“Digital
Leadership is a mindset and a call to transform a school’s culture into one
that unleashes the creativity of students so they can create artifacts of
learning that demonstrates conceptual mastery”. Do you agree that
schools should reflect real life?
I totally and completely
agree that schools should reflect real life. The system of that we have now of
teaching to the text is a failed one, and if we do not revamp our education
system to get with the times we will continue to fall behind in education.
Students want to be challenged with real world problems at school. They are
able to see that the education they are currently receiving does almost nothing
to prepare them for what comes after graduation. Administrations should allow
and encourage the use of personal technology to be used in order to create a
more comprehensive learning environment.
Summarize
the story of Clark Hall and reflect on your workplace or learning
environment. What are you thinking now after reading about Clark Hall?
Clark Hall came about
when it was found that Gahanna Lincoln High School was too small to house all
of its current students, and the students they were expected to get in the
future. Is was designed to be “an open, bright, and flexible space for
learning, provide student choice, integrate technology to engage students, be
flexible with time to focus on learning, provide students with the
opportunities to express their natural creativity, utilize teachers as
facilitators, promote interdisciplinary and interconnected projects, and make
learning fun.” I think more schools could learn from the example of Clark Hall.
Students excel in earning when they are given challenging real world problems
and assignments, and Clark Hall gives students a productive space for thinking,
learning, creating, and problem solving together.
Grant
Idea
For my grant my plan is
to apply for around 20 laptop tablets through Computers for Learning, for a
high school music department.
Brandon,
ReplyDeleteWhat's your plan for the iPads or PC Laptop Tablets? What do you mean by "Administrations should allow and encourage the use of personal technology to be used in order to create a more comprehensive learning environment" ? I do agree that the progressive atmosphere that seems to be generated at Clark Hall could be a great place to work.
Brandon,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with our education system falling behind. I think that we need to teach what our students are going to need when they get to the real world. Sometimes I think that school should be categorized by what students want to be when they start working toward a profession. That way students are gaining the knowledge that they know they are going to need when they start their career. So many times when I taught Math I would be asked, "when am I going to use this in real life?". It gets so frustrating because not every student is going to be graphing when they get older and finding the graph of cosine, sine, and tangent. Students do excel when they are learning things that are real world based. Students get motivated when they are learning something that they know they are going to use and going to need to know. I am anxious to here more about your grant and your technology choice.
This is on point for education, having real life applications shows how students could actually use the knowledge they are learning. Also, showing the application in a variety of jobs can help reach out to more students so they don't feel pegged into one type of job with that subject. Your grant proposal is one of the most essential grants for twenty-first century learning, getting technology into the classroom.
ReplyDeleteGood point about "students wanting to be challenged with "real world problems." This is so true. One of my students asked me if we should "send the middle-eastern folks back where they came from." It is amazing how judgmental and extremist my middle schoolers can be about such topics that they must have heard their parents or peers talking about. I took the opportunity to share with them my views that we cannot think one way about a group of people when only a minute amount of similarities are involved. We had a neutral conversation and I encouraged others to voice their opinions and I was glad to see their peers chime in to help adjust their mindsets and be more open minded and accepting. It was definitely a learning opportunity that I seized and made productive use of. It was eye-opening for sure and I hope in future the students will choose to be more tolerant and objective.
ReplyDeleteKudos to you for helping students with this conversation.
DeleteHi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to reading more about your grant proposal. I definitely agree with a productive work-space, an environment for student learning. My role as an instructional coach takes me into numerous classrooms- and environment is very important too learning. Students need a clean, organized and safe environment. Comfort and options for sitting and standing are a must. I think we need to remember how we felt as students in a classroom, and what we would've appreciated in the environment.
I agree 110% with you on this: "and if we do not revamp our education system to get with the times we will continue to fall behind in education." I think that it is so important to incorporate real life problems into education. I try to do that with my math classes. I try to connect the topic that we are learning with something that might happen in our real lives. I find that students are much more receptive and engaged win conversation when that is happening.
ReplyDelete