Many of the people in class seemed to appreciate Marc Prensky's concepts of ways to engage (and perhaps challenge) kids and shake the concept of school. Where people ran into trouble was the practical side of things. That is the luxury of being a theorist; you can theorize and let the administrators worry about how to actually implement it.
In my opinion however, to be an effective administrator, you need to be an effective manager, educational leader, and change agent. Being a manager is easiest part (not in task, but in knowing what needs to be done). Being an educational leader is easier in task, but hardest to find the time to do so.) Being a change agent is the most difficult, because it requires you to see what isn't there in order to see what needs to be there, even if you don't know what "it" is?
Here is an example. Most schools, as per state law, ban cell phones for students. (New York City had a big deal about this last year.) A manager understands that for distractions, safety reasons, gangs, drugs, etc that this is a good idea. The educational leader may know that phones have some good uses, like texting 466453 to do a cell phone google search but doesn't have the time or backing to figure out a way to balance effective use of the phone with the safety and distraction concerns. The change agent needs to think beyond what is. Like reading another Prensky article, Mobile Phone Imagination.
In your experiences, have you seen many managers? Educational Leaders? Change Agents? Why is that?
What do you think of the cell phone idea?
How do you like the blogs so far?
3 comments:
thanks - much easier to read other blogs. See you next Thursday, Back to School Night 9/20. Does anyone else have Back-to-School Night on Thursday night?
I have back to school night the following week. I will send an email to remind you. I really think that the listed blogs are a great tool. It was fast and effective took less time than going to BB.
I completely comprehend the change challenge. In another class the topics were technical and adaptive. I think to be an effective leader we all need the skills of both. That is why while I am doing my internship I am looking at technical changes that I can quickly fix myself and the adaptive situations that I have to look at the overall picture.
In a school as large as the one where I work, cell phones are not likely to be implemented. It would be a large distraction and the students will use them for social aspects only.
I have to say that Prensky's ideas are very interesting! He seems to understand how fast the future comes at us. He makes no excuses for adults not comfortable with technology. It is refreshing to read a point of view not tainted by others. While I may not agree with everything that Prensky's is proposing, that reflects my own issues with technology and the high-tech promised future. After all, the same types of things where said about laptops, internet, and mp3 players when I was a kid, and now they are so standard, noone every thinks about them in the classroom.
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