Daily Affirmation. Even if every child began each day like Jessica, it is pretty hard to maintain throughout the day with all the expectations placed on them at school. Where are students supposed to find the things that build their confidence - a basic human need? And add the learning differences and I cannot help but be sympathetic to the kids in our classrooms.
"Instead of trying to bully young people to remain in classrooms
isolated
from the community and structured to prepare them to become cogs in the existing economic system,
we need to recognize that the reason why so many young people drop out from inner-city schools is because
they are voting with their feet
against an educational system
that sorts, tracks, tests, and
rejects or certifies
them like products of a factory because it was created for the age o
f industrialization. They are
crying out for another kind of education
because it
gives them opportunities to exercise their creative energies and
values them as whole human beings."
Grace Lee Boggs THE NEXT AMERICAN REVOLUTION
We admit we identify with the need for change in the classroom, but how does technology interact with curriculum? Students cannot interact with web 2.0 tools to strengthen weak skills, learn to overcome weak areas, or connect with others if the larger classroom dynamic does not shift.
CHANGE OF PARADIGM
- From consuming to producing
- From authority to transparency
- From the expert to the facilitator
- From the lecture to the hallway
- From "access to information" to "access to people"
- From "learning about" to "learning to be"
- From passive to passionate learning
- From presentation to participation
- From publication to conversation
- From formal schooling to lifelong learning
- From supply-push to demand-pull
Over three years ago, K-12 technology expert and blogger Steve Hagadon speculated on the future of education in his blog here . Hargadon makes it clear that 2.0 makes information accessible and that learning is trending to collaboration. But, he asks, as we gather and produce data (is it information yet?), how much in-depth reflection on course content, progress, real-life meaning really happens? Is the amount of true reflection diminishing as more data (information?) is made available online to us? Where do educators need to guide those with learning differences?
Help Build the New Playbook
My belief is that though you may think that you don't have anything to teach the generation of students who seem so tech-savvy, but they really, really need you. For centuries we have had to teach students how to seek out information – now we have to teach them how to sort from an overabundance of information. We've spent the last ten years teaching students how to protect themselves from inappropriate content – now we have to teach them to create appropriate content. They may be "digital natives," but their knowledge is surface level, and they desperately need training in real thinking skills.
In the end, more than any other generation, they live lives that are largely separated from the adults around them, talking and texting on cell phones, and connecting online. We may be afraid to enter that world, but we must because otherwise they will continue along anyway, without the benefit of adult guidance. To do so we may need to change our conceptions of teaching.
The Intel technology corporation has been investing in public education and promoting knowledgeable technology teachers. See how intel has been collaborating with governments, policy-makers, and local vendors worldwide to bring tech immersion courses to teachers and students for over ten years now. Their site explains they are the largest corporate leader in this area and have over 200 programs in atleast 70 countries. With state and federal budget cuts to education directly hitting grant money allotted for technology, it will be interesting to watch for corporations, nonprofits, NGO's, etc that stay or become involved.
My belief is that though you may think that you don't have anything to teach the generation of students who seem so tech-savvy, but they really, really need you. For centuries we have had to teach students how to seek out information – now we have to teach them how to sort from an overabundance of information. We've spent the last ten years teaching students how to protect themselves from inappropriate content – now we have to teach them to create appropriate content. They may be "digital natives," but their knowledge is surface level, and they desperately need training in real thinking skills.
In the end, more than any other generation, they live lives that are largely separated from the adults around them, talking and texting on cell phones, and connecting online. We may be afraid to enter that world, but we must because otherwise they will continue along anyway, without the benefit of adult guidance. To do so we may need to change our conceptions of teaching.
The Intel technology corporation has been investing in public education and promoting knowledgeable technology teachers. See how intel has been collaborating with governments, policy-makers, and local vendors worldwide to bring tech immersion courses to teachers and students for over ten years now. Their site explains they are the largest corporate leader in this area and have over 200 programs in atleast 70 countries. With state and federal budget cuts to education directly hitting grant money allotted for technology, it will be interesting to watch for corporations, nonprofits, NGO's, etc that stay or become involved.
No comments:
Post a Comment