Difficult Students are MY Responsibility

I'm reading a book about math differentiation and it talks about the negative attitudes many students have towards math. WHY? What did math do to these children? NOTHING, of course! So where does it stem from? Is it that math is naturally frustrating, or maybe it is that teachers have frustrated students through their perspective on math or their inability to effectively teach it.

The deepest question from all this is, does any of that matter? Nope, none of it does. I have no control over any of the above, nor does any other teacher. In fact, to justify why students don't learn math, or any other subject where it inserted in math's place, is to scapegoat the failures in our classroom to the others before us (oh how we've become so like the politicians in Washington.) Of course, the failures of others does make the tasks in our own classrooms that much harder, but when did EDUCATORS decide that they weren't going to educate? That is our job! However, many teachers have determined that if they can't simply speak it and a student learn it, it must be because of the student's home life, previous teacher, or their own lack of effort. Accountability, professionalism, and commitment are lacking in the field of education. What are your thoughts?

From a Student's Mouth.

How often do educators excuse themselves from breaking outside the box with their pedagogy? This is a pretty decently spelled out reason why we need to teach differently than our teachers did.

Writing about his generation, a high school student writes

"In contrast to the consumer generations before us, my generation is growing up a generation of producers. We are the YouTube/LiveJournal/Facebook generation. Mass media which has long been a one-to-many institution, allowing only the big and wealthy to transmit their messages, is turning into the many-to-many world of the internet and cheep consumer devices.

Whether it is posting videos taken on cell phones to youtube or photos taken on pocket-sized cameras to facebook. our generation expects to be able to broadcast their messages. We expect to be able to create and to share.

And, it is this expectation that makes our generation different. We are no longer content to be consumers of information. That is, we are no longer content to consume an education. To connect with today’s students, you must not only teach them, but encourage them to teach back."

For me, 25% of my teachers were probably pretty progressive, during the mid and late nineties. By progressive, I mean they weren't the traditional "preacher teacher." These 25% used the available technologies that appealed to us students and made learning relevant. But much of that 25% was in Lehigh Acres, Florida, not Pierce County, Georgia where I finished up my k-12 career. Unfortunately, most everything I did at Pierce County High School was done in a traditional manner except in Mr. Baker's class. That dude put us to work making videos, essays, power points, and took us on field trips that excited us. Any other teacher, if they used it at all, only used technolgoy because the curriculum forced them to. Mr. Baker used technology as an asset.

Even in college the percentage of teachers that used available technologies in the classroom only jumped to maybe 50-60%. I'd say that jump is somewhat indicative of a transitional period in technology, however. Maybe they weren't familiar enough, or hadn't even heard of some their technological resources. If that 50-60% was still the amount today, then the professors. I'm not a perfect practitioner of these things I've mentioned, but we should not be lagging. At this point Facebook, You Tube, My Space, Blogging, and Chatting all have been around for at least 5-6 years. Many educators use these technological instruments and aren't afraid of them. The problem is, we haven't realized their power in the classroom. Maybe now we'll have to. Apparently, some students expect us to, and those that don't would probably appreciate it.

For the full post that was quoted click: Innovate or Die