Nebraska Change Agent
' I am entirely certain that twenty years from now we will look back at education as it is practiced in most schools today and wonder how we could have tolerated anything so primitive.' John W Gardner
Keep Up or Get Out of My Way
As I was reflecting on my last year of teaching this morning I felt compelled to send the following tweet:
“Not waiting for people to catch up anymore. Either keep up or get the hell out of my way! It’s 2010 people. Stop pretending it’s 1990!”
Quite frankly I am tired of listening to people make up reason after reason for why they have yet to adopt the tools that so many of us use almost automatically. It almost makes me sick to listen to people who are supposed to be professionals come up with a myriad of excuses for why they aren’t connected to a personal learning network. If it weren’t for my learning network I would be lost.
I had a great mentor when I first started building my personal learning network (PLN) in the spring of 2008. He introduced me to Twitter and suggested several dozen of the “right” people to follow. He said Twitter was the place to be if I wanted to learn about the latest tools and applications. I did not truly get Twitter for the longest time, but then it finally fell into place for me in the fall of 2008. Once it finally clicked for me I wondered how I could have ever taught without being part of a PLN. I invested hours of my time building and maintaining relationships with people in my PLN. The mistake that people who are new to the conversation make is that they seem to be under the impression that by simply joining Twitter something magical will happen and a personal learning network will just fall into place. It is really much more complicated than that. It takes a lot of time to maintain a PLN, but those of us who truly care about our profession do not look at it like it is “just one more thing to do.” You know those teachers who arrive at school last and who are the first to leave each day? They will never understand the world that we live in. I am tired of trying to convince them to join me.I would much rather spend my time sharing with people who really get it. So for those of you who don’t….either find a way to keep up or get the hell out of my way.
37 Responses to “Keep Up or Get Out of My Way”
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January 2nd, 2010 at 4:07 p
There is so much I agree with here. I just wrote in one of my first blogs about the need for patience in building your pln on twitter. Having joined in March ’09, I’m just where I want to be, with plenty of room to grow.
I want to get more of my colleagues on twitter – having not tried I don’t want to say get the hell out of the way yet, but I can understand your frustration.
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:16 p
Amen! And while your analysis applies to more than technology, I think that the divide is most apparent there. A group of us in my building have started talking about it as those who teach and those who are teachers.
Those who teach see it as a job, nothing more. They arrive last and leave first. They look at every change with suspicion. I could keep going, but we all know these people.
Teachers, on the other hand, arrive early and stay late. They view change as a potential opportunity, especially if it is good for students.
I wish that I knew fewer of the former and more of the latter. I wish that I could build a school and fill it with my PLN and those like them.
January 2nd, 2010 at 5:47 p
Angela-
You said exactly what I was trying to say. Some teachers see teaching as an 8-4 job. The first time they think about teaching for the day is when they enter the building and the last time they think about it is when they leave for the day. They refuse to invest any of their own time in learning anything new. I’m not saying that we must devote 18 hours a day to our profession, but we do have to be willing to do most of our professional development on our own time.
I am convinced that many teachers and administrators are not interested in going above and beyond. They seem to be perfectly happy with the way the status quo and they see no need to change. Since they are not connected to other teachers they may not even realize how stale they are.
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:17 p
Beth – bravo for saying what so many of us are feeling! I am going to be introducing teachers at my school to the notion of PLNs and Web 2.0 tools starting this month…in a series of 5 workshops. I think I may read them this post on day one!
January 2nd, 2010 at 6:18 p
Great! One of the excuses I tend to hear all of the time is that people don’t think they have anything meaningful to contribute to Twitter so they don’t use it. There is no rule saying you have to post anything. Many people find it very beneficial to just lurk in the shadows and learn quietly while they get comfortable.
I don’t mean for it to sound like Twitter is the only place where a PLN can exist. Twitter just happens to be the center of my PLN. Many of my tweeps are also my friends across many networks including the Classroom 2.0 Ning, Skype, and Google to name a few.
Good luck with your PD sessions. Feel free to use this video as well. I made it last year as a way to document my journey. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N72DlL2bG9o
January 3rd, 2010 at 6:56 p
Thanks Beth. The video is perfect. Great story – well-said. This is what PLNs are all about!
