educationation

Education in America.  A 20/20 story.

Let’s see…it is topical. It’s worthwhile. Are there things that you would rather read about? I hope not, otherwise, you wouldn’t be here. I think blogging on education is more important now than ever because:

1. Blogging in and of itself is a creative process
2. Education is such a huge topic that one needs some reflective thought put into it
3. What do I know….I know that I know little, and that there is a world of unknown thoughts and ideas to discover
4.  I am branching out and trying new things, as all people should
5. If you are the least bit interested in the topic of education, you should blog about it…
6. Blogging is a way to get your ideas down on paper (screen) so you can unlock your mind and let the words flow from your fingertips. Heck, that’s what I seem to be doing right now!
7. Why not blog about education? There is a classic story of a student taking a philisophy exam with a giant question mark for the question. The response was a giant exclamation point.
8. i.e. When someone asks you why? You can respond by saying why not!
9. Education is at a tipping point.
10. More and more teachers will be required to teach the growing population of young students.
11. At some point we will have to ask ourselves, who will replace the large population of teachers set to retire.
12. Blogging, it seems, seems to be my natural outlet to express and share some views on education.
13. I have no Master’s degree or PhD behind my name, so I haven’t published any scholarly article on education…so the blog continues…
14. It’s fun. I’ll keep doing it until it ceases to be fun and rewarding. Please keep reading and post my blog link, or Digg it! Thanks.

Some people think that if we go to the “right” college that we will be set for life. Those people assume that just by going to this school that it will help ensure success later in life. While to some extent, I am sure there is evidence to suggest that going to say, Yale or Harvard or any of the Ivy League or better known schools may help you get a “good” job, I don’t believe that true success can be measured by which school one attends. It is a myth. Here are some other thoughts I have on the subject of “The Right College Myth”

1. All schools are not created equal, I agree
2. But who decides which is the “Right College?”
3. Is it the ranking system that you see that is developed that you can buy in local bookstores to measure yardsticks?
4. I went to an accredited college, which had a well developed curriculum of course content and instructors in a city and state that I liked, could afford and wanted to be. It was the right college for me.
5. I also transferred from another college that taught me so much out of the classroom. I grew as a person and the memories I have of there, I will have forever. It was the right college for me.
6. Success to one person may not be that to another. What one man treasures, another will hate. Success depends a lot on the individual’s values and is influenced by their upbringing.
7. When choosing the “Right College” one should carefully consider the sort of students and teachers they wish to be around, the school atmosphere and climate for learning, the accreditation of the program of study, any extracurricular and international presence, the size of the school and a few other factors.
8. My point is that everyone decides differently on where they want to go to school, and with a little guidance you will know that there is no “Right College” that one must go to. Only a right college that was right for you at the time. You will get an education in many places and forms. Just be on the look out for it when it seeks you out.

I’ve thought long and hard about this question about “What Makes a Good Teacher” and I believe it has many angles to it. Teachers sometimes are born to teach because it is what they were put on this planet to do. They serve a higher purpose and good. Other times a teacher is prepared, either by going to school or through life experience. The road of life has prepared this teacher to share their experience with students. Let me highlight a few more things on “What Makes a Good Teacher”

1. Passion, a good teacher must have this.
2. They must have a fire in their belly that lights up their students
3. They must love kids
4. They must love the learning process
5. They must be Lifelong Learners
6. They must be willing to try new things
7. A good teacher is one who has something to share with the world
8. A good teacher is one who is sensitive to the learning environment of his students
9. A  good teacher is one who is engrossed in the subject matter
10. Yet, has various interests beyond their subject of expertise
11. Is a great listener and communicator
12. Can use multiple modes of instruction and can vary their technique when appropriate
13. If it is a classroom situation, has learned how to deal with classroom management and discipline, especially when dealing with younger students
14. is willing to learn from others
15. learns from his mistakes and tries not to repeat them
16. branches out and a spirit of exploration and discovery
17. feels young at heart and comfortable talking with and engaging his students
18. reads and is technologically competent
19. doesn’t watch a lot of mindless television, but chooses what their mind is exposed to
20. reaches out to the wider community
21. always has an active mind and is never really bored

Suppose we go to school and all the teachers taught were the basic subjects and that once you have finished learning them, that was it. That would not be fair to you, nor would it be fair to the world or your community.

