Thank you to my colleagues for providing some great feedback and links to other sites for information that can assist me in the pursuit of getting some things changed in the school district that I work for. I know that I am facing an uphill battle, however, some information shared by you has opened-up new possibilities and ideas.
In an effort to continue my request that the school district allow blogs and wikis, I plan to share some comments posted, and will leave identities anonymous. I will show the powers to be that technology surrounds us all and should be embraced and used in appropriate fashions when and where appropriate. I do not feel that I need to modify my plan at this time, but will continue to surge forward with my request.
I have learned that the district I work for appears to be going in the opposite direction with respect to using blogs and wikis as to those of my colleagues in this course. It seems to me that there are no major issues from other districts with allowing this type of communication tool in a classroom environment from other districts and therefore, should be granted for my courses.
The big question is, how to you convince the bureaurcracy of the district to make changes? It seems to me that a lot of policy is put in place from educators who have not been in the classroom for many years, thinking that the policy is the best for everyone. It is frustrating, and I am seeking help from anyone who can give advice.
Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, (2009), state, “Use blogs to achieve an instructional goal. Blogs can help students practice and demonstrate different styles of communication, especially through writing” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Having a blog for my class will not only help me, it will help my students and their parents see what they are learning and how they are applying their skills with the projects that they are working on.
Reference:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom
use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Hi Jeremy,
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear about your frustration. It is important to share the information and resources you have accumulated from this course with your district. Hopefully, when they see that books have been dedicated to the importance of incorporating technology into the classroom, they will lighten up on their strong hold against it. Another strategy to get your district to allow blog and wiki websites is to get other teachers and colleagues within your school on your side and wanting the same thing. There is always strength in numbers. Good luck and I hope you are able to get at least one blog website up and running before the school year begins.
Jeremy
ReplyDeleteI found myself in the same situation last school year when my school system changed their policy on technology usage in the middle of the year. I went from being able to do lots of things with my students to being able to do almost nothing unless I put in a request a couple of weeks ahead of time, and even then it was denied at times. I lost the use of my classroom blog that my students had been using for most of the year. My suggestion to you is to keep making trips to the people that control this and explaining how important it is for technology to be used. I had to do this several times before they finally gave in and let me have my blog back. People will eventually listen, you just have to keep making them listen.
Christopher Chad Martin
Jeremy,
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear that your district is not in the 21st century. I think that you have the correct approach when it comes down to getting them to change their ways. Maybe you could suggest to them that you will do this a pilot program for the year and gather data from the families about how they used the sites and how often. From there you could also survey the students about their involvement with using the wikis and blogs. Did it foster more discussion? Were your classes better prepared for the daily lessons if they did some discussions the night before? I am sure you could even try to correlate the scores of your students compared to those previous years to see if they have gone up. It is a said thing that your district isn’t behind what the rest of the world is going towards. It takes time, don’t give up!
Good luck,
Jeff
It is very frustrating when you are unable to utilize technology that you know has the power to improve instruction! I believe you are on the right track! Share the knowledge that you have gained from your course work and the experience of others. You may also want to investigate Acceptable Use Policies from other districts. This may provide you with a basis of how to structure the use of blogs and wikis. My county in particular, has an Acceptable Use Policy that outlines rules and regulations for teachers and parents. Just an idea. Continue to advocate for what you know is right!
ReplyDeleteJeremy,
ReplyDeleteIt must be incredibly frustrating to be learning about all these tools to help our students and not be able to implement them in your classroom. Strength in numbers is always a good approach - if more than one person is really interested, than the powers that be will take more notice.
You may also want to consider what other districts have done in the way of technology. Simply stating that other districts use technology won't be enough - go to them with specific examples of how districts are allowing and applying technology within their schools. You are more than welcome to use my district (www.wcps.k12.md.us - Washington County School District, Maryland) as a starting point. We have a whole department as part of our board of education dedicated to implementing technology into classrooms. By showing that other (nationally ranked) schools are using these technologies safely to move their students forward, the district will have less to argue about. I wish you the best of luck! You definitely have an uphill battle ahead of you.
~Colleen