Since the March ITLL session with George Couros, I’ve tried to reflect on my own practices and ask myself how I could make them more “innovative”. I teach Digital Media Production, so I feel like most of the stuff we do in the classroom is already fairly innovative (aligning projects with “real-life” industry practices). However, two extra-curricular areas that I am involved in could definitely benefit from an innovative re-think: our school newsletter and yearbook. We are still producing traditional print versions of these, and (those of us involved) complain often about how much work it is vs. how much people care about them. During our innovation session, some ideas started percolating… what about doing video versions of both? We already have all the video equipment, so no further cost is involved. And let’s face it, if we’re going to speak the language of this generation, a short, attention-grabbing video is probably going to garner much more viewership than traditional print. For the newsletter, instead of all the typical “news” items (which could just go up on our website, anyway), what if we did a celebration of student accomplishments? I think that would be much more interesting. Maybe we could focus on a different subject each month. I haven’t worked out all the details yet, but this is definitely an idea that I will explore further in the coming months.
Marcus Fowler
Cluster 2010
R.B. Russell Vocational High School
Overwhelmed and at times overburdened by the WSD demands is how I felt coming into this inservice with George. The very late email about bringing a laptop had already put me at a disadvantage and left me feeling unprepared for this first inservice. I like to be prepared! Our school does not have a laptop for its teachers! Also this is only one of many other initiatives that the division asks us to do. We are constantly asked to do more with nothing being taken off the table. This is a good idea but everything takes TIME! Most teachers I know feel this way and think what do I not do in my classroom to allow me time to do this instead. When teachers do things and take on initiatives we do it with integrity and we want to do it well. How is all this possible?
I think more than anything I feel somewhat speculative about this and it seems to be moving at a very rapid pace. It was about 3 years ago that I decided to take the initiative to buy my own personal laptop to use for school. I was taking a huge leap as technology is not my strength. Then I felt totally deflated as I was told I could not use it at school. As a teacher I was told I could not connect into the school’s network system!! I soon brought my laptop home and have never used it at work as a result. Now we have a workshop that is asking us to bring a laptop to use as a teaching tool (blog, tweet, etc…). There are cuts made regularly to our schools and we barely get funding for our quota of teachers every year, never mind a computer tech position to assist us with using technology or keeping our technology running. I think blogging can be a useful tool if used appropriately and within certain safety boundaries. But our society is all about protecting our privacy and get families to sign forms for students pictures to be used, etc. and now we are to share our students work on the internet? This seems a little incongruent to me. The one thing I liked about blogging was sharing ideas or classroom set ups as we often can’t get to see what great innovative things other teachers are doing. I think I would use this and this could enhance my professional learning. The greatest aspect to this is it empowers those of us who are doing all the hands on work with the students. Just as I adapt to this and use it will I become more comfortable. But change does not happen over night and it will require inservices to help me learn how to do this and when to use it. Just as every teacher has to adapt their teaching to meet all the needs of their students, these sessions will have to do the same. I certainly have less experience and will need extra support to learn this. It will take me time to learn to use it properly. Will we have support after this year and George is no longer doing any more sessions? What about when our technology is not working, who is going to be trouble shooting then? Some good ideas but we barely have time to teach the current curriculum or learn all the NEW things in order to teach using them.