CCSD Specialist's Remarks on Teachers Par for Course

Patronizing. Disparaging. Arrogant.

Those three adjectives characterize remarks made by Amy Winstead, part of the administration of the Charleston County School District. Although Winstead probably didn't realize her faux pas, she's absorbed the attitude of administration versus teachers endemic at the Taj Mahal. 

Teachers aren't enthusiastic enough about another round of technological change? "'Sometimes the change makes them hesitant. Once they realize it’s not going to bite them, it’s fine.'”

Not surprisingly, someone with more than six years teaching at an elementary school responded in a Letter to the Editor last week. 

[. . .]
"While there are some teachers who are afraid of new technology, the vast majority love to learn new things and are shining examples of the “life-long learners” that CCSD claims to promote.

"Most “hesitant” teachers are thinking of the time that will be required of them. Time beyond their eight-hour school day. Time beyond the things they already do on evenings and weekends, like grading papers, record-keeping, emails, phone calls and conferences with parents, collaborative planning with other teachers, and attending after school events and meetings.

"The school district expects them to spend most of their time during the school day teaching and supervising students, with very little planning time to accomplish non-teaching tasks.

"They are hesitant because they know they will not only need to learn how to use the new platform, they will want to create lessons that use the technology to its fullest potential and in a way that improves student learning.

"They will need to take all of the hundreds (or maybe even thousands) of Smartboard lessons that they recently created specifically for their curriculum, which will be unusable once they no longer have a Smartboard, and convert those lessons to the new Promethean platform.[italics mine]

"This is an example of a pervasive problem in CCSD, and maybe the entire state. There is a lack of appreciation and a wanton disregard for teachers’ investment of time.

One way to improve this situation would be for the school district to identify teachers who are proficient in the Promethean platform and pay them to create lessons specifically designed for the district’s curriculum and textbooks. These teacher-created Promethean board lessons could then be provided to teachers when they get their Promethean board (not after), allowing them to modify the lessons to suit their students’ needs.

Cynthia Smith
Pelzer Drive
Mount Pleasant

Retired teachers can respond. Maybe next time Winstead will think before she speaks.