Getting on the Treadmill
When is it ever the “best time” to get going on a 1:1 program at your school? Nashworld blog article mentions the “filter of your current position” and this is a very interesting aspect – we all have different agendas at play (Bambi Betts once mentioned that schools are less about learning and more about negotiating everyone’s agenda!). For me as the head of school, I have to balance the need to move forward with 21st century learning models and program elements, with the short and long-term health of the school (master campus development, long(er!) range financial planner, development …
The educator in me burns to move forward, while the “practical” lens if mostly from my administrator’s hat. Anyone else out there with this conflict?
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2 Comments »
Interesting Chris. I see from the practical lens as well… I like to think of it as common sense.
I just have a hard time seeing how giving kids access to information to enhance their learning and communication as a bad thing for learning. In any context, I just see student launching forward with the content.
I believe that persistent, consistent and relevant PD plan will put in place a great amount of enthusiasm for the use of tech in your classrooms. Without it, the kids will drive the program and while it may be a bit messy, they will most likely come out on the other side successful. The outcomes, unfortunately may not be the ones that educators may want to prescribe.
Just my thoughts!
Some quick thoughts -
The first time I was part of a 1:1 initiative, I felt the school was as ready as it could be. We spent about 2 years planning. There will still many issues to work through once we got going, but most had been anticipated. One of our faculty back then used a phrase that I think she said applied to gardening and transplanting plants — year 1: peep, year 2: creep, year 3: leap. But that was a different time when most families hadn’t bought their children laptops already and web 2.0 tools didn’t exist. Now I feel like we’re in the midst of another major wave of change in technology and want to make sure we ride this new wave gracefully.
Sometimes I think the quesiton of when is really a question of how (jump in or be more systematic) and that is a matter of style?