I always enjoy Will’s posts because so many of them can apply to librarians as well as teachers. His recent “It’s Not the Teachers” is no exception.
And now that the technologies create as much transparency as they do, it’s even more about vision and leadership (or lack thereof.)
This is good stuff. So often, Will states, teachers implement new technologies and campaign for their use UP to administrators. How many librarians have done the same? About blogs? Wikis?
And this blows me away: (Bolding is mine)
Obviously, I think that needs to change. We need to create ecologies at our schools that support the use of these tools by everyone, not just a few “radical” teachers. And support means that just like teachers should invest in and model effective learning using technology for their kids, school leaders should invest in and model effective learning using technology for their teachers. I’m not saying that every teacher in the profession is motivated to create or even capable of creating positive outcomes with technology. Nor is every administrator. But until we begin create transparent, collaborative, connective workplaces, until we support the practice of teaching with technology from top to bottom, we’re never going to get anywhere.
Read that again, substitute “librarians” for teachers and BOOM! Libraries need to be transparent, collaborative, connective workplaces as well. Thanks Will!