world that simply has no concept of how to unlearn. Like the Native Americans who could not see the ships of Columbus, parents can not visualize the concept of decentralized information and learn, unlearn, learn cycles. They can not envision that information is now ubiquitous, evolving, and in constant flux. The original inhabitants of North America needed these elders to “see” and interpret those ships. Elders who knew that things shapeshift and metamorph through time; those who were trained in the process to understand something that had never seen before. These elders who can see past the old ways and grasp the new ones are always in short supply, then as well as now.
Now, the present inhabitants of North America have to see the new ships in our harbors. We all need to unlearn the old ways of education and learn the new ones. We need to share this new skill set with parents so that they see their children in the light of a world whose information is no longer confined to a central teacher or textbook like our sun. Our system of education has to move from teachercentric to studentcentric. We have to let parents see that the need to unlearn old ideas and learn new ones is something every student has to have inside them. They must become the gravitational centers of their unlearning, as well as their learning; braking free from the old model of a teacher whose was the sole source of all things pedagogical.
When told his new view of the universe was impossible, and violated everything people had learned, Galileo was silenced and exiled by a Church that had no concept of the learn, unlearn, learn cycle. Galileo, as he was trudged off to his exile at Aricebo, was rumored to have said “and still it moves.” He saw the new model and held fast to his new vision.
All of us in education have a frighteningly similar situation confronting us. We also must be brave in our convictions. Our students, our countries and our new emerging world community deserves no less.
I would ask the parent to read an article in the Feb issue of WIRED http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/01/ff_newrevolution The New Industrial Revolution. Ask the parent if they want their child to be ready to live and work in the 21st century.
Sent them a link to the Did You Know video, there are still millions of parents who have not seen the video. I still get emails from teachers who have just found Karl’s video.
Another place to send parents is the article in today’s 3/13 NYT F.C.C Plan to Widen Internet Access. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/business/media/13fcc.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
21st Century Skills Literacy is as important for parents as it is for students.
Yes, that should serve as a reason to make sure you hear other voices. I certainly know that being at SLA, within the larger structure of the School District of Philadelphia, means that I always get my reality checks served up.
But it’s why we also have to remember that not everyone has heard the message… it is, as you said on Alan’s blog this week, why we have to remember that not everyone has had their own epiphany yet. And it’s why, as much as some of the message we have may seem stale to us, we have to keep saying it over and over again.
The overwhelming number of educators in America don’t know who Will Richardson or Chris Lehmann is. They haven’t heard of TEDx or EduCon. And they probably haven’t read John Dewey, more importantly. It doesn’t, however, mean they don’t care about kids or they don’t care about making schools better. It just means we have to work harder to get the message across.
“Echoes never tell you anything new” – one of the chapters of our little publication recently and share your hurdles in our work… keep keeping on 🙂
Sadly, once again a parent feels & thinks they are an EXPERT IN EDUCATION because after all, they graduated from high school some decades ago themselves…in A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WORLD!
When will society embrace INNOVATION & not STAGNATION? I agree with Will… another sigh of exasperation here…sad…
Just show the parents this and carry on with the good work, is what I’d advise the school to do:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1206491/Woman-sacked-Facebook-boss-insult-forgetting-added-friend.html
It’s funny how in education, technology and innovation gets this response. Could you imagine if we told the same folks that we were going to make them all drive 1972 Fords and only allow their doctors to prescribe medicine patented before the Reagan administration?
Shelly
Could this problem be a result of the quixotic quest for curriculum integration?
Perhaps the first (I can’t believe I’m saying “first” after 30 years)… PERHAPS the first thing educators should do with computers is create experiences that would be impossible without them.
Perhaps we should focus on the teaching of computer science, robotics, music composition, filmmaking, animation at a high level parents will recognize as worthy of their investment and children’s time.
I don’t think parents are concerned about the use of computers as much as they are worried about the watering-down of curriculum in an attempt to teach traditional curricula. Many people equate textbooks with education – see recent Texas debacle – http://bit.ly/dyZKGe
Talk of computers to deliver curriculum does nothing to improve the over-reliance on information access.
Why do some parents insist on their kids having the same education they did? All of thre above + fear.
