Our son is a sophomore in high school. We had asked him the other evening, "If you could have the optimal high school setting, what would that look like?" Below is his writing. It has not been edited, but his response really got me started thinking about questions teachers and administrators should be asking. Are schools preparing our students for the 21st Century? What does that look like? How can technology help? My mind started getting full of thoughts and questions that would take considerable amount of time to answer. As educators and/or parents, we may not know all the answers, but perhaps we can glean a little understanding from what our students/kids are telling us.
I think the best kind of high school situation for me would look like this:
"Me learning through the use of technology but still being able to hang out with my friends at school. For example, Using laptops in class. That way, the teacher could tell us where to go and show us some examples of what we are learning. The teacher could also limit where we went on the laptops and have control over them so the students wouldn't abuse them. I like learning through the use of technology and I think it's fun. It would make researching for a class a lot easier along with essay writing. We would be able to send our work to our teachers and ask for suggestions and help via e-mail or some other type of chatting thing. I would also like to have big desks with enough room for my books and my work along with the big comfy office chairs like the ones in accounting. This is what I think the best kind of high school experience I would like to experience."
2 comments:
I really like his response! Many people think that the technology will take over- and that we don't even need schools with walls anymore. Kids are more realistic about this- they still want to see their friends AND their teachers! But notice how he even has an idea of what his work area should look like? Smart kid. :-)
I saw the other day, and don't remember who said it on Twitter, that the more advanced technology becomes, the more needed teachers will be. I think he brings up great points about things many of us agree with - allowing students to use ALL tools available. Thanks for sharing!
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