What teachers know

This is a response to another blog: http://elcerrito.patch.com/groups/are-wccusd-teachers-computer-literate/p/are-wccusd-teachers-computer-literate

I do a classroom website and yes that's the exception. Why? I use my own time, hardware, and software to do it. I pay for the web space myself and trained myself in web design on my own time. I wrote a grant application (to Chevron, through donorschoose.org) on my own time to get the document camera and projector in my classroom and was on my own to figure out how to use those as well. I just bought a stand for them with my own money. If I want to use a laptop with that doc camera and projector, I will need to come up with that on my own, too. Much of the emailing I do with parents is on my own equipment and on my own time as well.

Most of my work day is packed tight with teaching, yard duty, and required meetings. There's barely time to use the restroom. Somehow I still need to pack in time to plan lessons, correct student work, scrounge and set up materials (such as for science experiments), and confer with coworkers. Finding time to communicate with parents, whether it is done electronically or not, stretches well outside contractual hours for most teachers.
 
Some of the teachers who don’t use technology to that level bring other skills such as singing and playing music to the classroom. For the most part, the training and equipment they use for that was not supplied by the district. This job takes a huge range of skills to be successful. I, too, have worked in the private sector and can tell you that the expectations in teaching are huge by comparison while the support on things like technology much more scarce.

It is easy to select one thing and say, "Why aren't the schools doing this?" It makes more sense when you look at all of the things a teacher is expected to do and know. We must make careful choices about how to use our time. Look at the  district budget and remember that we have struggled to fund things like enough teachers to maintain a reasonable class size and a wide range of other labor and materials needs.
 
You may have read about improvements in school funding in the most recent state budget. This follows years of losing ground and also comes at a time when schools across the country face a huge overhaul as we implement a new set of standards for what students must learn each year. So don’t imagine schools are flush with cash right now.
 
We are a long way as a society from being willing to finance schools to a level to match the wide range of expectations that everyone has for them.