Creating a Culture for Teaching and Learning

I can relate to all six areas that Alan November writes about in his article Creating a Culture for Teaching and Learning but the one that really stood out the most was 4. DON'T DO TECHNOLOGY PLANS! This one stood out for me because I am on the technology committee for our district and we are currently working on our technology plan. We met last week and were given some groundwork information and we will be meeting again in a week or two to do some more in depth work on it. The head of the technology department for our district is very much an Automator rather than an Informator. The technology plan that we are working on is all about adding technology to make our classrooms run faster and have more up to date equipment. This new technology is just being added on top of what we are already using. We recently received Mimio devices to use in some classrooms. My campus is a Pre-Kindergarten through First Grade campus so it is just like a new toy for the teachers that did receive them. Of course some teachers are afraid of them and are completely resistant to technology. I see the trend changing though as new teachers are entering the teaching field that are more familiar with technology because technology is becoming the way of life. Mr. November mentions that the Middle School kid know more about technology than the High School kids. I believe that. My five year son has no problems using a computer. I can only imagine what technology will be like when he reaches High School.