Wow! The "Did You Know?" video truly left me speechless. I found myself staring at the computer making sense of what I just witnessed. This video was very overwhelming and actually a bit scary.
To prepare students for the 21st century means to take initiatives to change our teaching methods to comply more so with technology and to tap into our students' creativity. It is unbelievable that "the top 10 jobs that will be in demand in 2010 didn't exist in 2004." And even more so to think that we are preparing students for jobs that don't YET exist. The bottom line when it comes to technology is that we are advancing every day to the point that "for students starting a four-year technical or college degree, this means half of what they learn their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study." This is simply amazing!
Based on what really happens in a classroom and the many antiquated teaching methods that educators are using, our students will simply not be ready for the advancements that are occurring on a daily basis. We must take initiatives to enhance the teaching styles we use in order to be more effective. The skills that students need to survive and thrive in this era are ones that offer them versatility since according to the Department of Labor "today's learner will have 10 to 14 jobs by the age of 38". With that said, we need to illicit activities and projects from our students that demonstrate their understanding of the big picture.
For starters, educators need to be lifetime learners, so that we have the proper training to adequately teach our students. We need to move away from the old-fashioned teaching styles such as lecturing, holding question and answer sessions, or worse yet handing out a ditto and having them complete it without any higher level questioning. Instead, we need to be more engaging and we have to be certain our students are actively participating in our classrooms. Undoubtedly, we must also use technology to promote learning, whether it be an individual or group project there must be technology involved. In today's day and age, if a teacher is not using technology he or she is doing a great disservice to his or her students.
Actually, this course (CURR 530) is a perfect concrete example of an action that we are all taking in order to be better teachers. I have never blogged before this class, yet here I am blogging away (and to think by next week I'll create a mash-up movie). Once I return from maternity leave, instead of telling my students to write in a journal, I will have them blog. Last school year I found a program that I had my students use to create newsletters instead of just typing editorials, which allowed them to create a published product. It is initiatives like these that will further our students' education in the right direction. As teachers we must brace the challenge that we are being presented with, so that our students will be successful and our reward great. After all, isn't that why we became educators in the first place?
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2 comments:
Actually something else came to mind, if we are to be better prepared to teach using more technology and innovative lessons, then we need to be educated towards that goal.
On the other hand, how many districts do not have money to send teachers on workshops or pay for their graduate classes? I don't know about you, but my district only pays $75 per credit for me to take grad classes and they cap at four classes per school year. Well, that's a joke when you think about our tuition!
Sorry, this is really more venting about a lack of funding, then it is a blog on how to improve our teaching. Then again, if we are to change and move forward we need to be trained for it; hence a concrete action would be for more funding towards a commmitment that teachers will be lifelong learners.
I agree that it comes down to the idea of enjoying learning. I think that is one of the best behaviors we can model for our students. This is learning that we want to do, not learning we have to do (whether for 100 hour requirements, school initiatives, contractual requirements, or just because it professionally "looks good".)
Activities I choose to do for personal growth create the Flow-type experience that Mihály Csíkszentmihályi writes about.
Examples include reading non-fiction books that I take out from the library. (Just finished one on the Israeli army and another on a US Solider who defected to Korea over the DMZ 40 years ago.) Learning a new language. Playing with a new computer program or web site. Learning a new video game. Developing skill on a musical instrument. Learning techniques to make you a better runner, swimmer, cyclist, tennis player, or soccer player. Learning yoga. Going to museums. Travel. Auto repair.
The more teachers can bring to the classroom to model and help make connections, the more they have been developed to help their students.
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