After having watched the YouTube video, "Did You Know", I felt inspired, enraged, and moved. In fact, I did not know whether to take notes, change everything I do in class, or just punch my BOE; I was fired up enough but seriously I would never...
This video just shows how small we really are; in the big picture we are like a background to the "stuff" that is really happening. Technology is spreading like wildfire. Our kids are learning things they will not need and will go on interviews for jobs we cannot understand. What are we suppose to do? This video was elegant and touching yet impossible to digest.
It seems to me that change has become so commonplace in our daily lives that we just ignore it and hope it will go away. Some people say they don't jump on band waggons and others are too lazy and expect it to go away. In our personal and professional lives change goes hand-in-hand with technology. We sometimes invite it; conversely, it can be a pain in the posterior. "Please press 3 if your problem was not mentioned on this menu".
In our personal lives, change has helped us pay bills over the net and tell our wives we are playing cards with a text message (that's actually very convenient). It has also changed the way we do our jobs; in fact, it has rendered our jobs more present in our personal lives. Laptops, email, networks and the ability to work from home has changed the way we live our personal lives. Is this good?
As a teacher, technology and change has made me feel inadequate. I feel as if I use enough technology in the classroom on Monday; then Wednesday comes along and I feel that what I did two days ago was trite. How are we suppose to prepare our students for jobs and technology that does not exist yet?
Even if we wanted to make the changes, policies, rules and regulations will not allow us to move quickly enough to stay abreast with the changes that are happening. The Internet is not totally accessible at school due to questionable material; wireless networks don't work; a new course needs to be designed and approved and that takes a year; purchase orders take too long; and if I keep going, the technology I am writing with now will be outdated. Oh wait, it probably already is!
They way we currently do things cannot keep up with the way technology is changing. We are too busy meeting standards of accountability and passing tests. These changes are so necessary and we don't have time to make them because the system has not changed in such a long time. In order to move forward we need to loosen up the policies and regulations. Learning should be unsettling, yet policies and procedures are too concerned with safety and law suits. We need to point out those who are scared of change and allow them to understand that feeling inadequate makes us better teachers and learners.
Currently, I believe that we must not only incorporate the latest technology (available to us in school), but also teach our students to embrace change and uncertainty. Here, they will understand that whatever goals they set will need to be modified in order to sustain personal success. We will teach them that change is never easy and reinforce it with the old proverb, "nothing worth gaining is easily achieved".
I guess we are worried that the stuff we like to teach will become obsolete; although this may be true, the essential questions answered may still stay the same. Actually, technology may help in answering those essential questions.
Although I believe you can still be a good teacher with minimal use of technology, I don't believe that will hold true for long. Teaching is an art and science. The best scientists keep current, while the best artists keep pushing the envelope; let's hold true to both sides of our profession.
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11 comments:
I predict that we won't have to worry about passing tests. If we are to prepare students for jobs in the 21st century, is it really important that they are proficient in skills that they won't use in their futures? I'm hoping their is a paradigm shift in all of education. Who knows, with all these changes in technology, maybe the tests that many of use are so focused on will be changed or eliminated. If it's changed, maybe it will measure more of the skills that are needed for jobs in the 21st century.
You bring up even more questions, which is probably good thing! I think the focus needs to be that technology is never the end goal. Learning is. I think the shift needs to move from a content based outcome to a skills and understanding based outcome. This is so different from everything we know. How do you measure understanding? What does it look like as a grade? How do you quantify it? These are the challenges of the future-- as we get more information...how do we make sense of it all and help our students to do so.
Let's face it, when we were in elementary school our teachers were teaching us information for jobs that didn't exist yet...and I think we all did pretty well. It is scary to think that what we are doing now may not be around in a few years, but as you stated, we need to prepare our students for change. We need to teach them to be hard-working and self-motivating. These two qualities can get you farther than knowing certain information. The readings for this week pushed using the right brain. Using the right brain isn't something that comes from a book, it is something that comes from experience. We need to give our students that experience. By doing this, we will be doing everything possible to prepare them for the jobs of the future.
We all need to face that the material that we are teaching will probably be really outdated or ancient history by the time we retire. I agree that we have to instill in our students some basic skills and ideas that will transcend time. Learning to work hard, becoming a lifelong learning, working together, and being able to effectively communicate will all be necessary no matter what you do or where you go. Just look at the change that has around us. When I left high school about 10 years ago I would never had imaged that we would be holding classes online. The video shows that change will happen at an increasing rate and it will be hard for schools and teachers to keep pace. I also agree that we will need to look at how we manage schools so that change can occur more quickly within them.
Change is something that is never going to go away. We have to think back to when we were children and half the stuff we learned. A lot of that information is outdated now, but the way the teacher presents that information is what is really important. If we as educators can prepare our students the best we can for the society that is always changing than I think we are doing our children some good. We have to teach our children to be hard workers who are not scared of a challenge. Hopefully in time some schools will realize this and be able to supply us with the tools that are needed to accomplish this never ending task.
Change will come about, no matter what. We can keep up with it, as we have dealt with it in the past.
What is mind boggling is the rapid growth we will be experiencing over the next few years. Growth is increasing more in these next few years than it has in the past 100 years.
I know people that have trouble with a cell phone, or have never used a computer on their own. They feel that it does not affect their lives....yet. Where will they be in the next 5 years...obsolete.
I loved what you had to say about teachers needing to utilize both the science and art of the profession in order to continue to be effective educators. You seem to think that there is a question as to whether we can meet this challenge. While I agree, I feel very optimistic based upon the commitment level and dedication displayed by the professionals just in our class alone. The point of this week's class session seems to be that learning is the key to all progress. As long as we as teachers stay passionate about learning, we will be able to help our students achieve future success.
Are our students' best interests served by our preoccupation with technology in the classroom? Wouldn't a realist say that, in general, today's schools are unprepared and underfunded when it comes to a genuine and worthwhile incorporation of the latest technologies? Is the role of technology to better learning? Or is technology the mean and the end? I would submit that we need to stick with what we know, what we can teach, what we know will never go out of style: critical thinking. We'll continue to try and do a better job with technology, but let's remember what's most important.
I feel that we need to keep utilizing technology as an aid to students. As we have discussed in class, technology keeps changing and our students are going to be leading us in this realm soon enough.
I agree that educators need to stay current with technology. With our students immersion in technology, we would be unable to service them without technology.
I had similar feelings after watching the video as well. Technology is a part of our everyday lives and we might as well bring it into our classrooms as much as possible. We can still teach the things that we love to teach it may require more preparation, but it is possible.
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