Change may not always be "good," but it is a constant in life, and we should all be doing our best to make the change better.
*One of my favorite parts about blogs is that I can use it to ramble, which helps me come up with clear thoughts (sometimes) and show how I reached them, so here we go!*
I read an opinion blog by Nick Sheltrown through my RSS this week, and I have been thinking about it a lot since. The blog was through Education Next and titled "Pandemic Offers Opportunity to Extend Learning Time." The blog itself is about how the pandemic has given us "a chance to reak free of seasonal, location-centric learning." The idea is that learning can take place all year because of distance learning, and that this may be needed due to the learning gaps caused by the pandemic. He presents an idea of creating "a mastery-based learning plan for every student that includes learning throughout the calendar year..." That is an interesting idea! Is it the right one? Maybe, maybe not, but it is a step in the right direction.
I honestly believe that the way we do K-12 school needs a change, a big one. What we have now works "ok," but it seems like there could be a better option. I discuss this with those around me often and have new ideas, not all of them being "good," come up when I read research, opinions, or experience life in the classroom. I like the idea of year-round school, students lose a lot of knowledge and routine during the summer, the whole first month or so can be spent trying to fix that! I like the idea of students learning at their own pace, something that distance learning can do well! I like the idea of students being able to choose different ways of showing mastery, but that is incredibly hard to keep up with when there are 30+ kids in your class, and you have multiple absences, behavior issues, and who knows what else that day happening in your room each class period. We need smaller class sizes; we need a way of keeping students safe from lost learning time due to other students' behavior and a way/time/resources to help students with extreme behaviors. We need to think about what we want our schools to do, because right now, we want our K-12 schools to do EVERYTHING. This causes teacher burn out, because as much as we may want to, WE CANNOT DO IT ALL. I put that in caps because this is something I need to remind myself of constantly.
As I went through my period of burn out, I found online teaching was the future for me, and a future I believed in. I believe it is the start of the change we need in our education system. I see the value in physical schools, but I do not think it is, or has to be, for every student. There has to be a better way, and the more ideas we can come up with, the more support and buy-in we can get from educators, parents, and students, the better it will work.
I have learned a lot about using Web 2.0 tools in EME6414 and am excited to put what I have learned into practice in the future, especially when I finally become an online educator!
What are some of your ideas? I would love to hear them! Have you had experience in non-traditional K-12 schools? Do you think what we have right now is our best option? I am open to hearing support for the old as well :)
Blog that inspired this post:
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