I was very excited that my Skype session with Louis went so well! I have to admit when I logged on and added Louis as a contact and he responded "Let's talk!" I was kind of surprised! This kind of technology is sometimes mind-blowing - fifteen years ago we wouldn't have dreamed of having something like this available to us, and free! Now we have the world at our fingertips. With just a click of a mouse button we can have a Middle School social studies class actually speaking with someone in South America, or Science asking an expert at NASA about experiments that were sent into space with our local astronaut, Jeff Williams. The applications are limitless. Like I told Louis during our talk, I'm adding to my workload, but it's a burden that I'll gladly carry!
I am going to approach my administrator and principal about setting up an inservice to introduce our teachers to some of these tools that we are exploring. I think that using Google docs as a standard for the teachers not only to collaborate but to use for receiving assignments would be a definite plus for us. and the use of a social bookmarking program, such as delicious, would make things easier not only for our kids but for the teachers. One thing I am starting to run into, however, is the resistance to look at anything different than what people are use to. Change is hard for everyone, and for something to become comfortable it needs to be used often. I'm afraid that we will introduce these tools and it won't go any farther. People will say "looks great" and revert right back to paper or emailing a document 50 times before it's right. But I guess all I can to is offer it. If I can get one person to try it, perhaps others will see the success that person is having and jump on board. One can only hope!
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Denise-I couldn't agree more!! The applications of Skype, Google chat, etc are limitless! I learned of the kind of experiences you are referring to (Middle school social studies class speaking with someone in South America via Skype, etc) when I started to use Skype a few years ago to speak to my in-laws in France and Gabon Africa. I couldn't have even imagined being able to see and speak to them via a webcam. I am so grateful that even my babies (ages 9,7 and 2) are able to VIEW their relatives almost whenever they want (depending on the connection capabilities, of course.)
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing what your administration and principal have to say about opening their selves to using some of the wonderful tools we have all been learning about! I know that I will be mentioning them to my co-workers as well ;) Good luck!
Denise - I can totally relate to the resistance of change. I, too, battle that issue in my school. I try to show the teachers new ways to integrate technology into their curriculum, and while they think it looks great, they don't have the time (or want to take the time :( ) to change up their lessons. I fight that battle everyday. My new strategy to combat this issue it to introduce the new technologies to the students through my library skills classes. That way, even if the teachers aren't willing to use the new technologies, at least I know the students are getting introduced to them. Perhaps the students' excitement at learning new Web tools will get the classroom teachers wondering what all the excitement is about! :)
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