My reaction to the 21st Century Learning program is one of identifying strengths of student development. Many of the strengths we currently work with in our classrooms include thiinking and problem solving, having to communicate and collaborate in a group to create a project, and learning to be creative with our students. Music rehearsal and study do this each day individually and collectively. The process of collaborating to create projects brings out these skills for these students.
The weaknesses that our current system of education has include a lack of global awareness, Economic and health literacy, and failure to embrace technology as a web 2.0 tool. Some of our students do not venture out of the county and town we live in, limiting experiences beyond the local area. How will a student know of other places unless travel occurs, or technology is provided that allows a student to see other places? Our population is labeled obese by the health officials of our country, yet when we eat somewhere other than home, the portions we receive in many places can feed two people. Education addresses these problems, however cannot solve them. Economics is not taught in our schools as part of the mandatory curriculum for graduation yet this is one of the goals set forth by this coalition. Currently my school system uses the web as a Web 1 tool. Everything is locked out for the students. Many of the programs we expose our students to on the web are based upon getting permission from an administrator at the central office, versus trusting the professional judgement of the educator. This locks 21st century education out for many of the students I teach.
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say that many schools systems use the web as a Web 1.0 tool. I feel that my school uses basic computer components which in my eyes would include Microsoft Office programs. Do students need to know how to use a word processor, absolutely! However, teaching technology needs to go beyond the standard programs we use today and we need to have our students explore more of the 21st century skills that they are going to be expected to do. I am actually still waiting to hear from the technology supervisor to see if it is okay for me to implement lessons using wikis and blogging. My next step is to ask if I can use Skype and podcasting! Let's keep our fingers crossed!
It is absurd that we, as educators, have to go through roadblocks of blocked websites, especially when there is no reason to block them. For example, when discussing this with my husband, a music teacher, he told me how his district had blocked www.classicsforkids.com because it had "kids" in the title. It seems that there is a lot we can do that our administrators need to be made aware of. This partnership has a lot of potential, as long as all parties involved can agree.
ReplyDeleteI agree that schools are failing to embrace technology as a web 2.0 tool. In my district, most classrooms have an ELMO and projector. Teachers usually just use these to project their lessons on the board instead of writing it on the white board. Teachers are not using this technology to its potential; they are only doing things differently not doing different things. I think that this has to do with teachers lack of knowledge of technology. I hope in the future, teachers will start doing different things with the technology they are given.
ReplyDeleteHi Chris-
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point about obesity. Do you think technology can help use here, too? What about the WiiFit system?