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Today, I blog with a purpose. With 21st century education being on top of the educational hit list, I find myself utterly shocked at the lack of postings for Computer Technology Teaching Positions. Even the computer integrator positions have gone down drastically. Did my months participating in etmooc make me blind? There were so many other computer teachers, or like minded people that I truly hoped and believed the postings would start in April as usual. Go to Google and type in Computer Technology Teaching Positions, or better yet, try any of the famous searches I have done, "digital media" "social media" "adjunct professor" "computer educator" "computer integrator" "technology teacher" "computer teacher". You will not find much if anything.
I got my master's in computer technology integration as I love computer technology of any kind, I truly do. Ok, I have a special love for social and digital media as well as citizenship and digital storytelling, but you get the point. I can and love to teach education, computer productivity applications and have a special passion for teaching blogging and web 2.0 which allow for communication, collaboration and creativity (the building blocks of the 21st century learner).
I am truly starting to think I should have gotten my master's in a content area such as science (as the positions I do see are always "core" subjects), and while I like science a lot, I'm not ready nor can I afford the classes needed for a new certification. Hmm.. now in order to teach, I am considering leaving what I consider to be the most important subject "computer technology"?? Here in the state of New Hampshire, I think we are progressive yet as I have extended my search to include the state of Massachusetts with not much success.
Has computer education falling to the wayside? Am I living in the wrong location?
I wonder how many will see this for I am not self promoting though I do think I am an amazing teacher, but as my master's classes fall to the wayside due to lack of enrollment, I look to other colleges and public education and am truly surprised at the lack of posts for positions for which I am qualified, here in NH, with a certification and master's in Computer technology integration and five years of experience I am left to wonder if I picked the wrong field, the wrong state, or the wrong country. I hear technology is at the top of the educational food chain in some European countries, and I know it is obvious when I look at my community from etmooc. I guess I'm just a frustrated computer technology teacher displaced and needed to rant. Ok, I miss teaching full time, I admit it, but how do I fix it?
I would geniunely love to hear comments on this one!!
Sherry - I feel your pain!
ReplyDeleteWe just made a schedule shift, one that impacted me quite a bit. I enjoyed, in my first two years of teaching, an 84 minute keyboarding class in 6th grade (students made amazing climbs in keyboarding skills - my 2 year average on one minute timings was over 40. That is 210 kids!), and a required 7th grade comp apps and a required semester long 8th grade tech lit careers.
Now, in this next year, I lost my block in 6th grade, now just 45 minutes long. My 7th grade and 8th grade classes are also no longer required, with my 8th grade class being knocked down to one term. Admin seems to think this should be incorporated into the general curriculum, but teachers have grown comfortable to students having those skills. In addition, we have no tech integrators to assist the teachers with this.
It is a sad direction, because it is one of the single most important literacies a student can have these days. I hope with the time I've lost, instead of being stuck with guided studies half the day, I can move into a tech integration role. The chances of that do not seem good though.
Thank you for the blog post!
Hi Sherry. I live in a rural area and technology instructors are rare. In our high school district, most of our tech. instruction is set in core content areas, although our freshman class at one school has a "Tech 9" class where they work on a variety of things, including Google Apps, MS Office Suite, and other Web 2.0 apps. They write every day and are learning how to use the Haiku LMS for self-directed learning. It's an anomalie in our area, and I'm not sure about more urban areas.
ReplyDeleteAfter I had taught 7 years, I needed a break and worked as a tech. consultant. I was able to teach students in the classroom doing a variety of different projects & instruction at the schools I worked for and also did hardware/software repair. If you're still having difficulty finding something, perhaps you could pursue a few part-time gigs and develop a reputation for what you're good at. Just an idea. Don't give up on your dream :)
I'm seeing some shift from "technology" courses to computing/computer science courses. Still, those are rare as well. However, I did a quick search on the NAIS web site: http://careers.nais.org/jobs#/results/keywords=computer&filter=%28state_province%3Anew-hampshire%20OR%20state_province%3Amassachusetts%29&resultsPerPage=12&noStem=false&titlesOnly=false&salary_open=false&showMoreOptions=false&selectedTab=bti-facets-state_province/1,false
ReplyDeleteThere are a few. Just keep at it.