Had a similar experience this week from someone reviewing a high school computer course outline that mentioned the word “blog”. They said, “we don’t want our kids blogging — we don’t want to be encouraging our kids to spend more time on a computer”.
Hmmm. I teach kids technology. Trust me. If I use blogs to support student learning – it will have an academic focus. Were they against encouraging our kids to think and reflect? Writing is writing – no matter the platform.
This same person thought I was taking about Facebook when I mentioned social bookmarking.
It was a good reminder for me to communicate clearly and remember that adults who learn about technology buzzwords on the nightly news really don’t have an understanding of how to use it in the classroom.
Thought — I agree with many who wrote.
My first two questions would have been —
1. Why was the parent not aware of this — from the get go and
2. Why was admin as well.
I feel that there is a great disconnect and we continue to grow it even more when we are not communicating with our parents and our admin. And a huge disconnect when admin has no idea what is going on in the classroom.
I will let you all debate on tests and textbooks…..I think an overlooked problem here is also communication.
Jen
sigh and tear
I like Jennifer’s point – you’ve got a (great-sounding) teacher working in complete isolation here. The last few months, Will, you’ve been asking what “we’ve been doing wrong”, and part of it is not having individual conversations with the colleagues down the corridor and on our own doorsteps. It’s just far easier to find someone who agrees with us online and have the warm, fuzzy feeling of congeniality.
Unfortunately, in the ‘real world’, that’s not the way it works. I’ve got a few examples I posted about on my own blog (http://bit.ly/cMdvMv) that show just how important the basic media literacy point is, but Jennifer’s point still stands prominent: it’s down to EVERYONE to pick up the dialogue with those (especially those) who don’t get it and who are actively against these ways of working.
Actually, in this case, everyone did know. This teacher had been teaching in this way for more than a few years. I’m wondering how much of it was coming from the kids who were seeing the rules changed on them and maybe couldn’t cope. Or at least that being a part of it.
That’s a possibility worth thinking about, Will. I’ve had that experience myself, where you try to introduce a change, and if it’s unusual enough to the students (in my case, a grading system without points or averages for the most part), then no matter how much time you invest in communicating about it, there’s likely to be some holdouts. I tried again and again to explain my system half a dozen ways, but the process was sort of like a half life. First explanation, half of my students understood the system. Second round, I got through to half of the holdouts, and so on, until there were just one or two kids who refused to believe this system was fair and beneficial to students – even when their peers took up the argument supporting me.
Hi Ewan – I think too teachers want to do more of the talking to the teacher down the hall. In my school that would actually be very easy because there are doors between every classroom. Teachers have been burdened more and more with data acquisition and evaluation, and proving they are covering material AND programs that leave nothing to talk about for tomorrows lessons (if you follow the program which is how too many of us are being evaluated). Those discussions used to lead to discussions about the what are we doing, why are we doing it … the nuts and bolts of teaching. I think that is happening less and less and we agree it needs to happen more. We are in a time when we have never had more “time saving” appliances and technology … yet we have less time to be human than ever it seems.
I can agree that communication with parents is important. Though Will debunks the idea that expectation setting was a problem in this case, it could potentially be a problem.
What I can’t stand behind is the idea of faulting what sounds like an excellent teacher doing world-class work with technology as a tool because it wasn’t what parents expected based on their own long-ago education. I would bet my life that there are bigger problems that need addressing in any school and better places to spend an administrator’s time than on discouraging an ultra high-achieving teacher. If the goal is to give each teacher constructive tips for improvement, lets skip past “make sure parents know how your class is run” and get to something a little more meaty and individually relevant to the teacher.
Administrators are often challenged by parents when we stretch the limits of teaching and learning. It has happened for centuries. That’s why we need to be proactive in sharing with students, teachers and parents. It is a critical piece for all of us to stand behind our initiatives with thoughtfulness and clarity.
We need to work on becoming strong communicators about what we value in education. Build learning communities filled with conversations about what is best for kids.
We do need to keep in mind that this particular parent’s comments are not the complete reality either. When I read the post and the comments included, I get the sense that people see this as the end of the process and a major step backwards because of it.