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:33 p
Unfortunately, I work with teachers who do not use technology and are set in their collective ways. I taught myself how to create my own website and suffered negative attitudes. Luckily, my students and parents love it and inspire me to keep learning. Once I discovered Twitter…. well, let’s just say I feel as though I have learned more in the last two months than I have learned in years. I’m so excited about my growing PLN and the educators I have “met.” So, the nay-sayers, negative Nells and people stuck in the past, can get out of my way. As you can probably tell, I work in a small private school that is stuck in the past. I stay for a variety of reasons and have decided to keep learning and moving forward. Thanks for an excellent blog. You nailed it.
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:34 p
You are right on with this post. My PLN is critical, and I share your frustration that other professional educators don’t participate and learn. It is not OK to do the same thing you have been doing for the past twenty years. The students today are completely different. Professional educators need to stop blaming the students and change the way they deliver content. Thanks for standing up and saying it!
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:49 p
I just wanted to echo what everyone has said above; I too am sick of ‘teachers’ who are too stuck in their ways to change their old habits and actually learn something. It says something about the state of affairs when the very thing we are trying to get kids to do on a daily basis, many teachers won’t do for themselves.
I have learnt so much from participating in forums, on twitter and video conferencing with other teachers and it’s such a shame when others just don’t want to know, even when you try to share it with them.
January 2nd, 2010 at 5:03 p
These types of posts are cathartic, but not particularly helpful. I’m looking for learning, and that comes from relationships. What kind of relationships can one build with an attitude such as this? I’m glad that you found your PLN online, but we all learn different ways. There are other types of learning networks. Let’s not make boxes teachers must fit into, we would never do this to our students. Let’s continue to show by example. Be the change you want to see in the world.
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:10 p
Greg,
I was rushed when I wrote this post and I never was able to make it clear that Twitter is just one piece of my PLN. For me it is the hub of my PLN, but for others it might just be one small piece of their puzzle. There are some educators who have fantastic PLN’s that have never even heard of Twitter. You are very correct when you say that we all learn in different ways. The point I am trying to make is that I think all educators need to find a place to share their learning with other educators. That might be online, f2f, or a combination of the two settings. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to PLN’s, but one thing is for sure. If educators are not actively learning then their students are paying a very high price.
January 2nd, 2010 at 5:44 p
Yes. It’s frustrating. Very.
(How many light-bulbs does it take to change Nebraska? – or anywhere else for that matter.)
But think of it as teaching. How do we go about teaching effectively?
What are the key elements of good teaching? (Active, engaged, just-in-time-not-just-in-case, has purpose and personal meaning, social etc.)
That’s my resolve at least.
January 2nd, 2010 at 7:52 p
Beth – Thanks for saying this. It needed to be said! To me, I say these people are marginalizing themselves and they will eventually yield to the pressure or leave the field.
We have to focus our energy on the teachers that are risk-takers and the ones that can be convinced. The rest are a waste of our time and energy.
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:40 p
Patrick,
Where is the pressure to change going to come from? Administrators who are not familiar with Web 2.0 and how it should be changing the way students read, write, communicate, and collaborate in the classroom are not willing to tell teachers to change or leave.
I think a mistake we make all to often is we assume many teachers aren’t part of this conversation because they just don’t care. I wonder how many of them truly don’t know there is an incredible online environment where they can go to around the clock for help, advice, and encouragement. I have only had a PLN for 20 months and only really understood how to make it work to my advantage for a little over a year.
Districts need to encourage teachers to form a PLN by giving them access to the online sites and allowing them to access these sites during the school day. They also need to provide training and figure out a way to award PD credit to teachers who are active. Unfortunately many teachers will not go above and beyond unless there is an incentive.
I know I am going to open myself up to criticism with this next statement, but I believe our schools are filled with teachers who just are trying to survive. There are a variety of reasons why they aren’t trying to improve themselves or increase their knowledge of how they can teach differently, but the truth is they simply don’t care. They do enough to get by and not a fraction more. There are lots of excellent teachers out there as well who are willing to be lifelong learners and quite possibly take a risk now and then. We just need more of them.
