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Small Steps vs Real Change

On Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog, he shared two excellent posts. One on mobile learning from Mind/Shift, the other on change in schools by Larry Cuban. The realist in me knows that big shifts in practice, no matter what the institution takes time. The visionary and parent in me wants change now. Others people's kids and my kids shouldn't have to wait. If we wait, we may just be behind again once we're"caught up"...always a few steps (or much more) behind. The realist in me knows that what some consider "real change" is more just rhetoric that faces an up hill battle no matter the philosophy - like over in Oconomowoc.

Something hit me the other day while training on the basics of SMART Board software. I had a nice group of teachers who were trying very hard to improve, but I couldn't help but wonder "are they already too far behind?" Am I training them on decades old software that we should be moving beyond? Did we fail as a tech department to allow so much money being spent on old technology en mass? We're going 1:1 next year starting in 6th grade with iPads, so we're moving in the right direction (I think) toward mobile learning. But are we always too late? Will we be fully 1:1 throughout the district too late? How long will it take us to be using them at a high level with kids and not just an add-on. A colleague commented to me it'll always be like that, but that doesn't make it okay.

I guess that's my job to help figure out/make happen...buck stops here.
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