So what have I done data wise these past two weeks? What I should have been doing all along. I may just pretend to be a researcher more often so I have an excuse to interview people.
Seriously, I spent the first week diving into teachers lesson plans looking for incidence of technology integration. What I saw was not what I expected. I know my teachers use technology far more frequently then is evident from their lessons. I personally developed (with input from a few key teachers) the fancy digital lesson plans that the teachers use at my school. Why a need for fancy lesson plan forms you ask. Teachers were not articulating to the administration what teaching strategies they were using to teach the children. We had far to much:
Monday: Page 24 in the workbook
We wanted the teachers to paint a picture for the administration and other teachers interested in integration with them. We also wanted to see how they were integrating technology. Was it a teacher centered lesson or student center instruction? I saw little of what I wanted, and in some cases, I saw literally nothing at all. What's the point of wasting a teachers time filling out just another form, I wanted these plans to be living documents that evolved. The result of my investigation? Back to the drawing board for lesson planning.
A little discouraged by my trip down lesson plan lane, I was not very eager to enter phase 2 of my data collection, interviews. A surprise to me, the results of my interviews were quite the positive. I have only completed three of my six planned interviews, but I am optimistic that the last three will be a fruitful as the first round.
During the interviews I asked the questions that no one stops to ask the teacher. What I found honestly amazed me in two of the situations. The teachers that I thought were not truly integrating technology, were the ones that secretly really had a grasp on what it means to teach a child in the 21st century.
I was let down by the data in lesson plan review, but the personal element fleshed out in the interviews may change the way I look at teachers forever. I want everyone to embrace and teach with technology NOW! I want them to jump in with both feet and not look back. I found myself getting a little cynical lately when I did not see that dogmatic dedication in ALL my teachers. Unbenounced to me, many of my teachers just needed a little more time to come around on their own. I actually had some seriously geeky conversations this week with people that I thought were "afraid" of technology.
Jason Mammano
Comments (7)
I'm glad you went beyond the lesson plans. Often the planning and work that most impacts learning is the stuff you will never see in lesson plans, particularly formulaic ones required by administration. Understanding the spirit and passion for education requires human contact.
I also like your last paragraph in which you mention teachers needing to come around on their own. That's exactly it. If teachers integrate technology based on their own understanding and the conviction of its "rightness" that grows out of that understanding, it will be so much stronger and more effective than dogmatic integration. I think the teachers will be better problem solvers as well for coming around on their own.
Posted by Daniel Skinner | March 20, 2009 8:01 PM
Posted on March 20, 2009 20:01
Jason, that is a very interesting point about the lesson plans being very vague. I'm certainly glad you were able to interview and find out more was going on in the classroom instead of just workbook page 24. Did you ask any of them in the interview about the lesson plans and why they were not in great detail? I guess I think of my room and know that sometimes I just don't have time to go into great detail. I know what I am doing in the classroom, what I plan to do, and what I would like the students to get out of it. Interesting topic you have here....I look forward to continue to read it.
Posted by Scott Harrill | March 21, 2009 8:23 AM
Posted on March 21, 2009 08:23
Jason,
First, any entry with the word "geeky" in it is going to be really good.
Does the lack of explicit mention in lesson plans of the technology being used imply that integration is further along than expected? That is, is integration really about thinking about the process or already having the process be a natural thing on a daily (or otherwise regular) basis?
Posted by Conrad Martin | March 21, 2009 8:40 AM
Posted on March 21, 2009 08:40
Jason,
I wasn't surprised to read about teacher's plans and how they looked! I have some teachers who write very little in their plan books. This could lead to some disappointment, but you went on with the interviews, and it sounds like your interviews are going well! The interviews I have had have been eye-opening and reflective. I am glad to hear your excitement over learning about how much your teachers are actually doing to integrate technology into their classrooms. I hope the rest of your interviews go this well!
Posted by Matt Maurer | March 21, 2009 9:27 AM
Posted on March 21, 2009 09:27
Jason,
Just reading your story has given me some great ideas! I also have room to improve with being more specific in my lesson plans. What typically happens with me is that I make my plans for ME, not to be used by anyone else. I try not to be absent because it is a pain to try to find something for a sub to do in my foreign language classes that is both academic and rigorous because they lack the language expertise to complete the tasks. So my plans are really nothing more than guidelines for myself. I had actually never considered making my lesson plans public so that my colleagues and I could more easily integrate more cross-curricular activities with our classes. Great idea and I hope that I will rise to the challenge of being more specific in what I am doing and how I include technology do accomplish my plans. I believe that just having this conversation with your teachers will allow them the opportunity to consider all the possibilities that this one small step suggests. Keep up the good work, Jason.
Posted by Tina Mallén | March 21, 2009 9:36 AM
Posted on March 21, 2009 09:36
Agreed, Jason. We talk about truly getting with all of the stakeholders, but being forced to converse even with a recorder has been beneficial. Every interview, I leave with work to do to help that person integrate technology in the room completely unassociated with the project.
I think you are definitely correct about the rate at which people change and maybe that is even the core of your research. It is easy for many of us (definitely speaking of myself) to see the need for change and think, "Do it!!" However, effective integration isn't an over"year" process. This is a good reminder that I need to remember that too.
Posted by Jason Mammano | March 22, 2009 8:22 AM
Posted on March 22, 2009 08:22
I'm so glad that you are getting good data! It seems like one of the outcomes of your research is to get the teachers with the "secrets" out into the open. It's awesome when the data surprises you, isn't it?
Posted by Alecia Jackson | March 24, 2009 9:16 PM
Posted on March 24, 2009 21:16