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July 2009
Vol 6 No 7
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Teachers.Net Gazette Vol.6 No.7 July 2009

Cover Story by Lawrence Meyers
Is There Such a Thing as "The Great Teacher"?
You can make up all the checklists you want. You can take advice from your mentors. At the end of the day, what lies behind one's teaching style is what matters. A "Great Teacher" is the right teacher at the right time, at the right place.


Harry & Rosemary Wong: Effective Teaching
Teachers Are the Difference
Now in her sixth year of teaching, Melissa Dunbar has helped her students achieve a pass rate of between 92% - 99% over the years, with her ESL and Economically Disadvantaged students achieving a 100% pass rate this past school year!


Columns
»Writing for Educational Publishers – Inside Secrets Sue Gruber
»Self-Injury In Children Leah Davies
»The School of No Knocks? Todd R. Nelson
»Using Imaging to Move or Change Behavior Marvin Marshall
»The Busy Educator's Monthly Five Marjan Glavac
»Substitute issues: What to Wear & Too Much Love Barbara Pressman
»Student Travel Topics: “Staycations” Expose Students to Other Cultures & Packing for Safety Josette Bonafino
»Making The Case to Parents for Broadening, Not Narrowing, The Curriculum Dorothy Rich
»Red Basket & Problem Solving Forms Rick Morris

Articles
»The No.1 Ladies Detective Series Writer - Interview with Alexander McCall Smith Tim Newlin
»Teachers and Technology: A Field of Dreams? Matt Levinson
»Resources for Teaching Students with Autism Alan Haskvitz
»Applying Bloom’s Taxonomy to Questioning Techniques in the Classroom Panamalai R. Guruprasad
»Tips on Maximizing High School Physics Teaching Stewart E Brekke
»The Most Cost Effective Approach to Improve Teacher Education Edward Strauser
»Merit Pay Problematic, Money Is Not the Ultimate Motivator for Teachers Marion Brady
»Launches an Online Degree in Special Education Drexel University

Features
»Apple Seeds: Inspiring Quotes Barb Stutesman
»Today Is... Daily Commemoration Ron Victoria
»The Lighter Side of Teaching
»Video Bytes; Assume The Position, Lost Generation, Bathtub IV, Walk On - ESPN Video, Funeral, Heal, and At Home with Mrs. Hen
»Teacher Blogs Showcase
»Printable - Sweet Rules for the Classroom
»Featured Lessons, Wisdom from the Chat Achives, and Timely Printables Especially for July!
»Getting and Keeping the Attention of 3 & 4 Year Olds
»Newsdesk: Events & Opportunities for Teachers


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Cover Story by Lawrence Meyers

Effective Teaching by Harry & Rosemary Wong

Contributors this month: Lawrence Meyers, Sue Gruber, Leah Davies, Todd R. Nelson, Marvin Marshall, Marjan Glavac, Barbara Pressman, Josette Bonafino, Dorothy Rich, Rick Morris, Matt Levinson, Alan Haskvitz, Tim Newlin, Barb Stutesman, Ron Victoria, Panamalai R. Guruprasad, Stewart E Brekke, Edward Strauser, Marion Brady, and BattleShip Ron.

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Matt Levinson

Archive | Biography | Resources | Discussion

Teachers and Technology: A Field of Dreams?

Do we present teachers with a field of dreams when it comes to implementing technology as a teaching tool, or do we leave them wandering, lost in a vast wasteland of untapped potential and lack of support?
by Matt Levinson
Regular contributor to the Gazette
July 1, 2009

In the movie, “Field of Dreams,” Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella follows a voice in his cornfield that instructs him, "If you build it, he will come." He reads this message as an edict to build a baseball field on his farm, where the ghosts of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other seven Chicago White Sox players banned from the game for throwing the 1919 World Series magically appear. Ray throws all of his energies into the building project, against a rising tide of opposition, because he is a dreamer and a visionary, and maybe even a little half-baked.

