I was inspired to ask these questions during a recent afternoon of English department conversations with Angela Maiers, who is employed by our district (and others around the Midwest) to inspire the teaching of 21st Century learners.
As a learner myself, perusing blogs on literacy, technology & learning, I came across the question “Why change?” on Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach’s blog. She wrote an eloquent response to this question (asked of her by frustrated teachers who see no end to the rigorous, changing expectations of teachers) detailing who we are as pedagogians. Her response to the question reminded me why I am a teacher and also why I feel both fired up and exhausted after these teaching practice conversations.
The “Why change?” question was a big roadblock I was noticing in our conversations with Angela at CHS about how teachers could make a few shifts in their teaching practices to better prepare the modern student for a modern world. I think the questions to ask instead of why should we change are: “Are we really teaching?” and “Are they really learning?” The answers to those questions might be “Not really,” for some of us, and if that is the case, then the “Why change?” has its answer – we’re not preparing our students to be independent learners and thinkers in a 21st Century society. We need to give them the skills to tackle anything that gets thrown their way in the real world, plus the content to support their understanding of that same real world.
It seems that Kaplan University is starting to get the idea of adapting to the learners and world we face today. We have to change the way we teach to change the way they learn. It is a shift for all of us, but one that reaps tremendous rewards. I noticed Scott McLeod, also an Iowa resident, posted the two new Kaplan University advertisments that demonstrate their shift in approaching post-secondary education on his blog, Dangerous Irrelevant. If you haven’t seen the advertisements yet, going to Kaplan’s website or the blog post linked to above will allow you to view them.
Now my mind is thinking – how can we apply the ideas of this university to a high school education? The first step is shifting our teaching practices, and there’s plenty of support out there to do it.
