When I began this blog, I decided I had to work on how a teacher maintains status quo while moving with the world. I've been doing a lot of soul searching this year. In my reflections on what has changed over my fourteen years of teaching, I've noticed that I'm not getting any younger and teaching isn't getting any easier. Not to mention, things have changed a great deal in the world of technology.
I think about how people talk about the "seven year itch" in a marriage. I wonder if the same can be true for a profession like teaching. Afterall, it is all about relationships, communication, and learning the fine line between maintainig and moving things forward. I think I might be going through one of these "seven year itch" years. But instead of letting it get to me and destroy what I have already built in my career, I'm committed to reflect and decide how to move forward.
I was reading this blog by Mr. Bernia and was doing a lot of thinking. You see, Mr. Bernia talks about all of the movements of the world to progression and how technology (internet) is our current movement. I started to reflect upon that. My high school years were spent learning how to type and do word processing and although the information super highway was under construction and some roads were already moving, I was left behind. I don't think there were many public schools actually getting into internet usage in the early 90's (and perhaps I'm wrong), but colleges across the nation were jumping on board. I remember trying to grasp this concept of an imaginary highway system out there somewhere (in space?) that people would be able to get any information they wanted from anywhere in the world.
It seemed it was "out there" like a Twilight Zone episode, but here it was, and in my first year of college, I was fumbling through it by myself and soon found myself "hooked". A lot has changed in the world of computers and the internet since then, but I've always found myself wanting to be right there right at the cutting edge of it - especially when it came to teaching.
I can't help but feel that even though I want to be moving with the world that the world of education is just steps behind the rest of the world - one of the biggest challenges has been technology acquisition. Currently I'm struggling with balancing the web 2.0 tools I want to use in my classroom on a daily basis with how do I manage that with one mobile notebook lab shared between seven teachers?
Unfortunately, I teach in a very rural, low-income area and the money to purchase technology to keep up with the times is just not there. There seems to be a lot out there if you need a few digital cameras for your classroom or a new printer, but for the bigger ticket items, the grants are harder to find. I'm not giving up, though. I can't. If I want to be a teacher who is moving with the world, I can't give up, and if I want to do what is best for my students, I must keep treading along. I just hope and pray that I can find the perfect grant to support my goals for my classroom and the goals of 21st century learners.
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