I was given an opportunity to attend a very good edtech conference this week, the Southwest Building Learning Communities conference by Alan November's group. One of my friends was unable to attend all three days and allowed me to take her place on the final day. (Thank you Kathryn!) I had heard of the conference before but it's expensive so I didn't even ask. I'm very glad I went!
The keynote session by Mr. November was not anything novel, but certainly reinforced the beliefs I have in engagement, relevance, and how sad it is when gifted students have to cobble together their own educations. The conference assistants were young people who obviously had far more knowledge into tech than I do. One young man talked about his efforts in creating an iphone app in order to prove mastery in a chemistry class rather than take two pencil and paper tests. I smiled all the way through his talk, until he said he worked on it, with and without the teacher, pretty much on his own time. So, he learned what he needed for his app, which was everything from the unit being taught, developed and created an instructional tool that would help his peers also learn the material, but had to continue on with regular classroom instruction? What?!?
I know the teacher was doing the best he could in addressing the needs of all of his students including this one, but how sad is it that there's nothing more tailored for students achieving above the "normal" expectations? It's wonderful the teacher was able to see how much more this young man could do and find a way to encourage his learning. But I wonder if that teacher had to find the way, by himself, to help outside the parameters of normal learning curves. And that is where this conference was pointing...teachers helping teachers.
The student also mentioned that he did not always attend a school which fostered his learning through the use of tech. He was very pleased this one did have the tools he could use to go beyond the norm. And that's the other place the conference went...using the tools available to expand learning environments. Where would this wonderful young person been without them? Would he have tuned out school? Where would he be if his school had the tools but no teachers willing to take the risk to use them? Not a pretty thought.
I hear stories like this young man's quite a lot. The tales are inspiring and hopeful. But I admit that I'm beginning to become a little bitter, too. Why, after all these years, are these recollections so unusual? Why aren't they normal? When is the world of education going to rouse from its apathy and realize that one size does not fit all? It's imperative that we stop squandering the education of our students...ALL our students. Do we want everyone meeting minimum skill levels? Or do we want each and every child to become the very best they can be- lifelong learners, problem solvers, critical thinkers, creative souls?
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