Lifelong Learning has many advantages that should be encouraged and supported by the proper learning environment. They say that Life is the greatest teacher of all. Here are some of my thoughts on the topic of Why Lifelong Learning is Important?

1. It promotes our natural and human curiosity
2. It is good for business
3. It is the best way to encourage students and motivate them, knowing that there is more available beyond the school walls
4. It does continue beyond graduation of high school or college
6. The above video is about creating fieldtrips2.0 blogs like at EduBlogs.org and Wikispaces.com
7. Lifelong Learning helps to foster continuous activity and good mental health thus prolonging life and wellness.
8. As the population ages, particularly the baby boom generation, it will be more important for them to find things they want to learn about and do
9. Lifelong Learning is about experiencing the new and unknown
10. Whether you are in school or not, lifelong learning can continue
11. Whether it is picking up a book at a library or reading in a bookstore
12. Watch a play, see a movie, travel, relax, ……live the life you were meant to
13. Be the teacher that you need in your own life, or find someone who can be
14. Seek out new experiences and work at what is stopping you
15. Be inspired, or inspiring to others
16. Learn from others mistakes and your own
17. Achieve a balanced lifestyle
18. Know what personal success means to you so that you don’t bring yourself down
19. Be a Legend…..
20. Do what you want or love to do
21. Find your place in the world and know that there is a reason for everything

See video above. It’s called Pay Attention by TeacherTube,  a video I found on YouTube.

As a matter of fact, why read this blog, just go check out the video! I’ll tell you why. I can provide you a quick commentary on it and even some reflection. Here are a few things I picked up from watching the video in a matter of minutes.

1. We live in a digital age
2. More students are “hooked up” to the internet or their ipod or their video games
3. I’m betting you chose to look at the video, but what I’m also counting on is that you give some time for reflection on its meaning
4. we can use podcasting to teach students
5. we can use instant messaging and texting for real subject teaching
6. There are multiple intelligences: visual, logical, spatial, linguistic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, body-kinesthetic, musical and naturalist…(Howard Gardner) .but mostly they are “Digital Learners”
7. We can teach using cellphones!
8. More and more children have a personal computer or are using one at an early age to learn
9. Just because there are only 8 things listed here doesn’t mean there aren’t more
10. We live in a time that needs teachers who can engage their students
11. Learning requires sharing and collaboration as it is a social activity
12. Sometimes, I look at students who can type faster on their cell phone, or calculator than write things by hand or figure it out on paper and I wonder to myself where is the future of education going.
13. Our students need to be engaged by the tools of the modern era, whether it be Google,Wikipedia, Youtube, blogging, email, cell phones, internet, text and chat messaging. You name it….students are using it and teachers should be too.
14. I figure that by the time a student enters a teacher preparation program, a small percentage of the technology currently being used will have become outdated in a few years or so, requiring more capital expense to re-outfit and compete.
15. So much more…that I believe I have only just scratched the surface…it is up to you.
16. Here is the link I found in the video

http://t4.jordandistrict.org/payattention

Happy New Year Readers,

Sorry it has been a few days since my last post but you know how it is with end of year arrivals. I thought to myself what would make a good topic to continue this Education blog.

For many years I have wondered about education and what it means to be educated.

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary gives several definitions for the word educate, including “to train by formal instruction and supervised practice especially in a skill, trade, or profession” and “to develop mentally, morally, or aesthetically especially by instruction.”Do we suddenly arrive at a point in our lives when we are educated? Education is a lifelong process, and I don’t believe we go to school expecting to be really and fully educated. Whether one is in school or not, whether one goes to school or not, whether you have a degree or not, does not in itself mean that one “is educated.” An education is not simply something you can purchase for a price like a product, and then to be expected to “be educated.”

