And here we go....

"Everything is difficult until is is easy" - Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1944

I have been a teacher for just 4 years and just in that time, I have seen changes that are a exciting and a bit mind boggling. I am a lover of technology, a 'true believer' in what technology can do, and am convinced beyond any doubt that if we are going to serve our students well, we must not simply be open to the coming changes - we must embrace them. At the same time I am old enough - 47 crusty years - that some of the things that are happening seem to be almost science fiction in nature. It takes a moment for me to wrap my mind around some concepts, ideas or tools. So I can only imagine what if going through the minds of the far more experienced teachers I work with and talk to. Frankly, I know what goes through their minds because as my school districts 'tech guy' they let me know, sometimes rather loudly, exactly what they think.

These people are the backbone of our educational system. They have been teaching 10 years or longer and have spent the vast majority of that time using "traditional" teaching tools and methods - chalk, blackboards, overheads, quiet students in straight rows, and the like - and they are responsible for some of the best educated children our schools have ever produced. So when you remove their chalk and blackboard, pop up an Activboard or Smartboard, turn on the projector and tell them they can now be more effective, their concern appears to be well founded. Their old way worked, after all, and how in the heck do you use all of this new stuff anyway?! The fact they have seen hundreds, perhaps thousands of "the next new thing" in education come and go only reinforces their doubt. The difference, of course, is that it isn't simply the tools that are changing. The world, how it works, and how our students actually think and process information is changing as well. Our ability to just wait until the "next new thing" fades away no longer exists.

Looking at the articles at http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/19_1/index.htm (there is a simple, short sign up required to view this but it's worth it) helps drive this home. So what are we to do? First, I think we as a profession must accept that what is happening isn't simply another fade that is going away. To not recognize that a fundamental change is occurring in our students, the world, and how they will need to operate within it, is to refuse to accept reality and that will only hurt our students. Second, we must educate ourselves so we can communicate in this new world, teach using all of these new tools, know enough to know a good tool from a bad one, and know when it's appropriate to go back to old tried and true methods not based on technology (technology will NEVER replace a classrooms most important component - the teacher). Finally, we must heed the words of the great and oh so wise Eleanor Roosevelt and recognize that everything was a mystery until you learned how to do it. Walking or writing your name could have just as well as been piloting a spaceship until you learned how to do it. Then it became second nature, easy, and an important part of how you work and interact with the world. The new technologies we are being bombarded with seem mind boggling and confusing. Some don't see the purpose much less the method of using them. Using them is hard so some people balk at the idea of bringing them into the class room. However if we recognize how the world and our students are fundamentally changing, the need to embrace these tools is clear, and when we do, and give ourselves a chance to learn how to use them effectively, many things will be much easier.