· What
did I learn?
· What
does it mean and what supports that position?
· What
are the ways in which it might impact my practice?
I will begin with what I wrote down when asked what the
Saber-tooth Curriculum was about. It is
about why we need education and how once it began to evolve – it became much
much more. As it became its own entity there
were problems of who would decide what was taught, then how the curriculum should
be taught and how the curriculum did not stay relevant for today’s students.
I think the most critical question is how do we decide in
education what do we need to be teaching now that will prepare our students for
the jobs that will be in the future. I
guess the reality is that we have had this problem for a while. There are technologies that exist now and
skills that I have had to learn along the way to stay up with my own children
and current students. Maybe that is part
of the problem with the overview of education is not staying current. Another huge issue I believe in connection
with what should be relevant in the curriculum is the technology gap. An example of this is in my own library when
I get new kindergarten students each year.
They have to learn how to use a laptop because that is the only technology
I have. Granted, I am grateful I even
have all those computers, but they are no long relevant to what these little
guys are already using. They come in
with no idea what is a keyboard or mouse and try to swipe my screens.
In our readings I do think that the 4 Cs are very important
and not really something this is a really new idea. We have always needed critical thinking,
communication, collaboration, and creative innovation. While it is not new, I guess it has not been
stressed until the current 21st century student or future ready
student. I think that the 4 Cs go hand
in hand with the P.I.C.K.L.E. principle. As a librarian, I really focus on the
literacy aspect of information. There is
so much information that we try to digest every day and the importance of
problem solving and critical thinking is vital in today’s everyday interaction
with information.
So have you ever pondered WHY you are a student of continuous learning? Think back to what made you that way? Can you pin it down? Cause if you can, you have your answer as to what we need to teach and how. If only I knew that answer too!
ReplyDeleteWe are expected to prepare our students for the future. However, how is it truly possible to do that without knowing that the future has in store? I like what you say about the technology gap! I too struggle to teach my students how to use computers, and I teach third grade! They try to swipe or tap out of things. They do not know how to problem solve when the shrink the screen, need to delete something, or using databases. With a generation so exposed to technology, it is hard to believe that the technology in schools is fairly foreign to them!
ReplyDeleteTechnology is also constantly changing and new programs being added to utilize in the classroom. Sometimes I feel like I am not using the newest and best technology tools in our classroom. I seem to get stuck on using a game like Kahoot or post a game on Classroom for students to practice a specific math skill during math workshop but are these the best that are out in the wide world of the web?
ReplyDeleteI agree that the 4 C's go hand and hand with the PICKLE. I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks when we learn more about the design process. It all seems to be fitting together each week.
I can't believe how far we've come in such a short period of time. Does it ever hit you that if the iPhone was a child, it would still be in middle school? But I'm with Jordyn on this one. Part of me thinks that preparing for future technology is somewhat an exercise in futility--we don't know what we don't know, right? How could we have predicted the smartphone revolution in, say 2005 if even the CEO of Microsoft dismissed it at the time?
ReplyDelete