I don’t know if it is because the Democratic National Convention is in Denver, or the candidates demand more attention, or there is more media coverage than usual, or just because I am getting to an age where I am more interested; but this election year I am following everything more closely and digging a little deeper into the different issues. \u00a0One of the hot topic issues for me is education. \u00a0I have to say, I’m not really compelled by either candidates “plan.” \u00a0On the surface the plans sound really good. \u00a0Higher pay for teachers= Good. \u00a0 Merit pay for educators who are going above and beyond= Good. \u00a0Education that makes our students global competitors= Good. \u00a0Education with a focus on 21st century skills= Good. \u00a0High quality education for all= Good. \u00a0 More money toward education= Good. \u00a0 My problem comes in how this is actually going to play out. \u00a0Simply throwing more money at the education system is not EVER going to solve the problem. \u00a0I work in one of the wealthiest counties in the United States. \u00a0Our schools have money, technology, great teachers, etc. \u00a0And yet, only about 80% of students are graduating high school. \u00a0Granted this is significantly higher than the country’s average, but even with all of the advantages that money brings, it still isn’t 100%.<\/p>\n
Paying teachers more is a FABULOUS idea and one that I hope moves forward, but just because a teacher is paid more does not mean that education will get better. \u00a0Merit pay is a wonderful idea in theory, but HOW do we decide who deserves merit pay, a test, a popularity contest? \u00a0Does the government know what a good teacher I am or how invested I am in my students success (I know that this will be\u00a0delegated\u00a0to people who may know but really, my own colleagues don’t know what a good teacher I am. \u00a0They have no idea that I attend online conferences, conversations, and research. \u00a0They have no idea that I update a blog daily giving teachers ideas for integrating technology in their classroom. \u00a0They have no idea that I interact with teachers all over the world on a daily basis to learn how to be a better teacher.) \u00a0And again, just because I am making more money does not necessarily mean that I am educating students better than I did last week.\u00a0I am obviously a HUGE fan of 21st century learning and teaching and believe that it is a necessity, but I am not naive enough to think that just because I am teaching 21st century skills that it is going to change the education of America’s children. \u00a0There are a host of reasons that kids come to school not ready to learn. \u00a0Just because we are teaching the latest and greatest doesn’t mean that our students are ready to soak it all in.<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago I was hit with an overwhelming sense that education is so much more than what happens inside the classroom and school. \u00a0Kids aren’t coming to school prepared to learn. \u00a0They have needs that have to be met before they can take in anything we have to give them (no matter how shiny, new, and expensive it is). \u00a0If a child isn’t getting a good breakfast before school they aren’t focused on learning, they are focused on a hungry tummy. \u00a0I have had students in my classroom who were being abused. \u00a0A child with a cigarette burn on their arm is not concerned about the phonics lesson of the day, no matter how compelling it is. \u00a0Kids who are made the “parent” in their home and are put in charge of all their brothers and sisters are thinking about that, not your wonderful math lesson. \u00a0When a family member is dying of cancer students aren’t focused on the science lesson. \u00a0There are a lot of factors outside the school that put a stress on education. \u00a0None of them can be addressed by the school system alone. \u00a0Then their are kids growing up in families and communities where education isn’t valued. \u00a0This isn’t just happening in inner city schools where kids are practically raising themselves. \u00a0I have students who tell me on a daily basis that no one in their family reads…not even a newspaper. \u00a0I believe them. \u00a0Kids who grow up in a community where education isn’t valued have no reason to succeed and continue their education. \u00a0They don’t connect success in life with education and the ability to be a life long learner. \u00a0 I realized that whenever we hear a success story of a kid who beat all the odds, was the first to graduate high school; made it out of the slums, they always say the same thing…”my mom (grandma, aunt, uncle, dad, grandpa) told me that education was the most important thing.” \u00a0Someone in their lives instilled in them the value of education. \u00a0We have a large portion of the population who doesn’t value education. \u00a0In the wealthier communities it may be because they place more value on the sports and activities that kids are involved in. \u00a0In the poorer communities it may be because the parents didn’t get an education that they felt was of value in their lives.<\/p>\n
A test is never going to improve education on its own. \u00a0Students don’t need to learn to memorize random facts and regurgitate them on a state mandated test. \u00a0All that a test shows is superior short term memory. \u00a0We live in an age where any information you could ever need to know is at your finger tips all the time. \u00a0Any child will tell you “I can just Google it”. \u00a0They are right. \u00a0Memorization is not necessarily a prized skill any more. \u00a0Kids need to learn how to search out information, how to evaluate, how to communicate, how to solve problems, how to think critically, how to work creatively. \u00a0 Teaching has to be relevant to students or they aren’t going pay attention. \u00a0What good is education that doesn’t involve? \u00a0Technology opens many of these doors to students but what good is all the technology in the world if we don’t have educators who know how to use it? \u00a0 \u00a0Technology is changing daily at an ever increasing rate. \u00a0How can we expect educators to teach with technology if we aren’t offering continuous training, state of the art tech support, and the\u00a0infrastructure\u00a0to allow it all to happen?\u00a0Kids need education that is relevant to the world they are living in. \u00a0A test, by the way, is NOT relevant. \u00a0Kids have enough factors pulling them away from learning, we don’t need to help the situation by making education irrelevant. \u00a0The problem is that schools are run by tests.<\/p>\n
No Child Left Behind makes me absolutely crazy. \u00a0When you listen to the concept it is great, the problem is that it doesn’t play out realistically in schools. \u00a0So, all this to say that no matter how good the words sound, education is not going to be an easy fix. \u00a0Ever. \u00a0I’m not sure that the government can really change the education system. \u00a0Communities need to get involved, let kids know how important education is. Families need to come together and support each other in all of their struggles. \u00a0Schools need to decide that teachers are going to be provided ongoing education that is relevant to the current global climate. \u00a0Teachers need to create lessons that are engaging and teach kids how to learn. \u00a0 Education is something that everyone has to be “in” on. \u00a0Schools can’t do it alone. \u00a0Teachers can’t do it alone. \u00a0The government can’t do it alone. \u00a0It is going to take everyone working together with a common goal to fix this problem.<\/p>\n
I recently heard of a local program that I LOVE and must learn more about. \u00a0The idea behind the program is to take kids who don’t have wonderful educations, because of all the reasons listed above, and to house them, commune with them, teach them how valuable education is, provide them with a state of the art education, and mentor them. \u00a0The students in this program go back to be leaders in their communities. \u00a0They take what they have learned and bring it back to their community. \u00a0I love the idea of making kids leaders in their communities. \u00a0It is programs like this one that are going to change education. \u00a0(I will post more about this program for those who are interested).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don’t know if it is because the Democratic National Convention is in Denver, or the candidates demand more attention, or there is more media coverage than usual, or just because I am getting to an age where I am more interested; but this election year I am following everything more closely and digging a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[637,315,634,635,79,638,193,639,636],"class_list":["post-534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-barak-obama","tag-critical-thinking","tag-democratic-national-convention","tag-dnc","tag-education","tag-john-mccain","tag-learning","tag-policies","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5959,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534\/revisions\/5959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilearntechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}