- Is the incorporation of a global education expensive in not only dollars but in time with the students? Teachers often complain that more and more is added onto their plates and each additional item means less time for what's important.
For education to become effective there needs to be a limit on what is taught and to whom. After having been thorough high school and college I have now learned that not everything I was taught in those years I use today. I understand math is important, I get that, but the quadratic equation? Really? When am I ever going to use that in today’s world? I feel that it is a long complicated process to get an answer for nothing. Why do they want me to find the value for X, (X + Y = Z) when Y = 33 and Z = a dog playing poker! Why not just tell us what X and Y equal and I will tell you Z’s total. Back to technology now. I know that many aspect of technology is important but are all? Yes and no! Yes because everything a computer does is helpful in its way and yes because it is our world today, computers are in everything and are everywhere. No, because a lot of the programs do not meet everybody’s needs. Can we teach every student individually to meet their technology needs? Nope! But we can teach what is needed for education purposes. All districts have their requirements for what is needed to be taught in computers so that students can move on and graduate. I understand that there is more and more new technology coming into our world at a rapid pace but we need to find out what programs and applications are best for the students education. Don’t waste all this time and money on trying to incorporate new technology that will not be useful to a student. Stick with the basics and then some on what will be best for them in their school years. Why add more technologies to learn but less time to show them the proper way to use it. Take one step at a time and show them what they need for the immediate future and how it will benefit them in the long run.
John,
ReplyDeleteCouple of thoughts on your post. Firstly, with the math thing, it still exists for 2 things. Algebra or Calculus is required for pretty much all degree programs and we are prepping students for college. Also, it teaches kids to problem solve, think backwards, organize information, and analyze a problem- all important skills. Annoying, yes. Useless, not so much.
Also on your issue of technology, I agree. There is so much coming down the pipe that we can't hope to teach everything. It is for this reason that I think it is important to teach students to be technologically fluent so that they start to think "this is my problem, what technology can I find that will help me fix it." This is what they will need to do in their jobs, so we can teach them that.
John,
ReplyDeleteI did the equation out and I got X+Y=Z with "Z" equalling a giraffe with a banjo. . . Maybe you can help me after class on Tuesday night.
In all seriousness though, I couldn't agree more with your sentiments about the amount of information that is forced on us to teach or students and then add technology on top of it. I do believe however that students can learn through technology and not have to be taught about the technology specifically. Through lessons students can utilize technology to problem solve, research, organize information, etc., etc., etc., and by slowly adding functions to what they are doing, they will be able to grab hold of a lot of the multimedia available to them.
Think about when you were in college doing those annoying math problems. I am sure at one point in your educational career you had to you one of those wonderful TI-89 calculators. I am also sure that when you did use that calculator for the first time, you had no idea what you were doing with it considering it had like a million buttons on it. But throughout the class, the teacher taught you how to solve complex equations using this magical technology called a calculator.
To me, as educators, we must be doing the same thing with our lessons, whatever they may be, with the technologies available to us so that we can expose our students to as much as humanly possible!
John - I was a math major in college and sometimes still do not make those real world connections with math. I bet if I had Dan Meyer Dan Meyer as my math teacher, I would be a lot better off now and remember more of why I needed quadratic equations and all that level 5 Calculus I took! Check out this Ted Talk . This video is hilarious and so true!
ReplyDeleteWhat I do agree with for you and other computer teachers is to make sure we are getting to the basics. We can never lose sight of the basic word processing, spreadsheets, etc.. skills that all students need. A strong focus on literacy skills as well as technology literacy are very important as well.