Race for an “education revolution”

By exposing a nationwide epidemic of an achievement race that can’t be won, the movie, Race to Nowhere, could become a catalyst for change. After seeing and discussing the movie,  parents, teachers, and school administrators along with local, state and federal government leaders, could be moved to start what Sir Ken Robinson calls an “education revolution” –not just fixing (reforming) what’s broken, rather starting a revolution–the creation of an education system that fills the human spirit.

We need to start with the question: “What kind of person are we trying to create?”, then race to build an education system that answers that question.

Schools say put e-devices away when they could transform instruction

Loved this post from Sam Gliksman and his quote: “Technology is transforming every aspect of our daily lives. Even further, the ways in which children access, absorb and process information is changing as a result of their exposure to technology. When you walk into many schools however, you still find technology used sparingly. The average classroom today looks much like it may have 50 years ago. School policy usually requires that students put away any devices they own.”

I know this is true of our county schools. There are a couple computers in each classroom, used just as reinforcements of lessons/lectures. Teachers are hoping to get smartboards installed in each classroom in a couple years-but wouldn’t having a “smartboard” (ie. a tablet) in each child’s hands, manipulated by them, lead to the kind of instructional transformation we need to move into the next century of learning? Children would get the right information, at the right time, at the right pace. And with a touchable interactive interface, we’d have less fidgeting, and less boredom.

iTots-A digital learning future

As I research much needed education reform in the U.S. I’m discovering the multitude of people and organizations pushing for a new future–a digital learning future. This huffingtonpost.com article describes the need for our nation’s young people to prepare for life in a Jetson’s world, and let go of a Flintstones age. Just as we are told to limit our children’s time online, we just may find that digital learning, and a school system that supports it, could be the answer to a decades long decline in the effectiveness of our nation’s public schools.