So, after a long stressful journey, I found a fantastic educator, blogger, author, and my new Knight-in-shining-armor for coming in on such short notice and helping me. Jeff Utecht was formally an Elementary school teacher with aspirations of becoming a principal. Now, he travels the world teaching other educators new and exciting ways to help students learn. You can find out even more about him by visiting his website and blog, which I STRONGLY recommend.
Without further adieu, here is the interview itself!
Kate: What is the one piece of technology that all students should have access to in a classroom?
Jeff: The Internet! That’s it…..every student should have access to the Internet at any moment when they need it. Access to that amount of information at a moments notice changes everything! It’s changed cultures, it’s changing our society...it is the most important piece of the puzzle. I don’t care what the device is. Give the students access to the Internet and then teach them how to use it.
The teaching starts with search….I highly recommend this free course from Google. Every educator should have to take this. It’s 3 weeks and opens up an entire new world. If we could teach this to students we change education.
My blog post with lesson plans: http://www.thethinkingstick.com/start-the-year-by-teaching-search/
Kate: What has been the hardest thing for you to overcome in your educational career?
Jeff: Not sure it fits your question but it’s basically standing up to the fact that what you know you are teaching, the approach, the curriculum is not what students need today. We say we want/need creative students and then we teach in ways that don’t allow that, we design school systems that don’t allow that….and we adopt curriculum that doesn’t allow teachers to be creative to teach….rather what education is becoming more and more at the moment is a routine. We want everyone to teach the same thing on the same day in the same way. Here is the curriculum don’t think just do what it says. We’re draining the creativity and the fun out of teaching.
Kate: What is your favorite lesson plan that uses technology in your arsenal?
Jeff: As you know I’m no longer a teacher but there are so many out there that I have loved to see and what teachers build over the years. Watch some of the videos on this page http://www.coetail.com/about/ to see what teachers are doing. These are my grad students (Kim was one at one time :) ) They’re doing some pretty cool things…..and most of the time (see my answer above) they are doing it against the will of the school. They are doing this because they have to for their grad work not because the school thinks it’s what is right or even that it’s “good learning”. I’ll let you be the judge.
Kate: What is the best advice you can give to me, as a future Social Studies teacher, for using technology in my classroom?
Jeff: Build a PLN! Things move way too quickly for me to give you “best advice” so the best advice I can give you is get connected to the conversation. There are over 200,000 (our best guess) educators on Twitter. Find them, be a part of them, learn from them and be apart of the learning community. I’ve attached a free copy of my book to the email. It should help get you started. That and here is a link to all the educational hashtags on Twitter. Find your Social Studies ones...follow them...learn from them…...it is the only advice to give to a up and coming teacher.
Kate: Do you blog or have a personal website? If you do, how effective have you found it as a learning tool? I personally have grown very fond of blogging myself, and want to hear more first-hand experience of its usefulness, both for the educator and the student!
Jeff: Blogging is amazing….I’m a full time consultant now because of my blog. I believe every educator should have to blog should have to openingly reflect on their own learning….it is so powerful. I believe that every student should have a blog….at my last school every 2nd - 12th grader had a blog that they were the administrator of. Open to the web for the world to see….so powerful. You can download a free PDF of how to get started with student blogging at the bottom of my blog here: http://www.thethinkingstick.com
Kate: How do you view social media as an educator? Are Facebook friends with current students? How do you decide where to draw your own personal line of privacy?
Jeff: I just wrote a blog post on privacy...see what you think: http://www.thethinkingstick.com/privacy/
We have to use social media with students...I talk about this in my book as well…..
Here’s what you need to remember…..as a teacher...you are public. You will teach hundreds of students who have hundreds of parents...you are public. So you need to control that. You need to be out there blogging and such and control your profile...if you don’t you allow others to do it.
Kate: What is the one technological tool that you have encountered or used in your career that you can’t imagine being without now as an educator?
Jeff: The Internet…...learn how to use it. Learn how to connect to others, learn how to learn from it and change education. Here is my TED Talk see what you think:
My initial thoughts on this whole field work experience was: holy moley this was stressful. I had to reach out to so many different teachers/educators before I finally found some one absolutely fantastic. The lack of control for certain aspects of this was very anxiety-inducing for me! But, the third try was the charm, and once I heard back from Jeff, it went wonderfully! I could not be happier with the outcome....well, maybe if this resolution had found its way to me BEFORE the actual assignment was due I would be a little bit happier!
The interview process gave me even more information to tie in to my future teaching career and also tied in to the course objectives. We discussed privacy and the proper use of technology for me, as an educator, and ways for me to be proactive in that. We discussed how to stay current and involved with new technologies, especially through PLNs.
He and I have a lot of similar beliefs in the regard to the state of education in our world, specifically about stifling creativity while simultaneously saying they want to foster it. I think that is indicative of the trials educators face in technological integration. In order to stay current and progressive and to better the childrens' education, you have to force your way through, and occasionally get in a little trouble with administration. Progress is slow on a bureaucratic level, and it only hurts a lot of the students when that happens. On a more positive note, educators, for the most part, are pushing for these changes. They are calling for more. Those that are responsible for teaching the students are doing what they can to provide the best educational experience possible.
I am so happy you connected. He is my hero! Because of Jeff and his course, I would not be where I am today spouting off about the benefits of technology.. oh yes.. and breaking a bit of the rules sometimes for the betterment of the students. I do not need to do this any longer but a while back, things were different. I think technology in general is more acceptable and also we need it for standardized testing now! :) Happy it worked out.
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