Thursday, December 6th, 2007...2:45 pm
We Know We Have To Change So Let’s Do It
Change is happening all around us. Most of us have seen the video”Did You Know.”( Link above) If you haven’t then it is a wake up call that we need to change education now. Will it be difficult? You bet. We need to jump into the pool, wading will no longer do. The education that we want our children to have has to be world class. The world is competing with us whether we want to acknowledge it or not. They aspire to emulate and surpass the many fine qualities our schools and country have always represented. We certainly need to think beyond the traditional bricks and mortar toward collaboration digitally and face to face. Curriculum and content need to be digitally flexible to reflect the rapid change we are experiencing. Our current education model is almost 100 years old. Someone once said that if Rip Van Winkle awoke in 2007 from a 100 year nap that one place he would feel most comfortable would be in our schools. Comforting and distressing at the same time. We are all working hard and we all recognize the need for collaboration beyond our classrooms, buildings, counties, states and country. How will we go about implementing change? What are your thoughts on preparing students for the 21st century.
7 Comments
December 6th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Congratulations on your first blog post and your entry into the world of Twitter. It is always inspiring when an upper level school administrator “gets” it. Yes, we need to be thinking about preparing our students for the 21st century. I love the Rip Van Winkle quote! It is so true.
December 7th, 2007 at 8:07 am
The technology is awesome. Every encyclopedia and so many people at your fingertips! I’m enjoying it. Students obviously need to be literate and skilled with the technology. Our classrooms are getting bigger and bigger as the microchips get smaller and smaller; however, I want to know what’s happening to our brains and the brains of our students? We can’t forget how to use all the other tools in the world and just sit in front of computers all day. The most important resource humans possess is our brain. Let’s keep the focus on what our student’s brains are doing and not get all distracted by the microchips. A laptop computer connected to China isn’t required to teach students to think and act. People with brain power in their heads and love in their hearts is what this world is going to need for the future. That’s what I think teachers and schools need to focus on promoting.
December 7th, 2007 at 8:37 am
What a great blog! Now I want to do one for our library.
December 7th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Hi Steven!
What a fitting topic for your first blog posting. Great job. That “Did You Know?” clip always amazes me. The passage that makes me pause is the one regarding preparing the kids for the future college majors & training them for jobs that don’t even exist yet. I remember feeling uncomfortable & insecure just learning to USE a computer when I began college. I can’t even imagine what the kids today will be expected to know/be comfortable with when they leave high school. If we don’t start to make this change now, students of the twenty first century will be that much more behind. Glad to try to be on board with you in order to help make this change happen!
December 7th, 2007 at 11:03 am
The more we talk about the work that the Brighton school community did last year in gathering input about what school should be like for students entering our classrooms this fall and likely to therefore graduate in 2020, the more I think we got the jist of things right. Digital portfolios of student work, transparent communication with parents and other partners, opportunities for teachers to collaborate in person and online with next door neighbors and across the globe, customized, project-based learning for all students of all abilities – these are the things I want for my own child, and I think they are what most parents want school to be for their children. I am excited about the application of technology to this purpose – as a tool for enhancing what we want to be doing with students, and the entry of so many of our teachers into the blogosphere, the world of online collaboration, is a great first step in the right direction. Thank you to any of our BCSD learning community willing to join in early. The water’s fine! Come on in.
December 24th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
I think that regardless of the multitude of data available to us we must realize that none of us holds a crystal ball that tells us which way the “future” will lead us. It is imperative that we teach our students to be critical and creative thinkers so that no matter what tool they are using, be it pencil, computer or smartboard, they are able to solve the problems of their generations effectively. Increasingly I fear we are using education and job training as synonyms. If that is the case we are only training students to be effective in a small window of time and therefore ineffective when the circumstances change.
January 11th, 2008 at 8:19 am
I would feel safe suggesting that most teachers got into teaching because they love learning.
I’ve been fortunate to be participating to a year long staff development opportunity on Web 2.0 communciation tools. I am loving what I’m learning.
Please stop by the Teacher Center or look in our staff development catalogue for opportunities to learn more about these tools. I bet you’ll be invigorated and excited about what you learn and eager to share it with others.
Steven’s blog is a great example of where we can, and ought to, go. Congratulations Steven.
Leave a Reply