Strength, Passion, and Ownership

Schools should be place where students and teachers work together to help students find their strengths and passions. Younger student may rely on their teachers more, but as they mature and grow they will be the driving force behind their educational experience. Technology makes it possible for us to differentiate the instruction students receive and help teachers to become the facilitators of learning experiences. Classrooms should shift to Personalized Learning Environments described here. 

What are schools for?

We must prepare students to be lifelong learners who can learn and approach their lives with a philosophy of kaizen (continuous improvement). I believe one of the biggest problems we face today in education is the idea that schools are merely career preparation and the subsequent push and focus on trying to prepare students for jobs that don’t exist by making sure they use as much technology as possible or focus on STEM at the expense of the humanities. If we want to prepare students for jobs that don’t exist we must prepare them to think and communicate that thinking clearly. I am not saying that we should abandon science, technology, engineering and math education. I am saying that we must continue or even begin again to teach logic (where is this course in the secondary education), literature, history, and philosophy. 

The article, Preparing students for jobs that don’t exist (Kreuger, 2017), brings up the perfect scenario of the future for me to make my point with this line, “Imagine a world where parents can genetically design and modify their own children.” (Kreuger, 2017) The article proceeds to explain how the technology is quickly being developed and the job of genetic counselor is very likely one of these jobs of the future that doesn’t exist. No amount of science, technology, engineering or math education will prepare a person to answer the question, “Should we as a society do this?” An education that does not prepare the people to think about these types of issues ethically is not preparing our young people for the future we are facing. The educational challenges we face are not just those of how do we ethically handle a changing technology. How do we help our society to continue to build meaningful community and relationships? 

How do we accomplish this and give students greater autonomy over their learning? That is a question I struggle with a great deal. I think part of the answer is to open them up to the real world problems and challenges we face so they recognize the need for an education that prepares them to answer the difficult questions of life. 

Technology, Equity, and Learning

Technology opens up new opportunities for us to provide students with the intervention and the extension of learning to happen quickly and effectively. Public schools have a responsibility to educate every child that comes to the school house. Technology gives us the ability to monitor and adjust based on the needs of each individual student. 

As we focus on the learning instead of the technology we will find there are lots of tools available that can enhance and transform the learning experience of our students. When we focus on the technology first too often it becomes about the newest tech not about the best tool to accomplish the educational goals we hope to achieve. If we keep the focus on the learning and keep learning and engaging with the changes in technology we will then have learning environment that meets the educational needs of the young people that we serve. 

Bray, B., & McClasky, K. (2014, June 11). Personalize your learning environment. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/articledetail?articleid=11 

Kreuger, N. (2017, June 16). Preparing students for jobs that don’t exist. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/articledetail?articleid=1002

Lynch, M. (2011, December 03). Applying the Japanese philosophy of kaizen to school reform. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/kaizen-school-reform_b_989788.html 

Rath, T. (2017). StrengthsFinder 2.0. New York, NY: Gallup Press.