January 2nd, 2010 at 8:55 p
Reminds me of Lindy McKeown’s pencil metaphor
http://leadingadigitalschool.ning.com/photo/pencil-metaphor
Time to stop listening to the excuses of the ‘would’ crowd?
January 2nd, 2010 at 9:01 p
Wow. I agree – and I’ll try and keep up!
January 2nd, 2010 at 9:26 p
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! It is funny how not having technology and access to other teachers can make you feel isolated. However, being one of 3 teachers in my building who support using and integrating technology I feel more isolated than without my PLN and other tools! Very well said.
January 2nd, 2010 at 9:58 p
Great attitude, and one I share. The real problem becomes when stubborn or unmotivated colleagues view such determination as threatening or not being a team player. What then? As a non-tenured teacher, I’ve had this kind of attitude called into question by peers and administrators. In this position, I’ve been made to feel that the better option is to coast with everyone else. What then?
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:53 p
I have had to deal with the exact situation you described and those are the people that I am referring to when I say either catch up or get out of my way! It is bad enough when teachers make excuses for why they are not increasing their knowledge, but it is much worse when they make those of us who are becoming my dynamic feel like we are doing something wrong. I have had colleagues make nasty remarks to me about knowing everything and being tech savvy and it is absolutely infuriating. I chose to become active in an online PLN because at the time I was only one of two teachers in my school. We replaced and added additional staff last year, but there is still some resistance and push back. My current colleagues like small steps. The problem is that taking the “learn one tool each year” approach doesn’t accomplish much because so many of these tools work in harmony. We all just need more time to learn how to work with Web 2.0 tools and how to collaborate and learn from each other online. Some of us take to it like a duck to water while others feel very out of place. As Greg pointed out, we all learn differently. We need to find the balance.
January 2nd, 2010 at 10:57 p
Amen and Bravo to all who have replied to this column. Your reasonings and observations are why I left teaching – plus more. Technology can be an equalizer, a motivator, and a stabilizer. It can also be a time waster and an initimidator. America must wake up. China, Portugal, India and Brasil are just some of the foreign countries digitizing their instruction and delivering it online through hybrid instruction. They somehow figured out that it is cheaper to give kids laptops than build and staff large physical structures with those teachers who view their profession as just a way to earn a living. Instead they are getting the passionate teachers such as yourselves, putting them on video, and asking students to log on and watch and learn. Those teachers who view teaching as a 9-5 job serve as tutors at small regional centers to help students if they need it but the direct instruction comes from the passionate teachers.What’s more students can hear the same lesson from many different teachers when ever they feel like it. I definitely feel we are on a brink of an educational innovation revolution and it is about time. Thanks to all of you for carrying the banner!
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:03 p
I teach online classes as well as f2f and I definitely think this will eventually become a trend in the US as well as it should! Even though students who take classes from my school do not actually enroll in our virtual school (they remained enrolled with the school they physically attend) the schools are hesitant to enroll students. I think it is because they view us as a threat. It was our hope that K-12 teachers from across the Panhandle of Nebraska would develop and share their resources using Moodle, but that does not appear to be the way most teachers think. If the develop a unit then by God it is theirs and they will not share it with anyone else! They tend to be in teaching more for a consistent paycheck then for the students. I tend to be suspect of teachers who are so possessive of their materials. They also seem to be the ones who close the door so nobody can see what they are (or aren’t) doing. They won’t be able to hide for much longer. The more we put online the more transparent our jobs become which is a move in the right direction.
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:57 p
There is potentially far more to one’s personal learning network than a Twitter presence… even an active one.
You said: “The mistake that people who are new to the conversation make is that they seem to be under the impression that by simply joining Twitter something magical will happen and a personal learning network will just fall into place. It is really much more complicated than that.”
I agree that networking, whether online or F2F is a rather nuanced thing that takes hard work. However, I must tell you that as much of an advocate of an open, online presence as I am… I just cannot take such a hardline stance as this. The truth is- there are many colleagues of mine that I would love to have my children learn from personally who are not hardcore Twitter users- and probably never will be. I personally love it, but not all good educators are ready or willing to move in such open, online spaces for many reasons.
Would I love to see more of my colleagues and friends find the value that I have in such spaces? You bet I would. That said, I’m going to almost guarantee that a “get the hell out of my way” approach will do little if anything positive toward achieving that goal.
