Back Away From the Cul-de-Sac

Now that my son has turned five and is preparing for kindergarten, I'm finding myself engaged in more and more in conversations with other parents about schools. They've been taking place in the usual locations - the end of the cul-de-sac, the grocery store, birthday parties, and as one might imagine, they often take a turn down perilous paths for the public school teacher.

Such was the case this week when I found myself having to stand up for our local district's third grade math curriculum. Mind you, I'm not a math teacher, I don't teach elementary school, and the only experience I've had with this district so far is the kindergarten registration night. However, because I am a teacher, I was expected to know the exact reasoning behind teaching geometry to third graders and why everyone (those on our street) did so poorly on a quiz.

I did my best to negotiate the divide between parent and teacher, but when the discussion turned to expectations that elementary school children should know and be able to use PowerPoint, I knew I was in serious trouble.

"I don't even know how to use PowerPoint. How can you expect an eight-year-old to use it?" one neighbor said.

My first instinct was to ask why would you use PowerPoint when you can use Photostory, VoiceThread, or something else equally more interesting and useful than PowerPoint. Then, my second thought was to let my neighborhood parent friends know that this was only the start of their kids using technology of which they'll most likely always be steps behind. But, I thought better of it and decided that my safest bet was just to back away from the cul-de-sac.

On later reflection it occurred to me how far ahead of the curve we are in both the district in which I teach and the district in which I live in terms of instructional technology and using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. Often, I feel like there is so much out there that I'm not using or not even aware of. I look at my colleagues and wish that I could be doing a lot of the kinds of things they are doing and scheming ways to carve out more time to try them out. And, with my PLN, I definitely feel like the constant newbie, wondering if they are secretly chuckling at my seemingly naïve updates and postings.

Yet, little exchanges like the one with the neighborhood parents remind me that a lot of what I'm constantly thinking about and much of what I'm implementing in my classroom is so far beyond the experiences of many parents, students, and teachers. It makes me feel thankful that I am surrounded by colleagues, both face-to-face and online, who help create a culture that is constantly trying to push the traditional boundaries of teaching and learning.