What has become clear to you as a result of the article written by Richard M. Felder?
Although Mr. Felder writes his paper directed at his own higher-ed engineering department when we writes: "...we are teaching the wrong stuff..." I believe the same holds true for K12 education.
How much more accelerated would change occur in our own organizations if Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat and Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind were required reading for all staff?
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6 comments:
It has become clear to me that education, on the whole, is headed in the wrong direction. Although sometimes an uncomfortable topic, a change in the way we do business is inevitable if we want to continue to educate our children for the world they will live in. The question is, how are we going to bring about this change in our system that has literally been the same for centuries? A scary prospect for those leading the charge. And by the time we get everyone going in the right direction, will it be in time? Or will the world have passed us by?
I believe that education is headed in the right direction. What I have read, researched, and observed is that we have identified the problems and we do have a direction. By small steps it is becoming clear as to what will be the best way to broaden student achievement. Take a look at some of the PBL schools, and what they are doing is incredible.
Our educational system was beneficial for the world of the past; but our new global world presents a completely different set of educational objectives. The most important point is that questioning has to lead the quest for knowledge. Only then will our students become self-learners, communicators, and successful in a global world.
One of the chief problems observed is that theory is doing the talking. We can talk and read all we want about how to run a race. But until we run the race...we have no clue what will make us win. After some practice, however, we know how to pace ourselves and what it takes to win.
Changing our educational system has to begin in the classroom, and it will take good teachers to make it work. They will need to know how to guide questions, how and when to use technology, how to give constant and credible feedback to the learner's, and to infuse a whole new way of sharing knowledge in order to improve learning.
In order to teach the "right stuff" we will have to take a stand as to scheduling, freedom to learn by students using their pace and learning style, major curriculum changes, hiring teachers that are willing to go the extra mile, teacher pay, and just plain grit to be able to try to do it the "right way."
I think that a lot of what we teach in our schools is still valid information. I have more of a problem with how it is taught then with what is taught. Not that I don't think that there is room for change in the curriculum, but if we are to take small steps as Kerry suggested, perhaps just starting with the delivery is more important at this time.
I truly believe that teachers need to expect more from their students and allow their students to be a driving force in their own education. What is wrong with telling students that they need to read a book or an article and answer the following questions in whatever manner you wish? Students will be forced to read, analyze, and process information in their own way which will lead to better critical thinking skills and the ability to retain the information that they learned. I will admit that not every curricular area lends itself to this idea completely, but there are examples that could be used to increase this type of critical thinking.
Education, in general, is extremely slow to change. Some say that this is a "safety net" so that educators don't rush into fads or passing fancies. I see a world that is changing faster then ever before and with the new "21st Century Skills" that are being advocated by business, education has to pick up the pace or we will be into the 22nd century before we are preparing our students for the world that we live in.
It is a very exciting time in education. Bob is right, the change in our society and with technology is moving at an alarming pace. As educators, it is our challenge to find ways to reach these students with very different needs and skills. I really like the list of “21st Century Skills”. We need to find ways to promote these skills everyday. The role of the teacher is probably more important today than ever. Being a facilitator and setting up real life PBL that meets today’s required standards is a huge challenge. It’s overwhelming when you find your plate full of technical paperwork, limited time to plan and increasing demands on your time. On the flip side, I truly believe teachers will spend whatever time it takes to do what needs to be done. However, we can’t be expected to accomplish a complete overhaul or replacement of education with the existing conditions. I always think about what I could accomplish if I had Friday afternoons (or any additional time…) to prepare, plan and reflect. Another area of rethinking needs to occur in assessment – is testing our kids in the way we are today accomplishing what we need for it to accomplish? There are so many questions, so many ideas, so little time.
- Barbie Norton
Education, as a whole, is definitely changing at a very rapid pace. It excites me and frightens me at the same time. There are so many "unknowns" that it extremely challenging for me as an educator to prepare my students for their futures.
As Felder stated in his article...there will be a great need for workers in the future who are self-directed learners. I see this as a huge area of concern in today's education system.
My questions are...How do we "teach" kids to be self-directed learners when they are continually being told what to do and how to do it? And....In today's education system, are the teachers/educators capable of doing this?
I have learned that being a facilitator of learning is a very challenging task. By allowing students to guide their own learning, we, hopefully, are better preparing them for their futures.
Felder makes a good point in that we are not teaching students what they need to know to survive in this fast paced world. In order to get students ready for what they are going to experience we need to change our philosophy of the way we teach. What once was good enough is no longer going to make it. We are seeing some changes in the way we teach, I have seen a variety in the few years I have been in education. It is no longer the students who are straight A's that employers are looking for, but how will this person adjust to adversity and challenges. We need to start shifting our strategies to letting our students make more of their own decisions. We have people who are beginning to see this and hopefully as time continues we will get more. I have even heard in this district what does that have to do with education when someone is doing a project in technology, they don't see that the technology is the education and not a core subject area. We need to get rid of the negativity towards a new way of teaching. It will be very interesting to see what the next ten years brings to education. Will we see a significant change or will we see the same old thing?
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