Suppose one goes to school to study one thing and like a lot of people, graduates college and must seek employment. What does it mean when you go to school for one thing, and get a job doing something totally different from what you studied in school. It does not invalidate the educational experience, but one begins to wonder what is the best way that one can spend the money to maximize a return on investment.

The ability to think and to reason, or to reflect upon life and our surroundings should be a benchmark on which to place the title of being educated.

Of the seven or eight different types of intelligences, from musical, to mathematical/logical to linguistic, to visual/spatial, body-kinesthetic, to intrapersonal and interpersonal communication, there has not been enough attention placed for the varying degrees of learners. Schools of the past cater mostly to the auditory style, where the teacher says X and expects the student to learn by hearing the information, most likely through repetition and testing, and reteaching. This leaves out a vast percentage of those who learn visually, by seeing information in front of them or at their fingertips, for example, with laptops, computer screens or through games.

Video on future of education, high schools, colleges, universities, curriculum, syllabus, exams, assessments, business schools, MBAs, degree courses - by Dr Patrick Dixon, conference keynote speaker for NAIS

http://www.globalchange.com

• Future of schools, colleges, universities, education.
• Pupils need broader perspective.
• Preparation of children and teenagers for life.
• Syllabus and curriculum.
• Grades and exams.
• How examinations are poor test of workplace skills.
• Challenges of parents and teachers.
• Purpose of education.
• World changing faster than you can plan a syllabus.
• Teaching methods and trends.
• Teaching materials.
• Preparing students for uncertain world.

You know, the topic of the blog today, is “Future of Education”…We all know that things are not going to return to the way they were when your parents or grandparents went to school.

What are we preparing the students of today for tomorrow? Are we preparing them to be workaholics like their baby-boom generation parents. Are they going to be working in manufacturing plants, which have since closed or laid off workers, and had the industry shipped overseas to places where the labor is less expensive?

Technology will dominate, and is already dominating, the future of education. Yet the current schools and institutions need to upgrade their thinking. Yes, the world is changing faster than you can plan a syllabus. By the time a student graduates from college, they must quickly learn that in order to compete, they must never stop the learning cycle. Don’t ever be satisfied with the piece of paper that you received. Always want more…

Our students of today are the tech generation. They have known about email for all their life, and can probably not remember when “snail mail” was in.

What will the Future of Education hold? There is little doubt these days that things need to change. Businesses are changing faster than schools can keep up. Schools don’t have enough access to funding that they need to upgrade their equipment to have digital classrooms. Funding will be a whole other post, but where there is budget cuts in any state or federal program, education is sure to feel the axe first. Government would rather spend their money in other parts of the economy.

My hope is that education will one day be so easy to obtain, that it will become ubiquitous; easy, affordable and everywhere. Education should be a universal process that anyone who wants it, should be able to have access to it. The internet is one international tool that is making that happen. But there needs to be teachers, and places, and resources for students to fulfill those needs.

Dear Readers, fellow surfers, seekers of knowledge and information,

Welcome to the blog of blogs. I promise I will do my best to provide good content and links to sources of information that I find useful and informative.

Here is one I found recently:

There are lots of places you could find information, knowledge and resources. Just look at the size of the internet today and you will see how far it has come in the past ten years alone. All one has to do is type in a word or phrase in a search engine and a barrage of results will be at your fingertips.

I’ve been using Google as my main search engine for quite some time now, and I have found a lot of useful links and information over the years. Some led me down one path, while other results led me completely astray. That is not the fault of the search engine. It is only doing its function, which is, to provide you with results in a list. But some search results are huge, others are only minimal. The best part about Google, is that you can find just about almost anything you are looking for…However, I’ll leave you with a simple quote I read somewhere from an unknown author….”How do we remain sensitive to the information we lost when we went looking for the information we got?”

M.C. Escher - Can you tell what is up and which is down?