A Teacher's Journal: My '95 Ford Taurus

I gotta tell ya, my car is nothing short of Superbad! It's a white 1995 Ford Taurus--nicknamed "Turk-182" after an '80s movie, of course--that I picked up when the '93 Escort that I called "The Red Rocker" caught on fire over near Crossroads a few years back. I had that flaming wreck towed to the nearest dealership, told the first salesman I could find to dig up the cheapest car on the lot, and was introduced to what has become my personal battleaxe!

The front seats--bench-style...worn gray fabric...broken springs--feel like the barcalounger that I've never owned. Heck, I've even been tempted to set my TV up in the yard on Superbowl Sunday so I can watch the twelve hours of pre-game in a state of absolute nirvana. As long as you don't mind the occassional unidentified food stain, I guarantee that you'll have the ride of your life sitting in my passenger seat.

You'll also admire the utilitarian flavor of the ol' Turk. I still use keys to open the doors and the only security system I have is the "Protected by Smith and Wesson" bumper sticker left by the previous owner. My AM/FM/Tape Deck is also quite impressive--even if the only tape that I have is The Eurythmics' Greatest Hits.

Push locks and hand crank windows complete this automotive beauty--which often throw my younger cousins for a loop. "Where are the power windows?" they'll ask. "Right there at the end of your arms," I'll proudly reply, "They're called hands."

And no matter how much friends make fun of my car, I resist the temptation to trade it in for something "new and improved." The Turk may not be whizz-bang compared to the leather-seat sporting, DVD playing, keyless entering, OnStar supported vehicles that surround me on the Parkway, but it's reliable times ten. It starts every morning, doesn't have any internal computer malfunctions (were there internal computers in the early '90s?), and is of absolutely no interest to car thieves.

Sweet dreams are definitely made of this!

As I was driving home the other day, I got to thinking that many experienced teachers are--in a lot of ways--just like my Ford Taurus. We're certainly just as reliable, working hard without much recognition. Teachers are "make-it-happen" kinda' folks, taking students from point A to point B without needing any "Tom-Tom" to point us in the right direction. Instead, we rely on an internal navigation system honed over years of experience.

The experienced teacher--just like the mighty Ford Taurus--has been an American workhorse for a long time now. We might not be terribly flashy, but we carry the nation on our backs each day. Pull us out of the fleet and millions will struggle to succeed.

That's admirable stuff for sure!

But in a world that's racing towards a poorly defined and rapidly changing future, our workhorses need some spit-and-polish in order to keep up! Experienced teachers can't ignore the reality that we're not preparing kids for a tape deck tomorrow any more. Instructional practices have to change--and they have to change fast--in order to ensure that students leave our schools with the skills necessary to succeed in a globally competitive world without boundaries.

No where is this need for a tune-up more necessary than in classroom uses of technology. While the web is increasingly becoming a tool for collaboration and communication, it remains an online encyclopedia in most classrooms. PowerPoint instead of streaming video dominates presentations and Word documents instead of wikis are the tool for "creation." Our students come to us connected and we pull the plug as soon as they walk through our doors.

This just isn't good enough---and I'm often left to wonder what will it take to drive meaningful change in our classrooms while respecting the reliable.

Do teachers need additional technology professional development or access to reliable classroom computers to invest efforts in innovation? Does the pressure of preparing children for high-stakes tests discourage teachers from delivering content digitally? Are fears about Internet safety and the reliability of online resources too great to encourage teachers to trade in trusted textbooks and worksheets?

Don't get me wrong---I love my Ford Taurus just as much as I love my favorite instructional practices. Both are incredibly comfortable and easy to get around with. In a strange sense, they're trusted friends. But someday, my Taurus is going to quit on me. And when I step into Turk 2.0--complete with standard features that I can only dream of right now--I'll probably kick myself for not replacing the ol' girl sooner!

The same regret fills me each day that I see teachers turning away from powerful classroom uses of technology.

Posted by William Ferriter at 02:49 PM on August 11, 2007 | Leave Feedback

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