Abstract:

"Integrating technology into instruction is a moving target for teachers," says Laura Reasoner Jones as she adapts to her role in a project with a very big-picture goal: bringing technology to the households and community the school system serves.

Jones, L.R. (2004). Hitting those moving targets. Teacher Leaders Network diaries. Retrieved from the Teacher Leaders Network 11 Apr 2008. Link: http://www.teacherleaders.org/old_site/diaries04_05/LJ33_04_05.html

Full Text:

Hitting Those Moving Targets

On the map (my new Rand-McNally local area street map book with 396 pages), I drive to work due East. That means I drive directly into the sun both in the morning and the evening. And since I started this new technology job in late January, I have been able to measure the change in seasons by how early I have to flip down the sun visor and how light the parking lot is when I arrive at my school/office at 6:45 a.m.

In the recent mornings, as I drove due East on the Dulles Toll Road, I realized that on the map, the Toll Road is a straight line. But as I drove on the road itself, the sun moved from side to side in front of me. One minute the sun was directly in front of me, the next minute it was far to my left, and at the end of the road as I left the highway and paid my toll, it was on my right. (OK, I do know my elementary school science — it didn't really move, it just seemed to move.)

That's how the new job is feeling some days: achievable targets always in front of me that change positions without notice. My boss says it is like nailing Jell-O to the wall.

To put the preschool spin on it, it is as though I'm holding the crayons, the glue, the paint, the markers, the construction paper, the books, the scissors, and the glitter in my arms, and all of the lids are loose. And I have to open a door. In my good clothes.

I love this job, don't get me wrong. I love having my eyes on the targets of helping every teacher, student and family have better access to technology. But our project goals are not going to be accomplished by going in a straight line, even though I can see the end result clearly. My sun is out there, ready to be driven toward, but it keeps moving. And this can be very frustrating. Remember, I come from Indiana, where when you drive around the block, making four left turns (or right, depending on your politics), you know where you will end up — where you started. So I am used to always knowing where I am. Not so here in Virginia, with old cow paths and tobacco roads. And not so on this project.

Right now I am juggling the technology planning process, the baselines and assessments, the funding sources, the grant searches, the selection and purchase of equipment, the teacher training, the community resources and the family orientation. All of these pieces are at different stages of development, and some are overseen by different people. But I have to know the status and the direction of each and be able to report on and guide them at any time. And I have to keep them all moving forward at the same time. I can't let any of them fall away.

As a former special education teacher, I am used to juggling many things. But this project is a lot bigger than 15 IEPs. Frequently I find that I am the only one in the room who was ever a teacher, or who remembers what it was like to be a teacher. And sometimes I have to weigh my words very carefully when comments are made about teachers being slow to integrate technology.

I feel that the most important thing I can do for the teachers involved in this project is to remember and to impress on others that we need to build in lots of time for learning and practice. When I first came to technology four years ago, I didn't even know how to open up a laptop. But as I have said before, I had the gift of time — time to experiment, to fail, to try and to succeed. As we move forward in this project, expecting teachers to effectively use and integrate this great new equipment in their classrooms, we must provide the time to learn, fail, and succeed. Otherwise, the whole thing will collapse.

Integrating technology into instruction is a moving target for teachers. And it, like my moving targets, can be very frustrating also. Just when you have mastered the TV/laptop hookups so that you can do them quickly while the morning announcements are going, they remove the TVs and tell you that you have to use the LCD projectors. But there aren't enough projectors to go around, so you have to remember to sign up for one and go get it from the locked supply room. And when you find the key and get the projector in your room, the directions for attaching it and getting it to sync with your laptop are gone, so you have to try to remember what the tech specialist showed you last September. And wait, they are bringing in the new Smart Board, and you have to remember to orient it to your projector before you try to use it. And there aren't enough Smart Boards either, so why bother to even sign up for one? Is it any wonder that some teachers never even try to change their instructional methods?

My targets are clear in this job, even though sometimes they either move or stare me in the face with blinding brilliance. I try to keep them ahead of me and keep driving, using Peter Pan's words for guidance:

"Second to the right and straight on till morning!"

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