The Beginnings: Students Teach Peers & The Community

A few years ago, I had the great privilege of taking on a leadership role at a school site in which the surrounding neighborhood had a poverty rate of three times the national average. I had done a great amount of research on the digital divide, and quickly discovered that the students I served reflected these statistics in their relatively low rates of technology access and use at home and in school. When I began my first year at this site, we increased access to devices and created schedules to provide equitable opportunity to the technology across grade levels and classrooms. However, implementation of effective technology integration was not an easy road. In an attempt to boost support, I began to leverage students to teach each other technology skills that would enhance their learning in classrooms.

This group of student teacher leaders became known as the #TigerTechTeam. Click here to read story of the #TigerTechTeam on an archived CUE blog. As reflected in the aforementioned blog, students began to drive the direction of the team, to the extent that they extended their audience and offered support past classrooms, beyond peers and into the community itself. In the picture to the right, students teach parents and family members how to scan QR codes on their smartphones to access literacy apps.

Teaching Teachers: Students as Scaffolds

In my current role as an educational technology consultant, I work with teachers from school sites across the region who are at varying levels of technological proficiency. I have conducted countless professional learning sessions and lesson planning sessions with these educators. Our goal is student use of technology tools to enhance academic learning.

Collaboratively, these teachers and I work to create a plan that allows students to use the technology to access, curate, and create content. Teachers leave these learning experiences grateful for the support as they look forward to implementation into the classroom.

But many teachers are scared. They are anxious that they will forget the steps needed to use an app, or that they won’t be able to effectively communicate the logistics of using the technology when they are in front of their students.

This is where students can become the scaffold for the teacher. My most powerful work as a coach is not in supporting teachers during the planning process. Rather, it is the time I spend in classrooms with students, building their capacity to provide support to each other when their teacher is unsure how to proceed. Again and again teachers tell me that it is the students themselves that teach them tips for efficient technology use. I have seen a few teachers encourage students to create screencast tutorials to be used in their class for the next year’s class of learners. This empowers learners as it shifts responsibility of teaching from the teacher to the students.

True Story: Tech-Hesitant Teachers

Last year I began working with teachers at a school site where I was told I would certainly encounter resistance. The educators I would be working with had already expressed their many concerns to administration regarding the decision to provide each of their young students with a Chromebook. I spent a few hours with each teacher team to build their capacity in managing and using these student devices in their classrooms. The teachers requested additional time with me to learn and plan. They did not feel confident rolling out the devices to students until they were more comfortable themselves. While the hesitation remained, I insisted that the next time I would be at their school site, my time with them would be spent not in the teachers lounge planning, but in their classroom with students.

Coaches: Don’t Give Up!

The day I arrived, the Chromebook carts had not been opened. These teachers did not yet have the confidence to open the Chromebook carts in my absence. I was not surprised nor was I disappointed. I remained positive and supportive. “No problem, that’s why I’m here.” I said. “This is a process and by the end of today you will be further along than you were yesterday.”

I would love to be able to say that my time in these classrooms immediately changed the teachers’ perspective. It would be an amazing story if by the next month students were using the Chromebooks to research, engage in digital academic conversations, and practice listening/speaking skills using the power of video.

But this is a true story, meant to inspire leaders to continue coaching when progress seems slow, to continue supporting each and every teacher, and to never stop believing in the power of relationships, patience, persistence, and time. We call upon teachers to never give up on a student, but do we have the same mentality with the teachers who challenge us? We must remember that learning is a process, mindset shifts take time, and we are all in different places on our learning journeys.

This is my second year working with these teachers. I have about an hour or two with each of them approximately seven times during the year. Since our initial planning meeting, 100% of that time has been in classrooms with students.

Looking back to our initial meeting, I am amazed at the progress that has been made. Students access e-books on their Chromebooks and create recordings of themselves reading the text aloud, they use Google Keep’s drawing feature to document their growing understanding of number sense, and they produce typed narratives. The aforementioned activities occur even when I am not on site to provide support. What has given these teachers the confidence to open the Chromebook carts for students? Why are they now comfortable engaging students in these activities?

Students: The Tech-Resistant Teacher’s Confidence Boost

I asked one of these teachers what she attributed to her increased confidence using Chromebooks this year as opposed to the previous year. She replied, “Oh, I still don’t know what I’m doing.” This teacher chuckled and continued, “But I don’t have to remember everything, the kids help each other. There are enough students in my class that remember what you show them, that I don’t have to have all the answers.”

This is the power of including students in your work with teachers. It is the students themselves that can build the capacity of not only their peers, but also of the educators who serve them. Students – the ultimate catalyst for change.