In evaluating the success of an educational program, our first inclination is to use our past experiences as a basis. Even better is to assess how successful our children are as a measuring tool. It is every parents dream that their children will grow to be successful adults, and we hope their school education will help with the preparation. For this to work, schools must operate in the world of the 21st Century.
The Internet Generation
Children in school today are part of the Internet Generation, or N-geners for short. What we need to be asking ourselves is if the schools of today are preparing this young Internet generation well enough to be successful in their future of tomorrow? Our society is no longer reliant on farming and industrial pursuits to be successful? What will be the defining aspects of the lives of the Internet Generation? What tools will they need to thrive in their world? It seems as though everyone has their own opinion, let us explore what the owners and managers in corporate America will be looking for from this generation.
In the article Rigor Redefined (2008), Tony Wagner interviewed many corporate CEOs to find out what they are looking for in todays workforce. Wagner was surprised at some of the answers he discovered to his questions. For example, the President of BOC Edwards indicated that what he was looking for first and foremost was someone to ask good questions. He stated that while they could always teach the technical stuff, it is very difficult to teach someone how to think and to ask good questions.
Many of these company CEOs shared their need to hire people who can work collaboratively in teams to discuss and come up with out of the box solutions for todays problems. All of this points to a need for educators to integrate into their teaching, meaningful activities with Blooms Taxonomy in mind. Throw out the old ditto sheets and give students real problems to solve. Give them opportunities to work in teams and make presentations of their work.
Redefine Rigor
Schools today need to understand the needs of their students and adjust their curriculums to meet those needs. It is a real concern when I see packaged curriculums used with no supporting real world examples attached to them. It is troublesome that the Teachers Guides provided to teachers require them to proceed with a lesson without really thinking about the real world applications. And School Districts are requiring teachers to report on planning and pacing guides the lessons taught every day, leaving little room for teaching outside the box.
Essential to learning is the relationship between the teacher and the student. Students must feel met by the teacher with insight and understanding of who they are as learners. Teachers do best when they are empowered to create meaningful lessons that speak to their students.
Technology
This is the internet generation. We need to find ways for students to use technology in their learning. It is natural to them, and we can introduce them to the many ways technology can be used for good. The use of smart boards, projectors for PowerPoint presentations, classroom response systems, and even cell phones may be in our future as teachers. Rather than resisting this trend, we must find ways to embrace it and further connect to the children of the Internet Generation.
Integrated Learning
An integrated approach is the best solution to avoid boring and mundane lesson plans that dont speak to the Internet Generation. By using topics such as social studies and science as the topics for reading and writing class, the students will get an experiential approach to their lessons that will make them more relevant in the long run.
The trend we are seeing toward cutting social studies and science to focus more on reading, writing and math in our school districts is disturbing. A simple solution is to integrate those subjects into the basic core skills in order to provide a rich and interesting curriculum to our students. A lack or social studies and science instruction will result in students unable to make connections and apply their knowledge to other subject areas, a critical component to lifelong success.
Many schools are struggling to educate children in poverty. Nearly 17% of all students come from poor families struggling to survive. These children have less life experience knowledge and vocabulary skills than their middle and upper class peers. Leaving out rich and varied subject matters at the expense of reading, writing and math subjects only magnifies these differences as children in poverty have little chance to learn these subjects outside of the school environment.
It is the job of parents and educators alike to commit to building cultural literacy through science social studies and the arts in order to give the Internet Generation the best opportunities in life that we can. It is a proven psychological fact that the best way to learn new things is to be able to apply it to something we have already experienced. Children, especially those with limited opportunities to experience new things outside of school, must be given a broad base of experiences in which to build.
Numerous studies have found that academic achievement translates to higher incomes, and that cultural literacy has a direct effect on a students academic achievement. To prepare students o the Internet Generation for the future they will face as adults in the 21st Century, educators must provide opportunities to expand the students stores of knowledge and cultural literacy, not just focus on the tested subjects of reading, writing and math.
Donna Newberg Long, aka Principal Donna has been an educator for over 20 years. As the founding principal of 2 schools, she brings a wealth of knowledge to her consulting with teachers, principals and boards. Donna is available for consulting services for start ups and schools in need of help. Visit www.AskPrincipalDonna.com for more information or call 303.280.5220 to discuss your schools needs.
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