I think there is a bit of a seductive pull in such an echochamber that makes us all feel more “connected,” and in a way we are. However, this can also easily backfire if the people we are “closest” to are only those in states and countries far away. I’m betting you’d really like to bring those around you into these spaces right along beside you. Some will never come. This is true. Don’t lose love for those that do not. When my daughters hit secondary schools, I’d be thrilled if 50% of their teachers were flying along what whatever then seems to be the cutting edge.
Some cars on the highway are faster than others. And yet some of those slower cars are really… really good cars.
I’m currently pushing those fast cars around me to go even faster. I’m also working slowly and patiently to get the slower cars where they ultimately want to go as well. The day you tell the slower ones to “get the hell out of my way,” is the day you give up on a lot of good people.
While re-reading this post, I seem to be heavily reminded of a line from the movie Contact when as a child, Ellie Arroway’s father reminded the young astronomer: “small moves Ellie… small moves.”
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:17 p
Sean,
Everything you have said makes perfect sense, but you should know there is a much more personal side to this story that I will share with you in Philadelphia. Once you hear it you will have a much better understanding of why I have decided to take such a hard line approach.
I also made a mistake in this post. It came across like I am using the terms Twitter and PLN interchangeably. As I just explained in a reply above this one, Twitter is the center of my PLN, but some PLN’s exist without it at all. In fact, most of the teachers I have ever met do not have “virtual” PLN’s but rather f2f ones. In my opinion, I think it is probably best to have a mix of the two. You could not be more on target when you say that some teachers will never use Twitter and that is OK.
My situation is somewhat different that most teachers. There are only three other teachers at my school and until last year there were only two of us. To feel connected to other teachers at all I had to develop connections with people online.
I’m looking forward to talking to you at the end of the month.
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:09 p
I’m so glad someone came out and said this. I’ve never been brave enough to voice my frustration out loud, or in writing. I think you’ve said what many of us want to say all the time. I am encouraged to use Twitter, etc. to “find out information” by my department head, but she is not willing to dive in herself. In fact, NO ONE else at my school is willing to give anything like Twitter a try. It makes me laugh inside actually. I have decided I’m not going to let it frustrate me, I’ve decided that I’ll just laugh at people if they think they can continue to be a successful teacher in the 21st century without integrating technology.
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:30 p
It seems that many teachers get into their comfort zone and there is absolutely nothing we can do to get them to change or try anything new. There is a certain percentage of us in education who are just the opposite. We cannot stand for things to stay the same for too long and we are constantly seeking out new ways of doing things. We like to challenge ourselves on a daily basis and we enjoy surrounding ourselves with people who push us to do better. Other teachers are threatened by innovators because we are creating change in their nice, static environment. I believe Sean makes an excellent point with his car analogy, but it is not the slow cars that I want to get out of my way. It is the people who have actually come out and said I am making them look bad because they cannot keep up with my pace.
January 4th, 2010 at 8:14 p
Beth,
It really resonated with me that Twitter takes time. It is the same as developing and maintaining any relationships. There are times of insight and then other times of simply getting to know one another. If you want to develop the friends and colleagues, you have to be part of the conversation enough to know and be known. Then, there is that moment when it all clicks and you realize that you are part of a community. A great experience and a daily commitment.
Thanks for being part of mine, Beth!
Hadley
January 4th, 2010 at 1:46 p
I think it is important for teachers to branch out of their schools/districts and interact with other educators nationally and even globally. After all, isn’t this what we are trying to teach our kids to do? We want them to think beyond their four walls, school, state, nation, etc. We want them to have interactions with varied groups of people in order to build global awareness. It is only fitting that we would expect the same from the people teaching them.
As you said, forming a PLN does not have to be accomplished via Twitter. It comes down to a mindset. Are you a lifelong learner or are you happy with the status quo? I would argue that the former will always find a way to network and grow, be it Twitter or otherwise.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:37 p
This sounds sort of like, “I only want to teach the kids who will listen and do their homework.”
January 5th, 2010 at 9:58 p
Totally agree Cory, I scrolled all the way down to write what you did…but then I wonder if we should be treating adults the same way we teach kids. At what point do we simply hold adults accountable and stop saying “pretty please.” But I do wonder which way will result in change the fastest, saying “get out of my way” or “pretty please.”