School administrators and tech directors need to be careful to avoid the trappings of a “Field of Dreams” model toward changing teaching and learning with the latest gadgetry. One school web developer explained, “We've had more technology than 95% of the faculty use already. This may be an education issue, an edict issue, a ‘they-don't-want-it’ issue, or an ‘it's not exactly what we need’ issue (or a combination of all of the above). My suspicion is that the teaching methods here don't readily make use of online stuff. We have to do some work beforehand to find out what it is instead of trying a ‘field of dreams’ model (e.g. if we build it, will they use it?)”

School administrators and tech directors need to be careful to avoid the trappings of a “Field of Dreams” model toward changing teaching and learning with the latest gadgetry.

My wife is a first grade teacher and she has undergone a dramatic transformation in her teaching with technology since we made the move to California from New Jersey. She now regularly uses Keynote and Pages for student projects, parent communication, and documentation of the learning process. A year ago, she did not utilize any of these programs. However, her partnership with a mid-20s teaching associate, versed in and fluent with various applications, helped to kick start her move toward greater technology integration.

My wife knows the content of her teaching practice, and she will think through a teaching topic with her teaching associate, who then helps to imagine different ways to utilize and integrate technology.

“I talk through lesson ideas with her and she then maps out the technology to match the goals of the lesson. Using technology in the classroom is a lot like teaching writing. It’s all about knowing your audience. For example, Pages works beautifully for my parent newsletter. I have a template, and I add photos and text. My teaching associate created the template and then she taught me how to play with the form,” she explained.

Also, her school has a comprehensive initiative to move in a more sustainable direction, so every project she considers in her teaching forces her to think about how sustainable the outcome will be. For example, instead of creating and laminating posters to hang up, she instead deploys Keynote to run on her Smart Board in the classroom.

“Why would I cut up all of that paper, and cover in plastic,” she asks, “when I can use Keynote to accomplish the same goal and it is easier to keep a copy for next year?”

In addition, one of her teaching goals for the year was to more effectively use technology.

“It’s a lot easier to focus on technology at this point in my career, at year 16, because I have achieved mastery in other areas, like the teaching of reading, writing, and math. Of course I still have work to do in those areas, but I am pretty far along in my pedagogy. With technology, I have to give greater energy and focus, and I can do that because it’s one major area of growth for me, instead of 4.”

The problem with sharing technology exemplars with other teachers is that it can cause more anxiety than excitement about possibilities. For many teachers, technology feels like an add-on and is intimidating to even think about.

Interestingly, at her New Jersey school, she had two computers in her classroom, but “all the kids did was play educational games,” she commented. Also, students were dropped off at the computer lab for their tech classes and she could use the “free” period for planning. At her current school, there is no computer lab. Instead, the tech teacher brings the laptop cart to her classroom, and she co-plans lessons that are integrated into the curriculum. She can’t escape, as she could at her New Jersey school. The technology class time is a vital part of her teaching schedule, as important and integral as reading, writing, and math.

The more time she spends sitting next to her first grade students, the more she sees how to use the technology within the context of a social studies unit, for example. In addition, her students are patient with her when she asks for their help in understanding how to use an application. She has no qualms about being the student next to a six-year old teacher. “It’s healthy to flip roles with my students. It constantly reminds me how they feel each day in school, when they have to learn new things.”

At a faculty meeting, the technology teacher highlighted my wife’s use of Pages for her newsletter and showed a completed newsletter to the staff. One teacher asked, in a combination of fear and awe, “Are we all going to have to start doing that?” The problem with sharing technology exemplars with other teachers is that it can cause more anxiety than excitement about possibilities. For many teachers, technology feels like an add-on and is intimidating to even think about.

Continued on next page »



» More Gazette articles...




About Matt Levinson...

A graduate of Teachers' College, Columbia University, Matt Levinson is the assistant director and head of the middle school at the Nueva School in Hillsborough, California. Prior to moving into school administration, he taught middle and upper school history for fourteen years at Princeton Day School in Princeton, New Jersey.


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