Future Schooling

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Permalink Reply by Derek Brandow on January 3, 2008 at 12:45pm

Anne,

Your last paragraph is where I would like to start. So let's take that imagination and make it a reality much like Walt Disney.

What do we need to do to make it reality?

Does it mean we should consider learning outside of Public Education? I don't know...

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Permalink Reply by Anne Pemberton on January 3, 2008 at 1:21pm

Derek,

That isn't necessary. I suspect that most of the teachers in this forum are public school teachers who have the access and just need the rest of the stuff, like the content, to make it come alive. If you choose to work outside public ed, you will, in general, not be working with the kids who need the most from their educatiion in order to function in the world of their adulthood. Kids in private schools generally have access to the Internet at home, but it is the poor inner city kids who do not yet have a computer, that we need to focus our effort on. That is where the greatest need is, and where the greatest glory can be scored.

Anne

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Permalink Reply by Derek Brandow on January 3, 2008 at 2:30pm

Interesting to me is that a lot of the teachers I have come across in many cyber spaces seem to have some technological inclinations, and with that have a voice that says they are very concerned or fed up with the current education model in general, not because what we do isn't the most important thing on the planet, but because it is broken and it will not be able to be fixed to meet the needs of kids today and especially tomorrow.

Regardless of kids socioeconomic, or geographic place, public education is not working like it can, and the resistance to change that it will require is too great to ever mke that leap. We need to start from scratch.

What do we need to do outside of a public education (considering that every student will still have access to it) model to make this learning environment a reality?

This is what I hear everyone asking, and then we get caught up in looking behind us at the knot ball of problems in order to move forward, when we should leave the knot ball on the groud and look ahead for something that will be productive.

Again I ask, what would this learning environment look like? blow up the current model and think blank slate.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Pemberton on January 3, 2008 at 3:41pm

Derek,

OK, tell me what you envision!

I see a gradual move from what we have not to what we will have in the future. I don't see any merit in trying to "blow up" what exists - that would be wasteful.

And, I do not see any change coming other than via the public school system, That system has served this country well since it's inception. Our country has a very literate population thanks to our public school system. Yes, there are some who are not served well, just as surely as welfare does nothing for the wealthy man in his gated community.

So where do we start? I'd like to see, as a beginning, all students given a laptop in Kindergarten, and use that as their basic learning tool all the way through school. Change out software as needed. And, yes, we need to reduce those classroom sizes, but that should have been done long before now! Those who hold the purse strings are the ones reluctant to drop those numbers in spite of all the evidence that shows it beneficial to students.

Anne

Permalink Reply by Derek Brandow on March 28, 2008 at 2:39pm

I suggest we start by getting the best people in the world to teach by paying teachers 2-3 times what they are getting paid now.

Unlocking technology restrictions in school (let kids use their cell phones to actually learn)

Connect kids with each other and professionals to accomplish serious projects inspired by what they are interested in.

Hmmm. That is a good start from me.

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Permalink Reply by indigo196 on March 28, 2008 at 5:16pm

Money often does not attract the best people... just the ones who are greedy. Perhaps unions which protect slackers and hold back achievers should be done away with. I would agree larger amounts of money being paid if that money was given as a reward for achievement... not on test scores but by tracking the students after they leave that teachers class. The 'achievement' money should be a bonus that is figured every year (so it might rise or fall from year to year).

Your comment has also prompted a thought genesis: Teachers should have to work in an industry that uses the 'skills' they teach every summer, like an internship, so that they can stay up-to-date on what skills are actually being used in the work world. This would also help 'increase' pay because teachers would actually be working and get paid for twelve months of work.

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Permalink Reply by indigo196 on March 28, 2008 at 5:11pm

[rant]
Personally I think we need to worry about the school of today... since the schools of today are stuck in the style of education that worked at the turn of the last century. In doing so we will realize that school must change quickly and that there is no value in taking a decade or two to get a 'version' off the ground.

