As I began to try and implement my GAME plan I realized that this is going to take a little bit of work to get it in place. In order for this to work the number one thing I am going to need to do is to collaborate with my colleagues. I have sent an email to all the staff at my school to be able to gage the mood of the staff regarding the need or want of a blog or collaborative wiki. Some of the staff said they would do it but have no experience with either of these. I was actually amazed at the number of staff who said they would not like another thing that they need to keep up with. We are a very high achieving school and have lots of expectations and they felt that if there was something like this than it would add to the work load. I have talked to our technology teacher and a friend that does technology at the district level. They both said that they would help me if they could in implementing this. They warned me that the number one thing I need to do is to make sure the staff is on board. I do not want to take the time to set this up if no one is even going to try and make it work. I know that if I can sell it to them as a collaborative tool that we could all use to help each other out and not make their work load heavier I think they would really benefit. Does anyone do a wiki or blog for their school? If so what can be done to make this a beneficial task for all involved?
Though I don’t have a collaborative blog or wiki at my school, I have set up a small teacher group that meets in person to collaborate. I think your tech friend is correct, you need to get the staff on board, otherwise this will be a valiant effort to get other staff members involved that has no real point. Selling this kind of an idea can be incredibly difficult when there are so many other things going on, and I ran into the same problem when trying to set up times to meet with my colleagues. I found that targeting specific people that I though would be interested was much more beneficial then trying to convince my entire school. Starting with a small group of people may be your best idea, once you have worked out the bugs with a smaller group, you and your colleagues can present what you are doing to a larger audience, and it may be easier to sell that it is not really as much work as they may think, and the benefits outweigh the work. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteCoach - I once had a principal whose advice was to "work among the living." I agree with Jacob that your time is best spent on the small group of people who are interested. I recommend identifying the topic that is most stressful or worrisome to them and make that the topic of your wiki. If people start to feel less stress because of the collaboration you are providing, they will talk about it and others may come on board.
ReplyDeleteCoach,
ReplyDeleteI do have a collaborative Wiki that I use for my class. I haven't started using it this year yet with my new classes but I will within the next few weeks. Last year my students loved it. It does take time out of our already overloaded day so I can see your colleagues point of view. If you do decided to go ahead with it, you will have to monitor it, but you could also assign a student to help you. I had no trouble finding students who were willing to do this last year, and I teach 4th grade. I'm sure the older students would really be excited about helping out. Good luck on this plan. It will be worth the extra effort.
Nadia Jacobs
Coach,
ReplyDeleteLast year I had my first graders participate in blogging with another first grade class in our district to help them understand a new technology tool as well as see how students in other schools are similar and different to themselves. I found that my students took to it very well and it was not overly time consuming. I think that for teachers, a collborative blog or wiki could be a great thing! If our students can effectively use one, I see no reason why the teachers couldn't as well. I do agree with everyone else, though, that you should start with the teachers who are interested at this point in time. If you start small, it is possible that others could see the benefit in a collaborative project and want to join in later. I think sometimes it takes seeing something up close to realize how beneficial it could be.
Everyone,
ReplyDeleteI like your ideas about starting small. It would be beneficial to start with a few colleagues that could help me spread the idea to the rest of the staff. I like the idea of using a few students to help monitor and use the blogs. I will take all of your thoughts into consideration when trying to get this off and running. Thanks again.
-Jakob-