Reflections on Teaching in the Covid-19 World

Web 0.0 to 2.0 and Beyond (from The Superintendent Rulebook)






I remember the sense of the importance of going to the school library of my elementary school for the first time. We were going to learn how to unlock the card catalog and the mysteries of the Dewey Decimal System. With this knowledge, we leveraged the world's knowledge contained in all of those books on the shelf. It was a huge day, and yet, I still do not remember my teachers doing much with the librarian to build it into what we did in the classroom. There would be the occasional project that we were instructed to "see the librarian" if we needed help, and, the librarian being only one person, really could not give us the time we needed. Another vivid memory is the day my father bought for us the Funk, and Wagnalls Encyclopedia set, he said we could look up anything (in alphabetical order!) and get information. So I started getting information, then copying verbatim for reports and then getting into trouble at school for the work not being my own. To add insult to injury, our teachers claimed that encyclopedias were not the best source of material and forgot to address the citations at the end of the articles could offer an avenue for information. Again, another potential path blocked. It also boxed out my father from his path to help us. Instead of empowering the resources at hand, we were made almost entirely dependent upon those who appeared before us in the classroom. I am sure no one planned this or were even aware, but, in the final analysis, it made no sense.



Today our students have the world's knowledge, live, and updates in the palm of their hands at every moment of every day. Ignoring this fact and not respecting its potential and necessity is to create the damning problem that Alan November calls the "thousand-dollar pencil." The resources available are flatting opportunities everywhere (Thomas L. Freidman) and those who take advantage of it go to the front of the line. Every year at my first meeting with my cross country teams before the summer break I would tell them the formula is simple. The best teams recognize that it is a team sport, not an individual one and that those teams who used each other to train every day were not only stronger but smarter. To summarize, to be a great team each has to be completely selfish (to be the best they can be) and selfless for the collective benefit of everyone. Coaching IS teaching. In this web 2.0 world and beyond, the outstanding classrooms recognize the individual achievements are a result of the collective resources used and shared for the purpose of growth.

The leader of the district must get back to the essentials of the opportunity of an education. The resources are here; it is now a matter of determining our purpose and leveraging our best resources to make it happen. Moving from a paradigm that the teacher is the center of the stage to more of an engagement facilitator is not an easy one. I teach in a Masters program for Education Technology and even those students instead of having their first instinct to find solutions lament instead of barriers. A leader must give permission to their teachers and staff to be leaders and explore possibilities with their students. This does not go against higher standards (I guess that is code for Common Core) it instead enhances those goals. Lastly, we need to remember it STILL is about excellent teaching.



Should we be teaching information that can be "googled" or do we teach how to Google more accurately, effectively with an eye to ethical practices? Of course, that is what we should be doing; it only makes sense. Start the conversation and follow with action and support.  Nothing new here.