Writing the Self-Assessment for the PTP group was one thing, and then actually having to assess myself against it was another. I'm not going to lie, there were times I felt pretty inadequate in some of the areas, and I asked myself what had I gotten myself into as a coach for this project. Was I even the right person for this job? As I looked over the assessment, I noticed I was really good at the "in the classroom" types of activities. Do I know how to use the basics of technology like keynote, pages, and Google?-yes! Do I utilize stations in my classrooms and give my students choice? - yes! Have I tried having my students use blogs, discussion boards, and other types of digital communication?- yes. However, when I got to the more global parts of education, I was drawing a blank. Am I really bringing the outside world to my students? True, I tell them a lot about the outside world, and what they can expect to encounter when they finally get there. But, do I ever really connect them to the outside? And, outside of leading professional development for my school, do I actually connect to the outside professional world on a more global basis? I don't..and then I asked myself--Why? What is preventing me? What is holding me back from doing this? Is it a matter of time? Is it a matter of convenience in not doing it? Maybe it's fear that no one really outside of my school's protected family will care what I have to say or even find my opinions important. I'm sure many of my colleagues feel the same way.
So, I think I'm finally arriving at my very long point. In my new role as a classroom teacher/ and as an instructional technologist, bringing that "real world" into our classrooms needs to become a priority. We need to prove to our students "Why" it's important to learn what we are teaching them, and then "how" and "why" it's important to the "real world". Because really--aren't we doing this for the kids?
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