So I am now a "Google Certified Teacher". (That's me, Eric Marcos, on the left and Brian Mull, of November Learning on the right.) I can use this logo:
But what does this actually mean? Well, it means several things as listed here. But to me, it means something even extra - -someone noticed! I am excited that my use of technology in the classroom has been recognized by someone. And that someone, being Google, is pretty cool.
Having participated in the recent 4th Google Teacher Academy, or GTA4 (which is funny if you play video games), will help me to bring more relevant technology into the classroom. Now I have a network of other ed-tech geeks and non-geeks! Yes, relevant technology. Not technology just because it's technology or the latest shiny toys. Not gadgets and gizmos just for show (although that could be fun at times), but technology which serves a a true purpose.
I have fought long and hard at trying to get my school on board or just understand why our Mathtrain Project is beneficial to the school, district, community, global audience and most importantly, our students. Resistance to change is a major obstacle in schools today, and Lincoln Middle School is no different.
Funding has been another constant battle. Over the past two years, I had to fight for the smallest dollars even up until today. I host, maintain and pay for the Lincolnmath.com web site out of my own pocket. I even spent my own money to purchase the domain name. Supposedly, I will be reimbursed next week for the domain name fees (from August 2007), one of the Mathtrain sites' fees, as well as the Camtasia Studio screen capturing software I paid for almost two years ago. I'm holding my breath. Of course, my tablet pc will not be reimbursed, even as the entire math department has been awarded a tablet this upcoming school year as part of a local grant. Being first on the block surely has its downsides. But I never did any of this for the money. In fact, I will gladly spend more of my own salary if it will benefit my students. On the positive side, how cool that the math department wants and is getting tablet pcs! This is thanks to our math chairperson, Eric Moe, for realizing the benefits of our Mathtrain Project and having the foresight to bring it to the department level. That's progress, so maybe there is hope after all.
I believe in purposeful technology. I spend an extraordinary amount of time mining the web looking for useful tools, software and devices which can serve a meaningful purpose in my classroom or for my students in general. Many of these items are free, like Google Docs, but some do cost money. I understand schools would not want to jump in and pay for every cutting-edged idea. That makes sense. (By the way, one might be shocked at some of the things schools DO gladly pay people for.) However, it is alarming at how slow schools can be to realize progress and positive affects. Schools like the status quo. They don't like new and they don't like change. This is disappointing for an entity designed to educate and help open minds to endless possibilities.
As our student-created math videos on Mathtrain.TV received local and international press, my school was not slow, but asleep when it came to acknowledging it. How can an administration not be trained or skilled in public relations? I sent countless e-mails to the staff and jumped up and down whenever our students received a mention in the newspaper, an overseas blog, or even an e-mail from another continent. This was exciting! Our students' work had a new, global audience! And the name "Lincoln Middle School" was almost always right there in the articles. But no one cared. OK, a few at my school cared. But most didn't and most of the top administrators couldn't bother to congratulate the students' success.
So as I reflect, I realize the long hard road ahead will be just as rocky, if not worse. My job, in addition to teaching math as I have done all along, will need to be not just to "innovate", but to educate my staff and administrators too. That's a much more difficult task. I hope my future administrators will be trained in basic PR and be able to realize and seize positive opportunities as they see them. It sure would make my life and the students' lives much easier and better. But the real benefit would be that purposeful technology, as in the positive projects like Mathtrain, could be properly supported and further developed to enhance the classroom experience of our students.
And thanks to Google for the recognition, support and awesome tools. I will use the tools and knowledge from the GTA to assist colleagues and the community with technological solutions. I will also use them to not just enable my students to do well in math, but to strive to make them "lifelong lovers of math".
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