Episode 13: Expectations for New Teachers

Again, the network comes through as Doug Symington, of the EdTechBrainstorm on EdTechTalk, called in to remote stream this podcast. Thanks go to Doug and anyone who may have been in the chatroom.

Reading his work, listening to him talk, and having a coversation with Chris Lehmann is probably one of the best ways to spend your time. Chris is the principal of the Science Leadership Academy (SLA) in Philadelphia, PA and the author of Practical Theory. SLA is one of those schools that you hear about, but don't believe it is even possible.

Take-aways from the conversation:

• Belief and understanding of project-based learning. Finding relevance in the real world can engage students far beyond other methods.


• Be open to learning. One of the most important parts of being a teacher is continuing to learn. Not for college credit so you can move along the pay scale (although that is always nice), but as a means to improve your practice. Education is an occupation where failure and mediocrity shouldn't be accepted. And teaching practice should change(!) to better meet the needs of your students, to the students you had last year, but the one's you have this year.


• With technology, it's not what, but why? Something Chris did not say, but I am positive I have heard him say before, technology integration should be invisible. Using technology should not be about the technology, it should be about the learning. This idea is important as our district is coming into the first year of our technology plan. With all of these tools now available to us, we need to be careful that we are doing things to extend learning, not to do something cool online.


• Professional Development. Ask your teachers what they need, get them engaged with interaction, and let the teachers play a part in the process. Isn't this exactly what we are supposed to be doing in the classroom with our students? Why does it change when we move towards our own education?

At the end of the conversation Chris refers to EduCon 2.1. If you are a reader from my district, I would be interested getting together to view the streams coming out of this conference. To my understanding, we should be able to earn professional development for it as well.

Photo Credits: MeSeriousHeadShot from Chrisotpherl's photostream