As teachers, we continue to evolve. Keep up with the current buzz-words. Get more tech-savvy. Work harder. And longer. Our students should be evolving as well. Yet we continue to lag behind other countries not nearly as 'wealthy' as the United States of America. We lose weeks and weeks every year so we can administer more and more standardized tests. This is progress?
Teaching in these times is challenging enough already. We've gotten so used to being able to Google information, what's the point in trying to figure things out? When life is so automated, and everything moves at a lightening-fast pace, teachers must resort to any means to hold students' attention. Some days I feel like a cross between a performance artist and standup comic.
As a high school student in the 70's, there weren't many resources available. We really had no choice but to figure it out. Read the book. Analyze the data. THINK about it. I do believe there is a place for technology in the classroom - to facilitate data collection, create graphs, spreadsheets, documents, presentations. To entertain? Create slick games? I can't argue with the fact that kids love them. I could argue the point that they don't facilitate learning. Are we really preparing them for the future? I think not.
I'm ready to go 'old school'. Back to basics. Traditional teaching methods. It's worked for eons. Do the work, solve the problems, all for the love of learning. The dilemma is, somebody's child is going to be 'left behind'.
