Lately, I've been
thinking about of the depressing number of teachers that I know and see who
simply refuse to use any or all of the Information Technology resources that
have been made available to them. It bothers me. Recently, I visited a school
where the county has installed ceiling-mounted projectors and interactive
whiteboards in nearly every classroom. You'd think the educators in this school
would be grateful enough to use their IWs from time to time. To my dismay, only
10% of the staff does anything with these powerful learning tools. Of the scant
few that do use their IWs, I'm sad to say that boring PowerPoint slideshows
comprise a majority of the cognitive bill of fare. I know that we can do better
than this for our children. It's getting to the point that I am ready to quit
begging and cajoling teachers. I'm beginning to think that maybe I should start
educating parents as to what their children's teachers should be doing. Maybe,
if I cultivated a vocal group of parents who were wise to the ways that
technology could enrich their children's learning potential, teachers would
have to face reality and begin using the IT resources at their disposal. I
believe if enough students, parents, and community members got together
practices would change.
What do you think?
