I LOVE this pencil story!!!

This story using pencils as an analogy for Computers and ICT in schools cleverly articulates my sentiment on the subject.

As i have discussed earlier one of my issues with ICT in the English classroom is accessibility and education of the educators. We as teachers need access, interaction and education for ICT to be used effectively .

I think it is true that ICT is seen as the domain of a few, and the way to tackle that is access for the many. That education comes from familiarity, an opportunity to interact and education in the form of scaffolding and modeling. I’m talking about the teachers hear, not just the students.

To use Smartboards as an example; at my first prac we had one in the English faculty yet only one teacher had the knowledge to use it. I attended a seminar about them, but the only way to really get my head around it would have been to have a go.

So the balance is education and exposure, something that i think is still a theory rather than practice for many struggling with ‘pencils’.