I wonder how the story will be told ten years from now. Will it be the story of how grand legislation changed the course of history? A story of how brave business leaders and politicians came together in office meetings and despite political unrest and disorderly teachers pushed through tough standards and difficult assessments. Will it be the story of how communities came together and found each other? A story of teachers, principals, and leaders connecting with other colleagues, sharing, and caring about each others successes and challenges.
Education is different now. The children aren't different, but education is. Each day, parents send us curious children. Each bearing the weight of challenges of home life and school life on their shoulders. Each with hopes and dreams. Each wanting to grow and learn. Each wanting to connect with others in the classroom hoping that they will be friends. Our students, at their very core, are no different than we were. Sure they know more. They have had access to a world of information through the internet, television, video, radio, and books to a level that we never had. They are more persistent, hitting challenges within their games and seeking solutions, "cheats, walk-throughs, & lets' play videos" on the internet. But at their core, they are the same curious, interested, loving, and silly boys and girls that walked through our doors 10, 20, or 40 years ago.
Education is different now. Learning isn't different, but education is. When students make connections to the learning experience, they become interested in it. Investment grows, interactions increase, and the likelihood of being able to remember the content, concepts and skills to apply in the real world increases. When children are engaged in the learning, not simply observing the teacher or completing the worksheet, they retain more. The more they work collaboratively with adults and other students, the more likely the experiences will have a stickiness to it. Sure, technology has opened doors for us to do this more frequently. It has given us access to all the resources in the world and the capacity to make professional grade products. But at the core, meaningful learning isn't different than it was 10, 20, or 40 years ago.
Education is different now. Standards and assessments related to the standards are different. With the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards there is a level of collective national drive to push content, concepts, and tests to all students as never before in history. Children have become very aware of instructional standards and concepts. They know that ISAT, PARCC, and SmarterBalance are coming and they they will spend over 20 hours this year on State tests that they will not use the results in their classroom. Tests are part of their lives. Some meaningful, impacting what they are learning and how they go about. Some disconnected, entities of the "State." Our children are good children and most of them try to do well regardless. Our children have learned that many of the "State" tests will label them... Below, Meets, Exceeds, & Warning. They approach the assessments like we approached the Presidential Fitness test in the 80's, an obligation that must be done if it can't be avoided. Politicians and business leaders indicate that only through tough standards and assessment can we drive innovation and skills forward but has this ever really worked. Did it work when the standards movements began in the 80's? With the tough tests of the 90's? No Child Left Behind of the last decade? Our economy has moved forward, our innovation has moved forward, yet these leaders would have us believe that schools have become progressively worse even though it is they who have been tinkering with it for more than 30 years.
Education is different now. The revolution has begun. It started about five years ago. Teachers discovered Facebook. Many liked connecting with their friends and started sharing ideas. Then Pinterest came around. While they were looking for photos of wedding dresses, birthday cakes, and the perfect bag, they discovered activities, crafts, and learning projects that advanced their practice. Then, Twitter happened. Short, easy, and come whenever you like. 140 character bursts of ideas. It started with that's a cool idea and oh, I want to read that article. Then the two-way dialogue happen, the chats. Conversations between experts in the field and the classroom teacher next door. People brainstorming about ideas at the core of learning. The attitude welcoming, supportive, and encouraging. Whether its #ntchat (new teacher chat), #nt2t chat (new teachers to twitter chat), #satchat (saturday chat), #iledchat (Illinois Ed Chat - one of my favorites), kinder chat (kindergarten chat), #elachat (English-Language Arts Chat) or the hundreds of others, teachers, principals, and leaders are coming together. Like the gathers of Plato's time, the salons of the 18th and 19th centuries, and the New York City stoops, we are social creatures that want to talk, interact, share, and become better people. Instructional practices are changing daily based on learnings educators from New Zealand, British Columbia, Virginia, and Deerfield, Illinois are sharing. Dialogues are reshaping learning opportunities because someone from Arlington Heights chatted with someone from Baraboo, Wisconsin. The leadership and learning in East Alton, Illinois is shaping the work of thousands of students hundreds of miles north of them.
Education is different now. When I entered the classroom nineteen years ago, my support network was a couple of science teachers in the building and my principal. One learned the ropes and discovered possibilities from an expert group of three-five people. Occasionally one attended classes for a semester or a week-long workshop each of which you paid for out of pocket. Now our support group is literally thousands of individuals in a PLN (personal learning network). Have a question, tweet it out. People like @jedipadmaster, @mssackstein, and @stumpteacher will send you ideas, thoughts, and supports. Education is moving from independent practice to collective reflection, sharing, and growth. Our very nature of being social and wanting to be social is driving the change. Creating knowledge and experiences beyond the boundaries of our classrooms.
Education is different now because the revolution has begun. Five to ten years from now, politicians may claim, if it is convenient and in their interests, that it was standards and assessments that moved the profession forward. Twenty years from now, sociologists will look closer and discover the reason education changed: the revolution has begun because interested people went out and found each other. Each day, the conversations and ideas inch us forward. Our "Tweeps" are becoming that support network not to clamor against the government or advertise the latest product, but rather to find, share, discover, connect, and learn. We have some interesting roads ahead, but we will discover, just like Plato and Socrates when we share our thoughts we expand our horizons. It is a great time to be in education.
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