With approximately 30,000 combined views from a variety of video sharing sites, Mr. Winkle Wakes, has had the largest audience of any movie I’ve made. What’s cool about having a mini-viral video is that from time to time, the movie is rediscovered and its popularity spontaneously increases.
Recently, thanks to Google Alerts, I found out that the movie was being used in Dr. Strange’s teacher education course in Alabama. Students were asked to watch the movie and comment about it on their blog. I had the privilege of Skyping in to say hello to some of his students.
I read most of the students’ posts on Mr. Winkle and commented on a few. While most of the students put a rubber stamp of approval on the movie (probably thinking this is what their professor wanted them to do), I was most impressed, frustrated, and flattered by the students who decided to disagree with my point of view in the movie.
The movie, for those who haven’t seen it comes form a story that I didn’t write, imagining (Rip Van) Winkle waking up after a hundred years to find the world has changed in all places except the local schoolhouse.
Staci, a student in the class, writes:
I thought what was being said was simply not completely true.
Schools today are steadily increasing the amount of technology they use with the children. When I went to LSU, I tutored at a local public school, and it was full of computers for the teachers and children to use, as well as SMART Boards for the teachers to use to teach the children. Schools are realizing that students’ need much more stimulation that a chalkboard to get and keep their attention.
I know more schools would use technology if they had the funding…overall, I was not thrilled with the video Mr. Winkle Wakes.
The movie, of course, uses humor to make its point and is an example of hyperbole (some of the students’ misreadings of the movie make the case for better media literacy teaching in schools since in some cases they simply misunderstood the tone of the film). Certainly there are some newer technologies in schools. While we once could only photocopy in blue and white, now we can photocopy in black and white, for example.
Yes, some schools have SMARTBoards. But Staci still sees the use of technology as teacher centered. In focusing on how teachers need to use technology to “keep their attention.” Staci misses the point of the movie. In the movie, technology is shown as a tool to connect people to other parts of the world and venture outside of the walls of the classroom.
Yes, SMARTBoards are nice but installing them in a classroom does not necessarily change the structure of education.
What we need is for students to create, to discuss, to lead classrooms. And while funding is an easy excuse, how is it that I was able to have my students create their own films using a single Mac computer but some schools that have entire computer labs use their computers only to provide students with electronic flashcards?
The problem of integrating technology goes beyond funding. It’s a question of teachers first giving up some control and stepping off the stage for a moment. Then it’s a matter of providing training and support since things do go wrong with technology now and then. But most importantly, it’s about a re-imagining of the classroom, not simply replicating classrooms we once attended.
How do we change teacher education programs to address this?
Why are you surprised that there are college students that don’t understand how to transformatively use technology? I doubt seriously many (any?) have experienced it.
It seems there are two camps in ed tech today: those that learn tools to do old things in new ways and those who see technology as a way for students to become self reliant learners. I have taught for 15 years and have never had a program pushed into my classroom that requires less teacher oversight or more student responsibility. In fact the one thing I can guarantee with new programs (especially now) is that classrooms will become more teacher centric and paperwork heavy.
If every student watched you video “got it”, you probably wouldn’t have had to make it in the first place!
Having computers in your school doesn’t mean that teachers are using them to engage students in exciting, meaningful activities and projects. Too often the computers are unused and SmartBoards are used as presentation screens. Our classrooms must become centers for collaborators, content creators, communicators, presenters, and navigators and evaluators of the vast amount of information on the Internet. (Students and teachers must learn effective and efficient ways to search and recognize the “good” from the “bad” information on the Internet)
But let’s not forget that there are many teachers who are using the technology in wonderful ways! Everytime I show the Mr. Winkle video in a PD session, teachers love it and the discussion begins about how classrooms can become more engaging through technology.
[…] that were worthwhile. I also found some thought provoking blogs such as Matthew Needleman’s Misunderstanding Mr. Winkle Wakes. This blog resonated with me as I strive to incorporate technology in my work as a school social […]
I had an entirely different response to this short movie. I am past 65 and still teaching – currently in a community college. I am often amazed and disappointed at the resistance to technology by my colleagues – many much younger than I. However, that is another issue. I reacted strongly to the fact that Mr. Winkle found the school exactly as it was before. Whether there is technology or not, whether there is money or not, how we educate cannot be static. I use technology in many ways but even if I didn’t have access to these tools, I would still not be teaching the same way I did 40 years ago.
[…] Misunderstanding Mr. Winkle, Mathew Needleman of Creating Lifelong Learners discovers that teacher education students have […]
I’d consent the point to Staci that a very small number of schools have changed their approach to technology, usually after fighting a lot of resistance to get the resources to make it possible. It’s important to point out that a few anecdotes here and there really only show that the change is possible, and does nothing to weaken the main point: schools, as a whole, are not using technology to improve at the rate that most educated people expect, support, and believe is entirely possible.
[…] found a really interesting blog post on how technology in schools is primarily teacher focused. I think that this is absolutly correct. […]
It seems a bit like the chicken-or-egg argument, in reverse: Will public schools change the way they use technology because teacher education programs teach that, or will teacher education programs teach it when schools actually encourage/allow/promote an enlightened use of technology?
From my experience as a teacher-in-training, it is a bit of a fine line for universities to encourage best practices in technology use while recognizing that interns may work in classrooms with no computers, deal with resistant master teachers, and bang their heads against districts that block blogs, YouTube, and other social networking sites.
Beyond education programs, I hope experienced teachers with innovative technology practices will reach out to us newbies when we arrive in your buildings and help us imagine these engaged learning classrooms from the start, before they even have to be “re-imagined”!
@Teacher intern,
Agreed that “master teachers” undoubtedly could be better models of technology integration. However, the same might be true of classroom management, strategies for working with English Language Learners, and implementing current pedagogy.
I would expect that students in university classes would be learning about up to date research and innovative practice more than I would someone who has been out of school for decades.
I would also expect that someone who has grown up with technology would have a better understanding of its possibilities than someone who has been introduced to it later in life.
The fact that a master teacher doesn’t use technology is an excuse for student teachers not to use it—but a very poor excuse.