Powering Down for School...
I was doing a little searching over at TeacherTube today---looking for resources to post in a new website that Wake County's Department of 21st Century Learning is creating as a warehouse of resources for teachers interested in using digital tools with students---when I came across a presentation that argued in favor of introducing digital elements into classroom instruction that included the following interesting facts:
1. Only 28% of 12 grade students who graduate believe that school is meaningful.
2. Only 21% of 12 grade students report that their courses are interesting.
3. Only 39% of 12 grade students believe that what they learn in school will have any bearing on their success in life.
Those facts should serve as a wake-up call to any educator that hasn't changed their instruction to meet the interests of students who have grown up connected. So should this quote from a high school student cited in the presentation:
"When I go to school, I have to 'power-down'."
Are we holding our students back by resisting change and refusing to become more "tech-savvy?" What barriers prevent us from becoming the digital educators that our students need (and want) us to be? How many students will we fail to reach before we recognize that it is time for us to change the way that we "do school?" Do students of poverty suffer the most because they have fewer opportunities to learn using technology beyond the schoolhouse?
Interesting questions, huh?
I was doing a little searching over at TeacherTube today---looking for resources to post in a new website that Wake County's Department of 21st Century Learning is creating as a warehouse of resources for teachers interested in using digital tools with students---when I came across a presentation that argued in favor of introducing digital elements into classroom instruction that included the following interesting facts:
1. Only 28% of 12 grade students who graduate believe that school is meaningful.
2. Only 21% of 12 grade students report that their courses are interesting.
3. Only 39% of 12 grade students believe that what they learn in school will have any bearing on their success in life.
Those facts should serve as a wake-up call to any educator that hasn't changed their instruction to meet the interests of students who have grown up connected. So should this quote from a high school student cited in the presentation:
"When I go to school, I have to 'power-down'."
Are we holding our students back by resisting change and refusing to become more "tech-savvy?" What barriers prevent us from becoming the digital educators that our students need (and want) us to be? How many students will we fail to reach before we recognize that it is time for us to change the way that we "do school?" Do students of poverty suffer the most because they have fewer opportunities to learn using technology beyond the schoolhouse?
Interesting questions, huh?
