I have also observed teachers who have decided not to keep up with changes - who have decided they already know all they need to know to be a teacher - who have decided not to advance their learning - who have decided to give those educators who want to stay current and be effective educators a hard time - even making teaching in the same school a horrible experience, frequently driving the effective teachers away - who have decided not to take any additional classes to advance what they might have learned 5-10-15-20 years ago as current and appropriate for todays' students.
I have always wondered why such teachers remain in schools. Why don't they leave? Sometimes I think they must be miserable and want others around them to be equally as miserable. Do such teachers really think about their teaching and learning? Do these teachers really care about their students and their students' learning and their students' success? Are these teachers happy not keeping current with new research and discoveries about teaching and learning and knowing? Are these teachers happy being nay sayers and trying to prove other teachers wrong and in doing so prevent their students from enjoying learning? Do these teachers really want their students to succeed or do they secretly want their students to fail?
I frequently ponder what teachers and other people think are obstacles in schools. What are the obstacles that teachers face that get in the way of successful teaching and learning? What are the reasons behind teachers' resistance to change? The last couple of decades the use of technology and media in our daily lives has grown faster than most of us could have imagined and their use in schools contribute to recent pedagogical practices - ideologies - and expectations. What is going to happen to teachers who are resistant to changes in the use of technology and media strategies in their classrooms especially because they do not want to learn technological and media classroom strategies?
Online videos like Did You Know, What If, Pay Attention and others demonstrate how media and technology are critically used in our daily lives and how their impact and influence are not going away rather that they are increasing. How then can teachers accept the need to embrace media - technology strategies in the classroom with their students? How then do teachers learn such media technology strategies? What happens to the teachers who resist learning such media - technology strategies?
What kind of teacher are you? or are you going to be? One who accepts that media- technology are here and not going away and are willing to learn or are you going to be a nay sayer teacher who resists learning and being engaged with them and will only find fault with their place in the classroom?
Are you or will you be the educator that other educators, students, parents and community members look to with respect? Or will you be the teacher who takes the easy road by resisting change, by not moving forward and by digging in?
How do you decide or will you decide to be the type of educator you chose to be? What factors contribute to your decisions? Why do you believe or think you have the right to be an educator? Or do you think you have the right to be an educator? Or do you just want to go into a classroom with students sitting in chairs, in rows with you in the front of the classroom telling the students what to know and then give them tests?
You have the power to decide. What is going to guide you?
