Chapter 5
The beginning of this chapter discussed how teachers are not adequately trained in technology and what should be done to train these teachers. It discussed how teacher in-services do nothing to train the teacher. I think what is the point of even having an in-service if you are not teaching the teachers something beneficial that they can take back to the classroom. Many teachers are dedicated enough to research on their own and find these technologies, but some teachers don’t even know where to look. If you give teachers a meaningful in-service, the teachers are more likely to participate and gain knowledge from the gathering.
I also liked the part in the chapter that discussed learning communities. The book says that learning communities must have the culture of four characteristics which are 1) a diversity of expertise among its members, 2) a shared objective of continually advancing the collective knowledge and skills, 3) an emphasis on learning how to learn, and 4) mechanics for sharing what is learned. Also a strong feeling of community increasing willingness to share. I believe this to be completely true. For example, our major is a learning community. Before methods, I was already so much more comfortable working with business education majors on projects compared to peers I did not know in my general classes.
annef Said:
on October 3, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Schools should consider using their business education teachers to produce the teacher in-service days. Not only are we knowledgeable of technology, or at least we should be, but it could also be good practice for teaching these technologies to our students. This would also allow the schools to save money and show how knowledgeable their staff is.
mdonald Said:
on October 4, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I agree that our teachers are not prepared to utililze the tools of web 2.0. I think that schools should require professional development in web tools to better serve our students and that those of us who are fortunate enough to be taught some of these tools should step forward and share with our peers. We can learn a lot from each other if we take advantage of the learning community we have created.
ashtonc Said:
on October 4, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Great point Janet, if teacher’s time is being wasted on pointless material or information that is overmentioned, then school systems are missing out on providing their teachers with what they need to be productive educators for their students. I find that if school systems decrease the amount of time wasted during meetings and unnecessary emails, then teachers will have more time to do research and learn what they need to learn to adapt into the teacher the students need. Time is valuable, and there will always be some time that will be considered “wasted”, but with the use of the skill time management, schools will better be what they are designed to accomplish.
Rose Kuceyeski Said:
on October 16, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Yes, those are some great characteristics to ensure success of LCs.