Head to Head

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For me, the traditional classroom may have become (or may simply be) less risky than I have allowed myself to believe. My experiments with techno-pedagogy have forced me to articulate a rather counterintuitive allegiance to a kind of instability found in the teacher position. Confidence in where you are going and how to get there is more valuable when the goal is clearly known and the roles are clearly defined (I lead, you follow).

The leader of an exploratory expedition experiences deep confusion while still feeling the need to appear as if everything is under control. When working in a technology enriched environment, teachers are both of these leaders. Learning to see and attempt to address both the emotional problems as well as the material problems this double position creates is the key to effective teaching as well as enjoyable teaching. Make friends with the problems. See them clearly. Tend to their demands. Quit wishing they would all just go away.

So John is a wearing a pith helmet and searching for the source of the Nile - keeping a cool head while battling snakes, crocs, and amebic dysentery. I'm trying to figure what metaphor works for me. I'm definitely no Tarzan (yet). The other opportunities for tropical metaphors seem too entangled in colonial power. Maybe I'm more like Monty Python's hermit - who goes to the wilderness suffers hardship but ultimately finds himself living in a community of hermits- the techno-pedagogues.