Entry #4 - Sept. 28, 1998
''We hope that they'll be ready to join us in some
action research about technology. While we were away, we talked about how
we all wanted computers and that we're all getting them, but we're not really
clear on the payoff in terms of student achievement. ''
STRESS! As a middle school teacher I used to say things like "hormones
are my life" and joke about the ups and downs of normal adolescent
mood swings, but now I'm definitely changing my motto to "interruptions
are my life"!
After a mere twelve days of class, we are hosting a gala visit on Monday
with International guests from South Africa, Viet Nam and Australia.These
visitors are coming to see how the students use the computers. Since the
delegation is so impressive, the Mayor and school Superintendent are
coming too.
All of this would be great in November...but now after 12 days -- some of
which were not science sessions -- I have to be observed. Yesterday as I
tried to get ready for my observation in a normal unstaged way (I have this
"principle" of working for real in front of visitors -- no hand-picked
students or review lessons) . . .well, let's just say the trouble began
with a router problem, or in plain English, my online connection went down
so the computers were not terribly user friendly.
After I adjusted my lesson to a Claris Works application . . . BINGO, fire
drill time! Now we come back to class, everyone gets settled and not one,
but two phone calls come in, followed by an announcement that "all
students going to Sunday's Puerto Rican Day parade are to pack up and be
escorted to a special meeting in the other building"!
Finally, with 17 minutes left to go, I get my class of 15 on the computers
and we begin a spreadsheet that will graph the ocean floor. The kids are
focused, I'm happy -- it doesn't take much to please me -- and guess what
happens next: the computer repair folks arrive, and before you know it,
the bell rings!
At this point, I have no idea what's going to happen on Monday, but whatever
it is, it will be real!
Having unloaded all of that, I should say that I usually welcome visitors.
I think it makes my kids feel important, and it underlines the value of
their work, especially when the visitors are folks who aren't their teachers
or families.
After the visit on Monday, I'll have my first Critical
Friends Group meeting of the year. I'm excited about starting up again.
Based on some discussions with a few CFG members, we'll be broadening the
responsibility for the meetings this year. While my intention was to be
an efficient coach/leader in the past, I think I inadvertantly fell into
the role of too much control and not enough empowerment. Our
group is strong and we have accomplished a lot in our two years together,
but I'm confident that my/our recognition of this weakness will push us
forward in the next period.
A few of us attended a summer session on collaborative inquiry last August
and we'll be reporting back to the group on Monday. We hope that they'll
be ready to join us in some action research about technology. While we were
away, we talked about how we all wanted computers and that we're all getting
them, but we're not really clear on the payoff in terms of student achievement.
We think the research will help us refine our technology integration and
will give us the documentation to plan for the future.
On a different note, I had a boy who was absent call me at home to discuss
his science fair problem. He asked the most thoughtful questions. I could
tell he'd been really thinking about it. I don't think he can possibly know
how good it made me feel to have a student show me so clearly that he cared
about the work. It was also very nice to give him my undivided attention.
The boy, I'll call him Steve, is thoughtful, but a little slow in his processing.
I can't ever seem to stop long enough to really answer his questions in
class when there are at least 32 others needing a piece of me. I guess this
was just a glimpse of what smaller class size would be like. Kids getting
feedback quickly and fully and teachers feeling like, hey I'm really getting
through to them.
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