Computer Teacher, Teach Thy Self!

Teachers need to become facilitators.- Okay I have 4 more saturdays of this.  The class is through the College of Saint Rose and it’s C.I.T.E. program.  I have already obtained my SBL (school building leader) certification a year ago through this program. Now I am going for 2 more classes to complete the requirements for the SDL (school district leader).

The class was primarily debate today. The instructor brought up what he felt were the largest mistakes of the American Educational System. I created a Keynote presentation of the subjects discussed and will post it for any that are interested.

The coolest part of the whole day was the very brief mention from the instructor about constructivism and  how technology is changing the face of learning.  My instructor is a Superintentdent who is a techno-phobe but is wise enough to know that students are learning on their own. So then the real issue is how do we keep them safe?  Then I checked my Netvibes and saw that Will Richardson put in this post about how another school is no longer going to filter out content.  Ironic, the first time I heard about teachers as facilitators was on his blog
Well in a remote hope I also forwarded the link to my administrators.  Personally I think that filters allows us to become lazy with our students.  With filters on, teachers do not have to always circulate around the lab and make sure students are not accessing innapropriate material.  Of course some of the students still are but then the buck can be passed onto the overwhelmed and far over-worked tech support people. Of course the teachers should still circulate, but we all know that does not always happen. This is all my opinion after workeing in 5 different schools in various capacities.

Let’s blame the bandaid, but not cure the problem.

Anyway the suggested reading for the course is:

The 8th Habit- From Effectiveness to greatness

Practicing the Art of leadership

Schools for the 21st Century 

And of course during the course of having the class debate various issues the notorius The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman was brought up.  I admit I had a smug grin because of all the bloggers that I read I am aware of the impact this book is having.  Now I just have to read it.