In my last post, I wrote about the transformational power that we have in our hands through technology, and how we need to look past the “tool” and the opportunities that we can provide. On the post, Kelly Christopherson, who is as thoughtful of an educator that you will ever connect with, shared a great comment:
From personal experience of having a child with speech and learning disabilities, the story is with the person not the tools. It’s a lived experience over many years of growing, trying, failing and trying again, going beyond what anyone expected because of the incredible human spirit within a little girl that wouldn’t allow failure or setbacks to deter her. So, I get the message in the videos but it’s only a small piece of an incredible human story. It’s about the people and the continued desire to go on, the “never-give-up”. Yes, we need to foster an innovative mindset but it’s about the human element, not the tool. Unfortunately, if we only believe that teachers can be transformational now that they have tools, we’re selling short the transformational power of great teachers of the past. Sometimes, when we say that technology allows us to be transformational, we miss the incredible opportunity to see people as a whole with unlimited possibilities with or without the technology and enter transformational moments at any time. Great teachers see transformational moments and enter into those moments as learners with their students, technology aided or not…Kids have been doing inspiring things for a long time and inspiring others as they do. In order to do some of that, they will use the tools of their generation, the tools available to them, as it has always been.
I couldn’t agree more with Kelly’s comments (read them in their entirety). Great teachers have been “innovators” long before any of the current technologies existed in our world. It was always about doing something better with what was available, to help kids. Kelly’s wisdom shows the importance of teaching in the future, but remembering the power of the past.
What I think is different now, and where the technology really gives us an opportunity to be more innovative than ever, is the ability to use the technology to connect with one another. As Kelly stated, it is about “people”, but now we have the opportunity to go beyond the “stuff” and tap into one another, more so than ever.
For example. I remember growing up in a small town, and then teaching in a small rural area for the first part of my teaching career, I had some great mentor teachers, but was limited to their knowledge. I often wonder if I looked to them for guidance, who did they have the opportunity to look to for themselves? Large centres have always been seen as the “hubs” of innovation, not because of their access to stuff, but because of their access to one another. Many teachers did not have that, where as now, it is easy to connect with people across the world. I do truly believe that isolation is now a choice that educators make, and isolation is often the enemy of innovation.
So have teachers always been innovative? Absolutely. In large groups though? I am not sure of that. Now, we have the chance to move away from “pockets” and move to a “culture” of innovation, but as Kelly reminded me, innovation is a human endeavour. Now though, we just have more of an opportunity to accelerate the opportunities for our kids.
