How Satisfied are You with the Pace of Change?

[Bob Sprankle]

I'd love to hear your thoughts with the following survey! Thank you!

CLICK HERE for the Survey form.

[Terry Smith]

Good idea - look forward to the results. It's going way to slow in my part of the universe. A different worry is how the general bureaucracy absorbs the new changes and tends to distort them for older purposes. For example : smart boards being used as overhead projectors to drill students for standardized tests. Lots of corporate testing sites are out there "tailored" to individual state tests. And this of course might be what drives merit pay. Drives me crazy.

[Janice Friesen]

School really has changed... even though it has a long way to go. When I started working in the area of technology there were some teachers who were convinced that it was a phase that would pass and others that were planning to retire before they needed to learn anything. That has REALLY changed. I don't ever meet a teacher who thinks that technology will pass and not be important in the future. It is even rare to meet a teacher who thinks they can avoid learning because they will retire soon. Now I hear more apologies about why people aren't doing what they know they should be doing. In my experience even administrative support has changed. There are still times when districts think that technology is still a totally separate thing from instruction, but most of the time districts are just struggling to keep up. In the struggle they often block too much or make stupid decisions about how technology can or can't be used, but it is no longer tech people totally controlling everything at the school level.

What I have been hearing from teachers for the last few years is that there is a lack of time. They feel overwhelmed and have such a tough time of keeping up. Not many in my experience are satisfied with just using the SMARTBoard as a place to project PowerPoints, but they don't feel like they have the time to figure out how to use it other ways. There are still those who think they are doing everything right and don't want help though.

Change is much slower in higher education where I hear professors decrying the fact that wireless has been added to all of the lecture rooms ("Why would anyone need wireless in a lecture room? They should be listening to me and taking notes!).

Janice

[Nick Shuman]

A common thread I've seen is that when a school or district is able to bring technology into their learning environments they forget to also plan in training time and provide a solid support system. A teachers says, "Wow,! That looks cool but I don't know how to incorporate that into my curriculum/classroom" and too often no action is taken in response. Implementation and support should be walking hand-in-hand.

Trying to fit new things into an already jam-packed schedule/curriculum is by no means and easy task. However, when I encounter a teacher who is willing to be a risk-taker and team up to integrate something new I get all fired up by the possibilities. Even if the activity crashes and burns, at least we tried and learned something from it.

[Beth Holmes]

Hi, Bob,

I appreciate your note via email and am pleased to respond to your survey on Seedlings. This is an important discussion, Bob. It confronts our profession's sense of urgency and purpose. I do hope educators will take the time to join the discussion and become a part of the "change" solution. It is time for action.

Clearly, education must reform to meet the needs of a modern society. It is unreasonable to expect a nation to support an education system that cannot supply a sophisticated, globally-competitive workforce.

The "pace of change," however, may not be the real problem. When we consider the massive changes schools have made to accommodate NCLB and accountability, we have to acknowledge that change has taken place over the past decade - and at a remarkable pace. My concern is that the "changes" that are valued in the current system are not the kinds of changes that genuinely benefit modern students. I fear that the efforts to "leave no child behind" have exacerbated the disconnect between our children and the schools they so desperately need.

I am confident that many educators in this country KNOW what changes must be made to reform our schools. We KNOW that students deserve opportunities to thrive in learning environments that honor this generation's unique place in time. Very simply, we KNOW that today's students need to learn in and about the world in which they live and must produce. A strong global network of connected educators COULD literally reform education for the 21st Century.

So, I spend much time these days thinking about how this core of educators might actually make THE difference. I believe the structures for reform are in place - given strong leadership in the schools. When EDUCATORS get serious about changing the education system, it WILL CHANGE. It can change using research-based school improvement practices and peer-reviewed accreditation systems. We will all have to get to work in a focused and systematic way to reform teaching and student learning at the grassroots level. Great teachers in grade level collaborative teams hold the power to reinvent school from the bottom up. I know this can happen because I have done it and I see it happening today. There is NO DOUBT that "top down" reform is minimally effective in promoting the wide-spread innovation needed to reinvent school. But, I never doubt the power of a core group of hard-working teachers to inspire the creative juice needed to bring about foundational and lasting change. This is education’s purpose and function in the 21st century. When the numbers of teachers who want positive change in our profession reaches a critical mass - we WILL reinvent school - and the pace of change will be difficult to contain. I am hoping the time is sooner rather than later. I am so eager to see it happen!

Thanks for the cool survey. I will follow it with great interest. So far, the critical mass seems to be ready for significant CHANGE.

[Cheryl Pinette]

Change is so difficult for so many people. I see some really great teachers who are trying to do wonderful things in their classes and I see those who for some reason are not able to embrace even small changes. That issue is the same for administration. We do have some wonderful administrators who understand the issues in the classrooms and keep nudging those who are struggling, while cheering on those who do embrace research based concepts and run with them. As educators we need to remember that any change we tackle isn't for us but ultimately to benefit our students.

C-

[coakes]

This could be a conversation we have all year long. Hey, we are 10 years, one decade into the 21st Century.
Cheryl