Although we are only halfway through the second semester of our graduate studies, I hope to rekindle wearying spirits. With sighs of exhaustion and frustration in the air, David Warlick reminds us this week how important love is to our central drive as teachers. He suggests that loving one’s job and teaching with heart are especially important in the field of education. “There is so much about teaching and learning that is about communication. And it seems to me that when communication has heart behind it, then it becomes especially sticky.” I agree.
Passion and excitement are contagious, and I believe if we show students how wonderful and captivating our subject matters, then we can spread the good infection of learning. I contend that technology in the classroom is one way to ease this process. Technology can spark that ember of intrigue, and once we have captured the interest of our students, we can begin to shape their perceptions.
I believe a love for teaching entails a love for technology. As the students of the next generation become evermore aware and confident in the technological skills, we must remain engaged in educational technology so that we can still teach them something novel, and above all educational. Four months ago, I never would have dreamed that podcasting was something I could do. A month ago, I never would have considered a cell phone a educational technology tool. Before the program, I thought wikis and blogs were reserved for politics or techies. I am simply amazed at how much I have learned in the past months about technology and how it can be utilized in the class.
Fellow colleagues, I hope your heart is still in education despite whatever has happened in your cognates, placements, or education courses. Also, I hope that part, at least, of your passion about teaching entertains the potential of educational technology.
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5 comments:
Kevin
I enjoyed reading your uplifting post. I know this is a tough time for the MACers every year, and I appreciate that you still have your "eyes on the prize." I know you are overwhelmed by technology and assignments related to technology. I think it is wonderful to read that you are taking time to absorb what you have learned. Thank you for sharing it (it helps Jeff and I understand where your thinking is at as well).
Nothing great in this world has been accomplished without passion
Kevin,
This post is so heart-felt about the necessity to keep love in one's heart to make education meaningful to students. I'm sure you can reflect on previous teachers in high school who did not care where a student would end up or had an obviously pessimistic attitude toward impacting his or her students. On the other hand, it's easy for us to think back as to the teachers that did influence us to do our best and wanted to help us succeed out of love and compassion. I hope to continue to share the same ideals to my future students as my past teachers did with me. This was a great way to retrospectively think about how our past teachers can affect us in the future as the next generation of educators.
kevin,
i feel that there are few remaining bastions of positivity in the program, so it's incredibly inspiring to see another optimist -- not that we're surrounded by pessimists! folks are just bogged down. i've taken to reading David Warlick's site lately, too (though i usually choose CSI over law and order when i'm vegging out, ha), and i think it's incredibly important to locate that love for what you do, and sometimes, you need to find more sources for rejuvenating that positive spirit.
i realize that i am fortunate, i've known that i want to be a teacher for a very long time... and there are many folks out there who do not know, and do not have the luxury of loving their occupation -- but i hope to help bring out passion in my students to help them figure it out, too!
cheers,
lo
Kevin,
Your post resonated with my current feelings about teaching and use of technology. I think change can not come without passion and passion can not come without inspiration. For me too, I've been inspired by few examples of great teaching~~ with the use of technology. I really think that we can give students a similar passion for learning if we can go away from the traditional "pencil and paper" and place some new inspiration of what can be done with "podcasting and video." I think we'd be amazed at how much we can reach those disengaged students.
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