I have seen too much lip service paid to getting the most out of each learner and the result appears to be kids getting passing grades that should not be. It is one thing to recognize different learning styles and teaching to that style so real learning can happen and another to recognize the style and do little more than adjust what the student must know to get a passing grade. I realize that this is a broad over-generalization, but please do not attack the example because it does not fit you or those around you.
[/rant]

The schools of today must use technology to address the top 1/3 and the bottom 1/3 of the class instead of leaving either set behind. To do this schools can use 1:1 ratios, web 2.0 technologies, multimedia projects or a combination of technologies. As new technologies emerge they must be embraced and put to use. Classes should be less rigid than they are now with students starting and ending the year in the same 'level' of course. There may be students who at the end of one year were 'slotted' to go in to the lower level of a subject area that will excel and should have perhaps been in the AP level. Those students should, by earning it, have the right to move from one level to the other. If teachers produce content that is available via media casts, interactive websites and digital project based assignments it will be easier for a student to move through the 'levels'. On the flip side there might be student who achieved a high grade in AP Biology that struggles with AP chemistry and they should be able to smoothly transition to the lower level with out fear of being labeled a failure. Students should be allowed to excel at their interests at their own pace.

The schools of today must engage in project based assessment that allows the students to develop a portfolio that proves they have mastered concepts and that they can apply them to real world tasks. Schools should not reward the 'crammers' of the past who would jam their brain full of information so they could get an A on the test but forgot 9/10ths of that same knowledge by the following year. Schools should no longer punish the student who 'freaks' when confronted with a 100 question test taken in a 100 degree gym in the first few days of summer.

The schools of today need to focus on producing graduates who can contribute to society, and either earn a living or continue their education immediately. The public should stop hearing stories about students in colleges not being able to read and write and basic levels. To do this schools will likely have to re-evaluate what skills are important. It is my opinion that the current focus of technology simply improving reading, writing and math scores is faulty. Technology is a subject that must be taught as necessary knowledge; this can be achieved through dedicated classes or through integration in to the regular curriculum.

In order for this to happen teachers and administrators must become life long learners themselves. They must acknowledge, as Socrates did, that the only thing they know well is their own ignorance.

"I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance" of "One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing."
Socrates

We must realize that the answer is not going to be found by throwing money at the problem.
"An education obtained with money is worse than no education at all "

In my area there are several schools with more money per pupil that are struggling to achieve acceptable results; while my school district has two highschools ranked in the top 120 in the nation.
Socrates

We have to acknowledge that the problem with inner-city and poor rural schools is not the money or the equipment, but the parents and the peer groups. The students are not being encouraged to achieve because education is, in general, not seen as providing value.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on March 28, 2008 at 5:36pm

Mr. Indigo, Agree!. N.

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Permalink Reply by indigo196 on March 28, 2008 at 6:07pm

High praise from you... I am glad that some feel the same as I do. Despite my being happy I truly feel the educations system let me down and is continuing to do so for a great many kids these days.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on March 28, 2008 at 6:09pm

I know you know I teach elementary gifted kids (top 1%). Things have not changed for the better for them in the regular classroom in 25 years! It's sad.

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Permalink Reply by indigo196 on March 28, 2008 at 6:25pm

Well... all I can say is that I neither felt challenged nor excited about school through my K-12 experience or college despite the fact that my grades average was roughly a B- and the exception to the rule were the subjects that interested me the most or the classes that were taught by the teachers that made the material challenging. I was not after fun, but sought to 'achieve' greater knowledge. For me tests were useful to measure what I remembered from the books and the lecutures, not what I could cram the night before. I hated teachers and professors that did little more than review the reading assignment from the previous night; they made me feel like I was either wasting my time in their class or had wasted my time reading the material the night before.

I have no delusions of hidden genius or super-intelligence, but I do feel I that the educational system could have done better. Most of the advanced knowledge I used in my current job has all been self taught so I really question what value my four year degree had.

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Permalink Reply by indigo196 on March 28, 2008 at 6:04pm

ack!!! Corrections because I can not edit the post.

...read and write at basic levels...

..."I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance" or "One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing."...

Sorry for the mistakes... I have a bad habit of not proof reading when my kids are pestering me for snacks and attention.

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