Why not see this as another opportunity to educate? Why not look at this as an amazing opportunity to do some major PR work? If things are going well in this class, the discussion could be a very easy one! Karen makes a great point right before me. Stand behind these initiatives with thoughtfulness and clarity!
… that is unless the majority of us who are drinking the Kool-Aid are going to pull a Ravitch!
How sad. I don’t want a doctor who tested well in school but would not take risks to save my life, or a teacher who didn’t cared enough to teach outside the books to see how intelligent a child is.
Will, I enjoyed the post and the numerous comments. But then something strange happened… I started thinking…
While agreeing with the majority view of the comments (and wishing that a few of my kids’ teachers had used such a strategy), the sparseness of information led my mind to a few questions – the crux of which is “Can we determine the appropriateness of the teacher’s strategy without more details?”
* What level does the teacher teach? Is he an elementary teacher who teaches all his subjects using this format? Or is he a Jr High or High school teacher? Would this make a difference?
–> From here on, I’m assuming he’s a high school teacher teaching 1 specific class with this method…
* Does the class he teaches have a state mandated / controlled EOI test required for graduation?
* Is the subject he teaches a “hot button” subject in which he could be accused of “indoctrinating” the students? (history or sex education, for example)
If my child were in his class, I’d know the answers to these questions… I’d consider the answers, discuss with my child and probably the teacher, and then review the online materials before I’d be willing to take sides in this matter.
I guess I’m saying we should be as careful about jumping on the bandwagon in information sparse specific situations as we’d like the parents to be about joining the hangin’ party.
Have a great day, Kent
I am preparing for the transition to a textbook free classroom next school year. Fortunately, I have the full support of my administration. I am simultaneously very nervous, anxious, and ecstatic about this move, and I have considered the potential backlash that this teacher has dealt with. Here’s to hoping it goes well.
Suppose…just suppose there are no ports,cellphones,internet,etc. Suppose these students are in a very different world, with no “gadget support”. Those of you who are at least 50(or older),did you arrive at your current place in life because of “gadgets”?
Your foundation, your bottom line is you…the you who learned about life on the playground, at camps,in school,from TV/movies and observing life in general. You learned to think for youselves. Then you built empires using the “gadgets” as a tool, not a way of thinking to solve problems. You thought on your own and verfied it through the “gadgets”. Not in reverse.
Teaching must be a blend of a Socratic instructional style and using many resourses,”gadgets” being only one. How was this world built during the last 200 years? By the mind, our minds. These “gadgets” should be like a Katana…just an extention of the mind that holds it.
I would caution anyone teaching not lose yourselves to the “gadgets”. Yes,the method of teaching with tech is very liberating, successful and rewarding. Yet already we have virtual schools, and just like the way of most industries, education will eventually be replaced with the tech world.
What we replaced with the tech world was offices/factories filled with workers who interacted as humans should interact…being a part of its drama. We touched eachothers lives and learned to love, hate, and respect eachother. But we did it in real time, with real people, with real consequences. It hurt and we cried…and we grew.
Be very careful what you’re asking for…it’s not the tech that bothers me. What happens to those with their brains “wired” to the virtual world (as children) and knew no playground, camping, hiking and just left to figure it out for themselves? I wonder what world they will build? I think we’re at the very edge of a huge tech wave that is chasing humanity…and we don’t have a clue on where this ride is going.
Peace
This method of facilitated learning is right on, there is no doubt about this: hands on, real world application in order to produce lifelong learners and successful citizens is the essential goal for education. We know this praxis leads to student success; how, then, do we convince the parents of this?
How did education prepare them for the work force? How often does mom or dad sit in isolation at a desk, taking a pen and paper test in order to successfully complete a company project? How often is mom or dad required to read a company manual, take a test, whereupon completion they move on to the next company manual? There is a divide between how parents were educated in relation to the careers available at the time, or for the teacher’s lack of knowledge of what goes on beyond the classroom. In order to achieve the companies “bottom line,” to meet their goal, or quota, what skills do the students’ parents need to display competency in? How are goals defined and measured within the company…they are more often than not written by the employee, discussed with the direct manager, edited accordingly and approved. These are just a few examples of how to bring this to the “parents’ levels.” Rather than see this as a roadblock, we need to think as teachers in how we can make this approach applicable to the parents….As sad as this may be.