Comments on: Shifted Thinking http://hickstro.org/cccl/2009/12/17/shifted-thinking/ Exploring teacher education in digital environments Mon, 21 Mar 2011 09:16:24 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Jan Sabin http://hickstro.org/cccl/2009/12/17/shifted-thinking/comment-page-1/#comment-119 Jan Sabin Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:06:38 +0000 http://hickstro.org/cccl/?p=323#comment-119 This leaves me wondering about the bottom up-top down possibilities in which change occurs within my own public school workplace. Administrational philosophy changes seem erratic and connected with funding that appears to guide why we are now doing this or that. I am not sure what their true philosophy is so I turn to the district mission statement. It sounds good and I want to believe it is what drives us. Teacher practice changes come from personal experiences and trial and error. Reflection and a chance to hear the stories of others helps to tweak something and try again. Often teacher roles change so quickly one does not get to reflect on the new results before being pushed into a new setting/grade/position causing a disconnect. An online community could evolve out of each building's conversations. Who will establish these? Who will guide the learners? Who will trouble shoot the problems? Layers of PD could naturally fit into this. We are heading into early release or late starts this next year. We could document our ongoing work and share it out. Again, who can facilitate this? Perhaps it will be born from the bottom up. Perseverance is a trait that keeps the educator moving forward. Thanks for sharing and getting me thinking in this area, again. This leaves me wondering about the bottom up-top down possibilities in which change occurs within my own public school workplace. Administrational philosophy changes seem erratic and connected with funding that appears to guide why we are now doing this or that. I am not sure what their true philosophy is so I turn to the district mission statement. It sounds good and I want to believe it is what drives us.

Teacher practice changes come from personal experiences and trial and error. Reflection and a chance to hear the stories of others helps to tweak something and try again. Often teacher roles change so quickly one does not get to reflect on the new results before being pushed into a new setting/grade/position causing a disconnect.

An online community could evolve out of each building’s conversations. Who will establish these? Who will guide the learners? Who will trouble shoot the problems? Layers of PD could naturally fit into this. We are heading into early release or late starts this next year. We could document our ongoing work and share it out. Again, who can facilitate this? Perhaps it will be born from the bottom up. Perseverance is a trait that keeps the educator moving forward.

Thanks for sharing and getting me thinking in this area, again.

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