January 5th, 2010 at 11:07 p
Paul,
True professionals should hold themselves accountable. I firmly believe that teachers must be lifelong learners. If they quit learning then what kind of example are they providing for their students? I would never want my children taught by people who don’t have a passion for learning.
January 5th, 2010 at 10:23 p
Cory-
You know me better than just about anyone else in my PLN and I am a little shocked that you would say this. You know that I would never pick and choose who to help, but how can anyone be expected to waste their time begging people to change? So many teachers get caught up in a comfortable routine teaching the same things year after year using the same methods. Those teachers will never change and I am starting to learn that I can live with that. What I cannot live with and what I will not tolerate are people getting upset with me because I know more than they do about utilizing technology in my classroom. I am not closely guarding some secret! I have learned everything I know from people like you. I do not have any better access to this information than anyone else. The beauty of having a PLN is that it levels the playing field for teachers who don’t work in districts that provide descent PD.
So maybe I do only want to help teachers along who are willing to listen and learn. What is wrong with that? Afterall it is NOT my job to train the teachers that I work with. I am a classroom teacher that has been called on for the last two years to double as a tech trainer for my district. If and when I am ever a tech trainer I will modify my strategy.
January 5th, 2010 at 10:10 p
Exactly! (and I am the 2nd oldest person on campus)
January 5th, 2010 at 10:13 p
One of the things I want to clarify is that this message is aimed more at teachers who are standing in the way of those who want to move forward. Ask yourself how you would react if a colleague of yours was upset with you because you took the initiative to become a better teacher. What would you do if they openly resented the strides you have made because they feel that you make them look less competent? I am not talking about teachers who are just slow to pick things up. I am upset with ones that I have encountered who are threatened by my dedication to my profession.
January 5th, 2010 at 10:41 p
Amen sister! I could not agree with you more! Those people whose classroom decisions are made based upon what’s best and works for them and not their students make me want to scream!
If you are not there for the students then please [with all the respect I can muster] go home!
Thanks for this post!
January 11th, 2010 at 9:50 p
Actually clapped- great post. Too bad it’s not on a billboard! Perhaps there should be copies made and ‘mysteriously’ placed in a few of the teachers’ lounge bathrooms!
January 23rd, 2010 at 4:32 p
Interesting conversation. And I am sure there are underlying details we the readers have no knowledge of. Having said that, I am on here looking to learn. But would I want to learn from someone with the attitude of “get the hell out of the way”? Many of the comments on here come across as smug superiority rather than a willingness to help and share. I wonder if that is the attitude projected to the people you actually work with? I am only asking, I don’t know. Do they truly not have any interest in learning? Or do they find you so intimidating that they steer clear?
February 25th, 2010 at 3:50 p
Barb – I’m afraid I’m with Beth on this one. The teachers who are so frustrating are the ones who actually do say – “I don’t want to learn anything new – what I do is pretty good and I resent anyone telling me I should do something new”. Some of the older teachers equate technology with one of the earlier ‘fads’ in education and don’t view it as fundamentally changing the way we learn/teach/grow/communicate/create/share etc. I have devoted countless hours creating online training materials and sharing resources (that I’ve gotten from my PLN) with other teachers in my school only to be either scorned or ignored or openly attacked. It’s tremendously disappointing and discouraging and were it not for finding a ‘tribe’ of like-minded people in the PLN, it would be hard to continue to offer to help others. At this point, I’ve resigned myself to be seen as the irritating little gnat that keeps buzzing about this stuff – trying to keep a positive attitude but I sure understand Beth’s irritation.
I do believe that many teachers are first intimidated by the technology and then intimidated by by those who ‘get’ the technology. I’m constantly get told that… well “YOU can use these things because you’re ‘smart with that stuff’”. I just want to yell – NO I’M NOT!! I’m just not afraid of it. There are literally tons of books filled with things I don’t know. But I’m not afraid to pick one up and learn something from it – same thing with technology.
I guess we all just need to get on with what we believe is right and if that means some of us get left behind… well… that was the choice. As long as the student’s interests and not our own ego is the primary motivator, we should all be at peace with our choices.