Why Ed Tech?.....It's Positive

     You know why the Ed Tech Movement is a way to go? It's positive! We live in  a world where teachers and educators are being attacked from every level. Just look at out presidential election. At least 4 of the Republican candidates have made disparaging remarks about the profession in one fashion or another. You see school districts and states attack their own schools just because date on a test is poor. Really, even if you don't agree with the movement of technology in the classroom, it does not take a rocket scientist to believe that it is a positive movement. Just go to an ed tech conference to see how excited and positive everyone is about the movement.
     I don't know that I can think of any movement right now in American Education that is positive that does not involve education technology in some way. The biggest movement, the move to more "accountability" and testing is inherently negative. The whole idea is to find what teachers are doing wrong. It's the same thing with the growth mindset movement. It's all about finding what the teacher is doing wrong. Charter Schools are all about blaming the ills of education on the people who are actually living and breathing the fight everyday. Are there education reforms other than ed tech that are positive? I really don't know.
      Know if your reading this blog, you might think there are some movements that are not ed tech that are positive. I ask you to take a look at those, and really consider whether that movement is possible without technology. For example, I work in a district that is moving their classroom to a personalized learning format. Can this be done without ed tech? A teacher would have to live under their desk. Mastery based learning is another great and positive movement, and it would not happen without ed tech to keep track of what students have mastered. 
     Now does this mean there aren't people out there saying bad things about the movement to get tech in the classroom? There for sure are those folks, but in reality most are on the fringes of changing schools for the positive anyway. A perfect example would be the education blogger for our local newspaper. She has repeatedly been against the addition of technology to the classroom, but in the end she is one whose job's nature is to wallow in the negative. Another example would be those teachers who don't use technology. There reaction many times stems from their own fear and lack of knowledge.
     If you want to see the positivity of the ed tech movement go to any ed tech conference. The folks there may not all agree on the strategies, but they realize there is something for everyone. So lets take the lead, and lets keep education positive.