Working at a middle school often has teachers colliding with technology that students are more familiar with than the teachers and professionals themselves. I share an office in my school with a speech pathologist and another teacher assistant. On Tuesday, our first day back with no students, we had a technology problem. I have been fortunate enough to have grown up with computers all around me while my office mates are of a different generation. Generally, when there is a quick "fix-it" problem on the computer they come to me. Unfortunately, our printer would not print. It took the 3 of us almost twenty minutes to figure out the problem on our own. Sure we could have called tech support, but it was the first day and with only one worker in our building, it is tough to get in touch with him. That twenty minutes was used in fixing a simple technical problem that our 3 untrained minds could not figure out. That is twenty minutes that could have been spent on classroom set up, lesson plans, or any other amount of work that needed to be done that day.
The reason I bring this up is that the tech support position in the school, as well as being very busy right now, is also getting cut after the first half of the year. That means starting in January all of our problems either need to be solved on our own, or we will have to call out and wait for a person to come from another building to fix it. This poses a problem, but also showed me why classes in technology are so important to take in our education before we become teachers. As the technology grows, we need to be able to grow with it not only to utilize it properly in our classrooms, but to understand the basics in order to fix any problems that arise.
4 comments:
Hi Mark,
I can't believe they are cutting your tech support! With today's demand for technology that is a crucial role in the school! I wish our school systems would get things straight and focus their money where it needs to be. How many athletic teams got new jerseys this year? (Although I was an athlete I still feel uniforms can be recycled from year to year)
Good luck in your district!
I used to be responsible for providing tech support for clients of my software. I started out never having been on a computer in my life, but wound up teaching myself programming and software development, project management and so on.
When I read about things as you describe, it brings me back.
What great points your blog brings up. The first is that with the rapid development of technology, it's crucial that teachers stay abreast of advancements. This is necessary so that teachers can offer the most current methods in guiding students. For instance, if one student learns best through PowerPoint presentations because he or she often interacts with computers, its necessary for the teacher to know this and act upon it.
The second point is that everyone in an educational building has significance. Especially those whom we often neglect or forget. Imagine the large ripple effect on the school environment once the school eliminates the Tech Support position. I never realized, until pointed out by Mark, that this means when something goes awry, teachers, assistants, and aides either lose planning time or lose lessons. This PowerPoint class helped me to realize how enriching such a presentation might be to a lesson or class. In fact, the PowerPoint might be the entire lesson. Imagine, then, if a laptop or projector system were to break. What is one to do without a Tech Support team? Technology opens various opportunities. But as with any great thing, it also creates room for many difficulties. Is there any way to use technology to enrich a classroom without relying upon it too heavily?
Hopefrully the day will come when technology and the understanding needed to manipulate it will be aligned much to the benefit of those who still wading in the abyss ill-preparedness.
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