I was having a conversation with a group of juniors who were getting ready for their read-a-thon which is this Sunday to raise funds for the Kilimanjaro English Nursery School when they shared something which astonished me. The man who runs the school who is known as”Teacher”, Edward Lazaro cannot run the school full-time. In order to make ends meet for himself and for his students, he is required to help guide climbers up Mt. Kilimanjaro.
From a western perspective, the sad part of this story is that he would only need a $200 per month salary in order to be able to stop having to guide climbers and devote all of his efforts towards teaching the children. I want to thank all of you who have been supportive.
I will be sharing pictures after the event.
Tags: kilimanjaro
One of the errors that I when creating a document is typing my title as the Director of Academic Teachnolgoy, rather than the Director of Academic Technology. I do not know if somewhere in my brain that this is an intended slip, because I believe that the way to best integrate technology into the curriculum is to provide opportunities for teachers to
a.) develop individual technology learning goals and provide the pathway and opportunities to reach those goals
and
b.) to be involved in discussions around curriculum and curricular change early in the process, so that technology can be woven into the fabric of the curriculum rather than being squeezed in or retro-fitted once the foundation of the curriculum had been established. It makes for a much more enriching experience for all around.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to work with our Middle School Humanities teachers on reviewing their curriculum. We had an engaging discussion on the goals that they had for their students around writing. One of the take aways from this meeting was that I was able to steer the group towards using a web 2.0 technology, a wiki, to frame the questions so that the next time that they meet face to face, they will be able to get the most out that face to face interaction. They were also excited to be able to have the ability to engage in a threaded conversation in this collaborative work space.
One of the hooks in getting them to try it was the Time article and the fact that they acknowledged the need to gain experience in the technologies that their students use outside the classroom. The teacher’s modeling will enable the teachersto mentor and guide their Middle School students in the responsible use of these new tools at this very impressionable age.
A small step forward.
Tags: teaching and learning
