Technology in the Lutheran Classroom: I've Officially Lost Control...

I've Officially Lost Control...I've officially lost control of my Computer Science elective class (i.e. learning to program using ALICE). I've never taken a CS or a programming class before in my life, so I thought I could just stay one step ahead of the class by reading through an ALICE textbook and everything would be OK. I could fake it :-)Well, after much reasoned conclusion (and lack of time..our dishwasher is on the fritz and I've been tasked with the time consuming duty of hand-washing), there is no way I can keep up the charade any longer. So today I bit the bullet and officially announced that the class is smarter than Mr. Jacklin and from here on out, we'd be learning together!OH, the look on their faces! I got several looks of disbelief. Several, "OMGoodness, did he just say that out loud?" looks. Finally there were those kids who have been past me for quite some time now making video games, interchanging object parts, and generally "owning" ALICE. They looked at me with a gentle smirk, saying with their eyes: "It's about time! Tell us something we didn't already know!" I couldn't snow these kids even if I tried. It was if I was at an AA meeting and just announced, "Hello, I'm Mr. Jacklin and I don't have anything else to teach you about ALICE."So, to make a long story short, we'll be learning together. I will learn from them as much as they will learn from me. To be honest....it's very liberating and...I'm OK with it. Not being the expert is a position that is quite uncomfortable for me, but it's a posture that we will all take on sooner or later as teachers.I've come to understand that my role as a teacher is not one of "expert," but one of mentor, facilitator, and leader. These kids aren't "empty vessels" anymore (if they ever were). They have a depth of knowledge in some areas that surpasses mine.The one area in which I have an advantage over them is that they don't know what to DO with the stuff they know. That's were I come in! As teacher, I can help them order and interpret their world; help them put together the pieces of a chaotic information, knowledge landscape.Now that...I feel comfortable doing!

Technology in the Lutheran Classroom: I've Officially Lost Control...

As a teacher I feel for Rob.  God gives us talents and we try to use those talents as best as we can, but we don't know everything.  Students and, more annoying,  parents think teachers should not be human.  Not just in the fact of having a life outside of school, but also thinking we should have all the answers.  When you are teaching History or even Math it is a little easier to master these subjects.  They usually do not change the so often.  English is a little tougher because the so call correct ways of speaking and writing changes a little every year.  With Technology, is it even possible to master?  We are suppose to be teaching students for a future, for technology that is not even around yet.  How is it we can stay on top of EVERYTHING.  I read about 15 different Ed Tech blogs.  I search the web for thousands of different ways to do something (to teach).  The internet holds a lot of new ways that was not around only a few years ago. 

One thing will always be true, the Teacher will learn as much if not more than the Student each year.  If a teacher does not, I believe they are not doing their job.  God bless Rob and the rest of the Lutheran Tech leaders I enjoy reading.

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