I’m very excited about this new project! I’ve sent out e-mail invitations to all the international school teachers I’ve worked with along with a bunch of people I’ve met online. So far a few requests for more information and offers to collaborate have arrived in my inbox. How amazing is it that we have the opportunity to collaborate (from all around the world) on something that may have an impact on how we integrate technology into the classroom?
I thought I would add a few more details about why I started this project here as well:
In my last two international school postings, I have arrived in my classroom with little to no appropriate curriculum materials waiting. I have found myself developing the entire middle school curriculum from scratch, mostly independently, because in international schools there is often only one specialist teacher per grade level. Thankfully both schools have used the same set of standards, and I have been fortunate to have extremely supportive and helpful colleagues and administrators, but nonetheless, no one at either school actually had the exact same goals, concerns, issues, and subject matter as me. I think this is a challenge specific to international schools. We travel from school to school, doing our best work, but often end up re-creating the wheel time and time again. I certainly brought my expertise and experience from one school to another, but I have never had the chance for true collaboration with colleagues at exactly the same level. In essence, we are often working in isolation.
In addition to that isolation, we are also working with an extremely transient population. Many of our students may not be with us from elementary through middle up to high school. At each level of the school, we have a very high percentage of new students that may come from, and return to, different educational systems. Therefore the work of the department as a whole, that vertical alignment, may be lost on them. I believe that this is an issue also specific to international schools, and one that the IBO is working towards resolving. In my last position, I attended the MYP Trainers workshop in Amsterdam and was approved as a trainer, but ironically, I am now working in a non-MYP school. I utilize the technology design cycle in my teaching, but I am no longer able to work within the framework of that international curriculum. This is an element I would like to develop within this project as well, as I truly enjoyed working with the MYP.
Along with those two challenges, I believe IT teachers have a very special challenge – educating other teachers and administrators about the possibilities of technology in an educational setting (especially new and emerging technologies). As an IT integration specialist, I often work with teachers that are afraid of the changes that technology brings, and many times the administrators are no wiser to the developments in the world of technology than the teachers. It is a constant effort to educate and comfort teachers that are afraid of these changes. And, quite often, those teachers have themselves been working in isolation for many years and do not see or understand the impact technology has had on the world today. Nor are they required to utilize technology in their teaching because they do not have State or government regulations to meet in this international setting. It would be a powerful tool to have an entire community of educators contributing their specific middle school success stories and samples of projects that we could share with those teachers. Having this extended community not only reinforces the reality that I, alone, have not determined that these tools are essential to students’ education, but that this, in fact, is going on around the world – and to be able to show them exactly how it works.
For my part in this challenge, I was thinking that it would be nice to collaborate with other international school teachers specifically. To see what schools are doing in different areas of the world. To see how different middle school IT teachers deal with issues and concerns specific to the international school setting. And, to actually communicate with those teachers on a personal level, to share and learn, so that we can develop a common resource of our own making – specific to the needs of middle school technology teachers in international schools. I love conferences and that buzz you get from working with colleagues in different schools, but all too often, that energy and communication does not extend beyond the days of the conference. I am thinking of this project as a simple way to keep that dynamic going, even after we move on to a new school and a new country.
Kimberly,
I agree with you about the challenges that Technology Integration Facilitator face. Teaching their colleagues, who might be afraid of “the technology thing” is one of the toughest challenges in my opinion. Is is a balancing act to try to get them excited about using a new emerging technology and at the same time not overwhelm them. The fine line is whether to constantly introduce them to new ideas and tools and back off in order not to come across as “pushy” if they really not showing interest in integrating technology into their teaching.
I am still trying to figure out for myself if one needs to continue to concentrate all the energy to make sure that “no teacher is left behind” or to push ahead with the few that are interested, capable and willing. Those teachers will be the ones that will fly on their own after you held their hand for a while.
Hi Kim, I didn’t respond initially to your e-mail because I’m not in an international school, but I would love to be a part of what you are planning. I teach in the middle school area too although my edtech responsibilities cover from Reception to Year 7. Two factors that make it worthwhile from my end include the fact my current principal was head of an international school in Europe and one of our new assistant principals for 2007 comes from an IB school – so being able to leverage your base of expertise would be great. Are you talking about sharing what’s happening in a broad range of schools so that we can feed off each other’s ideas?
Hi Sylvia,
“A balancing act” – that’s the perfect way to describe it! Thank you for your insightful comment. I think often times we (by we, I mean technology teachers/facilitators) make our lives more difficult by trying to get everyone on board all at once.
Sometimes it makes sense to start with the ones that are interested and let that enthusiasm spread naturally through the rest of the school – by way of the core subject teachers, instead of the tech specialist.
Hi Graham,
Excellent! I’m so glad you would like to collaborate! I will invite you to the wikispace and the blog.
You have it exactly right – my idea is to share a wide range of resources from teachers and schools around the world so we can get an idea of what’s going on in different schools, and share resources that we have found useful in our own schools.
Hopefully we can also use those ideas in our own school as a way to get more teachers interested in using technology by creating an approachable resource for teachers at all levels of tech skills.