Professor Stephen Heppell discusses the change from factory schools to schools which will cater to the needs of the 21st century. He believes that ten years from now our schools will have grown up and become a place where learning is as much a part of your life as health is. Schools are creating a lost generation and my problem is my youngest son is one of these children. What will become of him and by extension all students if schools are not taking responsibility to educate these students for their future? Teachers are (or are not) adopting new technologies in a variety of ways and there are many analogies to explain where they are at.
My friend and colleague explains her view of the types of teachers involved in change in her post Hanging about in Whine Bars.
As I read this, it was easy to identify changes in my teaching along my journey to today and beyond. Maybe we weave in and out depending on the technologies and our circumstances at the time. Where are you on your journey and how do we encourage our colleagues towards teaching for the 21st century?
So what needs to change for the 21st century? Taking a measure of ICT Integration talks about three factors, resources, skills and curriculum needed for effective change. While we aware of the characteristics of 21st C learners what skills do our 21st C teachers need. In a related post, 21st C Teachers, says teachers need to have many characteristics for today’s students and need to be learners as well as now about learning.
To ensure effective change in our schools, we need to ensure that all the factors are in place. Where does your school fit and how do we encourage our colleagues to meet the needs of their students? What is the difference you are making?
We all love our mums and we love being a mum. But remember when we were growing up and we listened to our mothers going on and on. We all said I’m never going to say that to my children. Well, I did anyway. Now, I hear myself saying those same words. If this sounds like you, you might enjoy this video called Mum’s Song, everything a mum says in a day, sung in two minutes to the William tell Overture by Anita Renfroe.
This is going to be a steep learning curve for me. It will also make me pay attention to my blog and post more often. I have a real collection of drafts that need more thought and work.
Question 1. How often do I respond to other blogs? Well, it was part of my New Year’s resolution to comment on blogs and respond more to twitter and stop lurking. So in a week I try to comment on 2 other blogs. No I haven’t tracked my comments before. Sometimes I click in the box that sends you follow up comments. I commented on one of Will Richardson’s posts and got so many follow up comments it was hard to keep up but it was great conversation and I learnt a lot. I don’t always comment on the same blogs. I usually follow twitter links and comment on those that interest me.
Gina Trapani’s Guide to Blog Comments
I do try to stay on the topic. Quite often I find others have made many relevant and pertinent comments and I can’t think of anything to add. Maybe that’s what I need to improve on.
OK Here goes. Let the fun begin
