January 2011
6 posts
1 tag
EdTech: Push or Pull?
At the very core of education is a leadership issue. Everyone has their own ideas about how things should be done, even if they are completely unqualified to make such statements (Not that I speak from experience or anything…). At times it seems as though schools are run like military operations. Or, at the very least, top-down autocratic hierarchies. Other times it seems as though nothing...
Technology Doesn't Fix Instruction
At one point last year, a student inquired of me why some schools that aren’t doing well seem to get all the cool toys. When I asked what she meant, she referenced some schools she had read about and how, despite poor test grades (etc), they got things like iPods and new computers and we didn’t. This is an interesting thought to ponder. Why would a failing school get “toys”...
Dr. King's Legacy
Confession: I am a middle-class caucasian male. I am exactly the wrong person to write in reflection of Dr. King and what he has done for civil rights in this country. I have never experienced baseless racism against me. I have never experienced hardship because of the hue of my skin. I have never been asked to move from one seat to another because I have less pigment or an ancestry that was...
Whose Technology Is It, Anyway?
As a classroom teacher responsible for instilling into the minds of 14 year olds the importance of (at least moderate) technological familiarity, I am constantly finding myself smack in the middle of numerous debates and discussions about technology in education. In reality, I place myself in many of those conversations, but nevertheless it consumes enough of my weekly routine that I felt it...
The 21st Century Learner
For all the talk about “the 21st century learner” and how we need to “prepare our students for the 21st century,” it’s interesting to note:The 21st century is already 10% over. By the time my 8th graders graduate high school (2015) it will be 15% over. When today’s kindergartners, whom will be most impacted by TODAY’S discussions about preparing them for...
Opportunity or Obligation
Many times I hear about the “obligation” we (educators) have to our students. I hear about the “obligation” that the country has to providing a world-class education. I hear about the “obligation” that parents have in providing the best possible scenario for their child’s success. I’m tired of us all being “obligated” to do things and...