The 21st Century Child
Well, it's been a month since I last posted. However, this is something that has been really on my mind professionally.
The 21st century student...what does he/she look like, how do they learn, what do they need to learn, how do we need to change our approach to instruction in order to reach the needs of these kids? Do we need to change? These are questions that I see facing me as an administrator and educator throughout the scope of my career.
As an administrator my questions also lean towards my staff... How do I convince them that there is a need for change? What skills need to be taught to the staff? What changes in philosophy ex: technology, BEHAVIOR, attention, motivation, parent involvement, will need to take place in order to focus on learning and not on some of the constant distractions that we HAVE NO CONTROL OVER and won't have control over...ever...ex: parent behavior, home environment, pre-school exposure.
It pains me to see my staff spend so much of their energy on these things. They care so much for these kids, however we only have control over what we have control over.
I know the usual response is "go slow to go fast", these things will happen with time, etc, etc. However I can't help but feel that we are already getting behind in adjusting to the 21st century student. I mean I'm "blogging" for crying out loud. Of course, right now my elementary students are "myspacing", "youtubing", "IM'n", and playing video games against other kids in other countries. Not because they are so advanced, but because it's just what is "cool" right now. Where do we begin?
The 21st century student...what does he/she look like, how do they learn, what do they need to learn, how do we need to change our approach to instruction in order to reach the needs of these kids? Do we need to change? These are questions that I see facing me as an administrator and educator throughout the scope of my career.
As an administrator my questions also lean towards my staff... How do I convince them that there is a need for change? What skills need to be taught to the staff? What changes in philosophy ex: technology, BEHAVIOR, attention, motivation, parent involvement, will need to take place in order to focus on learning and not on some of the constant distractions that we HAVE NO CONTROL OVER and won't have control over...ever...ex: parent behavior, home environment, pre-school exposure.
It pains me to see my staff spend so much of their energy on these things. They care so much for these kids, however we only have control over what we have control over.
I know the usual response is "go slow to go fast", these things will happen with time, etc, etc. However I can't help but feel that we are already getting behind in adjusting to the 21st century student. I mean I'm "blogging" for crying out loud. Of course, right now my elementary students are "myspacing", "youtubing", "IM'n", and playing video games against other kids in other countries. Not because they are so advanced, but because it's just what is "cool" right now. Where do we begin?
posted by Gary Kandel | 6:28 PM
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