In my opinion, education is far too reactive. We hold out as long as possible to roll out the newest thing in fear that our teachers will not want to change what they are doing. The motivation to change at that point is completely gone as this message comes as a directive now instead of an interaction. "We need to change in light of technology, not in spite of it." This change is not an easy one. Teachers need to have the will to modify their thinking to a continuous growth model. Education is only going to continue to advance, and not having this mindset, makes change impossible. Please not that I did not specify technology in that statement as technology and education are tied together. If one improves, the other must match suit. This relationship will only continue to grow stronger with time as the technology demands outside of school will grow. Test to see how proactive you are, yes = proactive: I have implemented something in my classroom, I learned about on a social network? I have re-written curriculum before its cycle was over? I drastically changed the way I teach when the iPad was created (2010)? I save my files in the cloud so I can access them anywhere? I use a mobile device to teach in my classroom? I communicate with my parents and students from multiple devices? I know the world my students live in? (Creation Dates: Google 1995, iPod 2001, Twitter 2006, iPad 2010) I am conscious of how I format the documents I put on my website so they can be opened on any device? I have created digital curriculum? I have learned something from a student this week? Total number of yes's / 10 The list above is not meant to inform anybody that they are not good enough. It is simply meant to open your eyes to what 21st century teachers do. These questions form a to do list. There is never a better time to start than right now! |
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