Back in the days when we used to write checks, it was pretty common to get the year wrong in January. Force of habit. What amazes me is the way so many education leaders and thinkers seem to be stuck in a time warp and have trouble understanding that this isn’t 1970. We aren’t still writing checks by hand like we used to. Let me give you an example . . .
The headline “Rural Students” in the Report Roundup section of the January 6, 2010 edition of Education Week carries this pull quote immediately under it: “Students in Rural Schools Have Limited Access to Advanced Mathematics Courses.” Are you kidding? I mean, really, are you kidding? In the U.S. today there is ‘virtually’ no limit to access to any course.
What makes me angry is the real problem in 2010; namely, the unwillingness of teachers, schools, and districts to encourage and document learning when it occurs outside of their buildings or schedules. With internet access available at home, at school, at the public library, or elsewhere, the access is there! Why perpetuate the culture of dependence that has become so entrenched? Why do we hold onto the myth that the only learning that “counts” is what happens in 175 days from August to June – and only between 8 AM and 3 PM — and only from a “certified” teacher, and only when it occurs in a school building?
It is unacceptable that we continue to spread the myth that students lack access to opportunities for learning. This is 2010, not 1970, remember? It’s a bit like saying that students lack access to the latest video making the rounds on YouTube because the clip isn’t available on one of three channels that the student’s TV receives.
Students and parents need to begin demanding that schools understand that a new but important part of the educator’s role is to validate and document learning, no matter the time, the place or the source. While there may still be a few rare and isolated instances of pockets with no connection to the outside world, that is not the problem. The problem is systems that will not document learning when it occurs. We should be teaching students how to access the unbelievable learning resources available to them.
It’s 2010. The future’s ours, if we can free it!
Tags: education, education innovation, Education reform, informal learning, innovation, school reform, virtual learning
Excellent call to action, Tom! I’m with you that the students and parents need to make demands for change to happen. Therefore I think that we as teachers not only have to document learning which is a GIANT first step (or leap) in the right direction –but we also have to get the word out: 1) to other teachers (so that they see that they can make their work more relevant and enriching to students) and 2) to potential learners so that they are aware of the exciting opportunities out there for them to navigate and monitor their own progress.
As far as teachers go, everybody is working so hard…and a lot of time and energy seems to get swallowed up just dealing with the system as it is, that sometimes we don’t take the steps that we need to to change things for the better.
As an example: this year I began with good intentions of integrating the LinguaFolio into a new DL course here at KET. Well, the framework is there– and I’m proud of that– but other pressing duties related to the course creation have taken me away from monitoring things like I need to in order to get things where they should be.
I have heard from fellow educators that I shouldn’t be discouraged, that ‘baby steps’ in the beginning are so important (rather than no steps at all) and I know that they are right…. Still–though many of us know what direction we need to go in (and your writing here has really helped remind me of it! Thanks! )–it is taking some time.
Here, here, Tom! Unfortunately I am living in one of those districts… and how appropriate that John was the one to comment before me! At the beginning of the year I tried to help out a friend’s son with finishing his second year of German. He moved to my town from another state and had taken one year of German… and loved it! He was super motivated to continue but our district doesn’t offer German at the high school level, nor through our state virtual school.
No problem, I thought. I thought “outside the box” and suggested KET as an option. I offered to facilitate the course and the father offered to pay all the fees. The guidance counselor at the school said it all sounded fine but the whole thing got shut down by district administrators! What was the rationale? “Ms. Fulton is not a teacher at the high school” (never mind that my certificate is K-12 and I’m a lead teacher in the district) “The course doesn’t meet our standards” (last time I checked, the KY language standards were based on the national standards, just like in SC)…
I know that there are teachers who are thinking outside the box and understand that learning occurs everywhere. In my district, at least, the problem lies with the higher ups. I’m continue to “fight the good fight”.. but it can be exhausting!