Comments on: What's your focus teaching or learning?

By: Nancy Stuewe

Nancy Stuewe — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 08:20:07 +0000

What’s your focus teaching or learning? http://bit.ly/R9bTc

By: Gayle

Gayle — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:53:31 +0000

I have seen exactly what you were talking about at work this week at my school. Our principal has joined up to the Quia website which is a fantastic tool to get quizzes, activities and information online for you class to access both in the classroom and at home. Unfortunately a few of the teachers who are just learning about technology in general have completely forgotten about the importance of learning being the driving force behind what they are doing. They are so focused on getting information onto this website that they have forgotten what the point of it is! Like Ian said earlier, the problem is when teachers get stuck here. I am hoping that next week we can all refocus and move on to utilize this fantastic tool to help our students learn more. I also agree with Ian that reflection is the key to everything we do as teachers and as human beings! Without reflection we don’t even realize when we are stuck!

By: Gayle

Gayle — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:20:50 +0000

Jeff, the idea of using technology to not only do things differently but to do different things is something that just came to light for me in the past week and it is mind blowing. I like the way that you said that the technology needs to be embedded in our lessons and ways of teaching so that learning can take place. “It’s more than a tool, its a connection creator.” Great quote, and great perspective on how best to use technology. I have a question for you, how would you recommend getting the average teacher to the point where they are confident enough with the technology to use it as a connection creator. Should we do away with textbooks and pencils and papers and only utilize technology so that we are forced to do things differently? Is there any other way to get teachers to make the leap?

By: It’s more than a tool.. it’s a connection creator! | Technology for learning

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:41:39 +0000

[...] of) I thought of the use of technology in a whole new light thanks to Jeff Utecht in his blog, The Thinking Stick. His basic underlying ideas were that technology should be the tool for thinking and learning not [...]

By: Jody

Jody — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:20:58 +0000

Hey Jeff;

Great insight. Sometimes we forget that just because we use technology does not mean we are using 21st century tools. I too was one that answered the questions about the smartboards and projectors just to have teachers use them as overhead projectors. The major issue in education in my mind is that we are telling teachers to use technology in the classroom but we are not providing the training required to use technology to teach in the classroom. All too often a lesson using technology is the same old lesson just with some wow factor thrown in.

Look forward to more of your musings.

Jody

By: Suzanne Shall

Suzanne Shall — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:42:41 +0000

Jeff,
Your post clearly articulated what everyone in a school should be focused on–student learning. Now matter what kind of professional development is being offered, the leadership should always ask, “What level of impact does this have on students’ learning?” If the answer is little or none, we should simply move on. As an instructional coach, I find that I can quickly get caught up in the paperwork or filling teachers requests, but if I make my daily priority list based on this philosophy, I suspect that the results would be even better. Thanks for the focus!

Suzanne

By: Ian Stuart

Ian Stuart — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:02:24 +0000

Hi Jeff
this is something that I have been wrestlling with over the last 2 years and still to get to any real conclusions but observations are:
Some teachers, as you say, tend to get caught up in the skills of using technology. I don’t think this is Necessarily a bad thing. The bad thing is when they get stuck at this level.
They also tend to be the people who fail to reflect on what they do.
I think this is the reason they fail to develop in anything they do.
A culture of learning and reflection (and therefore a culture of change) at all levels become essential. No matter if its reflecting on the use of Technology or reflecting on a class ineraction or anything else. Its the act of looking back and changing thats vital
Ian

By: Tyler Reed

Tyler Reed — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:27:09 +0000

Really nice post, Jeff! Sometimes I think we “advocates for technology” get too caught up in plain old technology. We need to think about what kids need to learn (ie. how to read, fundamentals of math, collaboration, career skills, media literacy, the Constitution, etc.) and then use technology to make learning those things more exciting and meaningful. Technology for the sake of technology ends up just being about teaching how to use tools. Am I making sense?

By: Dean Shareski

Dean Shareski — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:51:18 +0000

The task I’ve been given is measuring all this. Any ideas?

By: Jeff Utecht

Jeff Utecht — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:55:52 +0000

I don’t have a problem helping teachers use technology, we just need to remember that by focusing on the use of the tool we are not moving, but instead spend our time in a circle of learning that goes nowhere.

Teaching the use of a program is different than understanding how a program changes learning in the classroom. Most schools do a pretty good job of teaching how to use programs but not how it actually changes learning in the classroom. We need to move forward otherwise we’re just spinning our wheels with a new operation system, a new Office, etc.