BFTP: I Will (as a Teacher)

A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past. Original post January 19, 2006. 

This was posted on the Abilene, Kansas High School Dialogue Buzz website (via Jon Pederson):

I Will as a Student
Let’s have a little competition at school and get ready for the future. I will [as a student] use a laptop and you will use paper and pencil. Are you ready…?I will access up-to-date information - you have a textbook that is 5 years old.

• I will immediately know when I misspell a word – you have to wait until it’s graded.
• I will learn how to care for technology by using it – you will read about it.
• I will see math problems in 3D – you will do the odd problems.
• I will create artwork and poetry and share it with the world – you will share yours with the class.
• I will have 24/7 access – you have the entire class period.
• I will access the most dynamic information – yours will be printed and photocopied.
• I will communicate with leaders and experts using email – you will wait for Friday’s speaker.
• I will select my learning style – you will use the teacher’s favorite learning style.
• I will collaborate with my peers from around the world – you will collaborate with peers in your classroom.
• I will take my learning as far as I want – you must wait for the rest of the class.

The cost of a laptop per year? - $250
The cost of teacher and student training? – Expensive
The cost of well educated US citizens and workforce? - Priceless

Could a teacher offer the same challenge?

I Will as a Teacher
Let’s have a little competition at school and get ready for the future. I will use a laptop and you will use paper and pencil. Are you ready…?

• I can provide up-to-date information to my students - you have a textbook that is 5 years old.
• I can find and change all my instructional materials, worksheets, study guides, tests, every year - you better hope the master is good enough for one more photocopy.
• I will model 21st century skills - technology, information-problem solving and life-long learning - you will lecture about them.
• I will provide my visual learners an accessible means of grasping concepts through multimedia resources - you can use simpler words..
• I give my students a world-wide audience for their creative work – you will share your students' work with the class.
• I will give my students access to study materials and resources for my class 24/7 - you hope they remember to bring home the textbook.
• I will communicate with my students and parents electronically - you can hope to catch them after class or at home in the evenings.
• I will give parents real-time access to how their children are performing in my class - you send our report cards and have two parent-teacher conferences a year.
• I will use the information gathered from computer enabled value-added testing to know exactly what my individual students' strengths and weakness are - you will use whole group instruction.
• I will communicate with educational leaders and experts using email – you will try to remember the advice of the instructor in your college methods class from 1980.
• I will save time by drawing on the generosity and genius of others who have created and shared digital versions of lesson plans, handbooks, templates, guidelines, reading lists, and more - you can use the teacher manual to the textbook series.
• I will honor the variety of reading abilities of my students by providing materials on a topic at a variety of reading levels - you will use the basal reader.
• I will collaborate with my peers from around the world – you will stay behind your classroom door.
• I will allow my students to take their learning as far as they want – you must keep everyone at the same place at the same time.

The cost of a laptop per year? - $250
The cost of teacher training? – Expensive, but no more so than other staff development activities
The cost of effective schools? - Priceless

 And what might you add?

(Check out Jaquie Henry's riff, "I Will As a School Librarian" too!)

Comments

[J.]

That one says it all for me. I have seen teachers require a Word printout from an assignment that was handwritten and then photocopied for them. Think about that one for a second...

[Doug Johnson]

Next I suppose you'll tell me that everyone doesn't print their emails to read!

Doug