Matt Leskey Wrote:
Revisiting paradigm changes.
Wow. I went back and reread the free post I made last week about the difficulty of changing education and I can’t believe how dark it is. Though it lightens up, the first half is like a relentless hammer of doom on how screwed up the current system and the difficulty of changing things. I must not have had enough coffee. While I think that the points about the difficulty of top down change are valid, I’m not sure that the situation is as desperate as I had implied. When I look around and speak with people who teach in public schools, I am noticing a shift in how things are working. Just a few years ago, the “we have to get technology in the schools!” mantra was being chanted, but oftentimes there was no planning and whatever was bought sat idle since no one knew how to use it. More recently, younger teachers who have grown up with computers, the Internet, and newer technologies have been replacing the old guard that was resisting change. In the old guard’s defense, change can be scary and a lack of training and support will make anyone a cynic about incorporating the latest craze. Younger teachers don’t require as much technology training and may be able to implement tech in the classroom a little easier. That’s not to say that all experienced teachers are afraid of change and technology, but there were quite a few at one point. The main thing is that there are more teachers that are willing to try new ways of reaching their students and that understand how to effectively use technology in the classroom. As this spreads, I hope that we see a bottom up change to the educational system. When one of the new guard creates something great for their class and their students start buzzing about it, it will spread to other classes through their school and district. Hopefully, good ideas and practices will take advantage of new media and social connections and spread in a viral manner. Something that I’ve noticed that could help with this spread is that most teachers are happy, and even eager, to share how they succeeded with a project. This creates a huge pool of resources that everyone can share in. The changes will also have to come from the bottom and work upward, since things are changing too fast for a government entity to keep up with. There will be missteps and setbacks and it’s still not going to be easy in any way. But, in a way, I think that the changes have to happen, not because we want them to, but because the world has changed and the education systems will need to match it. Still, I’m not so sure about letting students in a live classroom answer a question via Twitter.
Matt,
First of all, I read your post from the previous week and didn't find it dark at all. You offered some practical possibilities for change. You wrote, "The only way to make the changes happen in a reasonable amount of time is if they are started by the teachers and work their way up." That seems hopefully, but I think the point of the reading this month in the Art of Possibilities, points to a broader possibility. I think that change starts with the students and works its way up. Education will change when educators stop being the gate-keepers of knowledge and allow the students to take an active role in the creation of new ideas. Technology has facilitated enlightenment throughout the world by connecting people on a global scale to communicate and collaboratively generate new ideas. There is really no way to hold back a viral explosion of information. The new ideas will do more than just spread from the bottom and work their way upward; the ideas will envelop us. Sure there will be mistakes; how fascinating. There will be times where we will lose the track and descend into the downward spiral. All the more reason for framing the possibilities and continuing to examine what is on track and what is not. The change is already in motion with the momentum increasing beyond anyone's ability to contain. As educators, I believe it is our responsibility to become the guardians of the track, framing it and guiding it forward to its destination in the universe of possibilities.
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