I believe it is the hope of every teacher that what they do is designed for the best possible outcome for their students. Every lesson, every project, every assessment and even every interaction is one that will positively change or improve a student's knowledge and outlook on the world. On a plane of theory and optimism, convenience does not come into play. However, theory rarely can survive in the world of reality. Teachers, more often than not, are under constant pressure to perform and report at a rate that is far removed from ideal. Lessons need to be taught, tests need to be graded, and constant scrutiny of students' performances need to be discussed and debated. Sadly, convenience becomes a beast welcomed into the classroom.
"Are we doing what is best for our students or are we doing what is most convenient for us?"
I don't think there is a clear answer to this, one definite statement to make. The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, so it is only fair that the road to a mediocre education is paved with ill-equipped teachers. Now, when I say "ill-equipped", I mean many things. This includes both teachers without the skills to compete in this "digital age", as well as teachers with the will to incorporate new and exciting techniques who simply do not have the funding/technology to implement them. Educators from another era who are either unwilling or unable to keep up with their constantly-stimulated students. Teachers who cannot afford the opportunity to gain essential new skills, having to make the best they can with a 20-year-old overhead projector and a mixed bag of Vis-a-Vis pens.
Convenience is quite the temptress, and even the best teachers can fall into its embrace. You could have the best possible technology available to you, with all the training and creativity to provide one helluva lesson, but sometimes...just sometimes...it doesn't come together. Things can get in your way, whether it is a statewide standardized test that engulfs your instruction time, or the failure of the technology itself. You could memorize of the NETS standards, keep them close to your heart, and never have the time to put them to use. It happens.
In essence, this simple-seeming question cannot be answered or addressed without a serious reevaluation of our school system. For you see, a quality education must actually include convenience, if only some a small way, because it enables a better classroom experience for student and teacher. A stressed-out and overextended teacher is not one likely to provided a top-quality instructional design, nor will overburdened students be likely to take knowledge and apply it in fundamentally creative way. A complete strip down and rebuild of the education is in order, so that we may endeavor to not only incorporate the technologies of today (and tomorrow), but also make sure that our teachers are able to make their lofty ideals a real possibly for students.
In your reaction to the question “Are we doing what is best for our students or are we doing what is most convenient for us?” you bring up some very valid points Julie. I agree with you that most teachers do want to do the best that they can for their students. You “hit the nail on the head” when you said, “Things can get in your way, whether it is a statewide standardized test that engulfs your instruction time, or the failure of the technology itself.” Is it not Murphy’s Law that when you finally have a day that is not a “FAIR Testing Day” and you actually have the time to use the technology in your classroom, the bulb blows out on your LCD projector? Teachers always need to be prepared with a contingency plan, “just in case.”
ReplyDeleteI liked your statement that included the phrase, “a quality education must actually include convenience.” Yes, we are stressing out and overextending our teachers, and in the state of Florida we are also ingraining in our students an over-exaggerated importance of the FCAT. There really isn’t any “down time” built into our school days anymore, where a teacher and her students can actually engage in a simple class discussion of the “topics of the day.” This reality smacked me in the face during a recent conversation I had with a media specialist in one of my district’s elementary schools. This teacher is a real “history buff” and he has seen that due to the focus of improving those FCAT scores on the “core” subject areas, history is a subject that tends to have to “take a back seat” in the classroom. One day he was sharing a couple of his favorite “tidbits of history” with a class, and a student raised her hand and frankly asked him, “Is this going to be on the FACT?” It just doesn’t seem normal when an elementary level student is so “geared up” that she can’t appreciate those kinds of moments for what they are, a convenience.
Thanks for sharing your insight on the subject.
:) Ruth Paine