Chapter 11 Guiding Preservice Teachers in TPCK

What I liked most about this chapter were the quotes. My favorite quote was one by Thomas McINerney’s, who said, “Hope is not a strategy.” That quote reminded me of several experiences that I had as a Technology Integrator. I think that many teachers came to the lab “hoping for the best.” A combination of lack of training, confidence in their ability to problem solve technology issues and a lack of time to research and prepare lessons led to this strategy being commonplace. Many of the suggestions for preservice teachers could and should be extended to teachers in the classroom that are expected to “ integrate” technology without a background, not just in the hardware and software, but in the thinking and planning necessary to do so in a successful and meaningful way.

At several points in this chapter it was recommended that preservice teachers be involved in field practice. These experiences were recommended to help preservice teachers understand planning, preparation and classroom management with technology. I agree that this is important and that more needs to be done in this area as students from UMF come into our classrooms. Last year Johanna Prince and I were beginning to talk about a structure that could make this happen. Practicums and student teachers are not always in placements that support TPCK. They have great learning environments but they may be more PCK in nature. Johanna and I tried to promote opportunities for practicum students, to be “invited” to observe or participate in, learning opportunities in a variety of classrooms. We had hoped that this could begin to provide experiences for practicums where technology integration was not part of their placement. This arrangement was not really successful. Practicums have such limited time with their mentor teachers that it was hard for them to break away and with good reason. I think more formal arrangements for TPCK field experiences will need to be designed.

Another section that I related to was the section on classroom management. I currently have a 16 week student teacher. She just had her final observation before break. She used the Smartboard and an Internet site to present an interactive science lesson on “Balance.” This was a very successful lesson. Students were engaged and challenged. My student teacher moved from teacher demonstration to whole class interaction to individual exploration, discovery, and concept application. Her supervising teacher was very pleased with the classroom management as well as the excitement in the room. She remarked that her student teachers were often hesitant to do a lesson, for observation, integrating technology, because of the classroom management piece. When this lesson was in the planning stage my student teacher and I brainstormed many aspects of the lesson together. The time spent discussing and preplanning was worth it and could be translated to many different lessons.

I think that planning for and implementing TPCK in preservice teacher education is extremely important. The case has been made about the needs of our students in the twenty-first century and beyond. Dewey’s quote, that opens this chapter, refers to the need to change teaching to prepare students for a future we cannot envision. I hope that attention and funds can be directed to supporting the existing teaching staff in our public schools as well. Current students also need to be prepared for the twenty-first century. We owe it to these students and teachers to provide them with support and opportunities for success.