Chapter+5

 The one quote that just jumped off the page at me was when the authors were stating how younger teachers are also having problems connecting to students because much of their time spent as a students was in the 20th century classroom. "Both in K-12 schools and in universities, they were consistently exposed to the traditional, full-frontal, lecture-style teaching." This quote upset me a bit because one of my main goals as an educator is to prepare my students for the next level. For the majority of my students, that is to attend a college or university. Answers to a lot of the questions I have in my head are always, "they won't do this in college, or they won't do that in college." Therefore I think that in order for this new, 21st century style classroom, to flourish in high school, colleges and universities must also make a greater push for eliminating the large lecture halls and incorporate even more hands on, practical, technological ideas in their curriculum as well.
 * __Doug__**

Take a look at this blog, make sure you read the first comment by "Brett," I tend to side with him.

Felicia This chapter brought out some interesting points, “If we continue to teach the same old way, we will completely miss connecting with our students.” It seems districts are so obsessed with high-stakes testing, at the cost of there students. I feel authentic learning continues to disappear because the pressure of these tests, and trying to teach the content that will be on the test. The chapter commented that younger teachers are having difficulties because their entire time spent as a student they were exposed to traditional, lecture-style teaching. In my case this is not true, I have been a student in the 21st century (both high school and college). I can say, during my undergraduate studies using technology in the classroom was always a buzz word, however, there was no class that I took to help prepare teach the 21st century generation. Here is a website for the 21st century teacher 21st Century Teacher Here is a link for the video (it is not available on the website) Learning to Change-Chaning to Learn

__**Adam**__

Impending tragedy, indeed. I love the reference of teachers using DSL (speaking digital as a second language). And Prensky is correct, the students do pick up when you cannot use the technical jargon or understand what they are speaking of. We all know that times, economically speaking, are still tough for many districts, including several in our area. Money is tight, teachers are being cut, and therefore, students will be suffering. But I have to speak out and say that I now feel that teachers preaching, "I can't use technology in my class because our district doesn't have the money" is just a load of BS (in most cases). Even if you can't purchase a new program, or get those new computers for your classroom, there are still a plethora of ways to incorporate and use technology in your classroom.

Check out the link about using cell phones in the classroom. There are several different ways that various teachers (and districts!) have begun incorporating students using their cell phones as a means of learning in the classroom.

Cell Phones in the Classroom

I think that even more experienced teachers (didn't want to say older!) can utilize several of these strategies without taking away from their current curriculum. Students do need the use of technology in the classroom, because we know most of them use technology as soon as they get home, and many, for the rest of the evening until it's time to sleep. Better yet, maybe it's a wake-up call to teachers to quit living in the past, and start jumping on the technology band-wagon because clearly, it looks like there's no turning back from here.

Well, this chapter was heart wrenching to know that are United States 2010 continues to have a one third of the population drop out rate before they leave high school. This article [] tells out us the specifics by race and location where the most drop out rates are occuring by race and specific states like California, Georgia, and Florida. Isn't it interesting that California is among this list because often California is the state where a lot of new strategies and reading programs are tried first and then adapted throughtout the rest of the country. According to this next article President Obama is making an effort to send funding to some of these most needy schools throughout the United States. [] While only teaching elementary school in my career, I cannot fairly judge what is going on in high school these days. However, what I do know is a lot of students come back from middle school and high school and ask" are you still playing the piano and teaching those educational songs, are you still doing those science activities, are still doing plays and making those famous places projects we don't do those fun things anymore in school." Wow, since this digital generation is so visual and kinesthetic why can't they continue to do some projects like this in the high school?My words are not to badger secondary in any means and I am sure there are a lot of conscientious teachers out there trying great and innovative activities;however, their hands are tied with all the content and emphasis on PSSA and assessments. In fact, one of the students I interviewed said she had to make an instructional health video the other month and really enjoyed the project. Well, I think there is a lot of reasons for the drop out issues in school these days and I am very interested in reading the next couple of chapters on these related topics.
 * __Cindy-__**


 * Nick**

From this chapter I like the point the authors make about how everyone from school administrators to teachers to parents to the students need to put aside their differences when it comes to education in order to better serve our students. Administrators need to find ways to help teachers attain the resources and knowledge need to teach the 21st century students. Teachers who have been teaching for a long time need to change up their teaching style because today's students do not learn the same way they did 5, 10, or 15 years ago. Students also need to adapt to the limited amount of technology used in school in order to train themselves to not rely on computers or other types of tech for everything. What would they do if they were in a situation where they needed to know something and there was no technology available to help them? When people are at work and their boss asks them something they had better know it right away. A boss is not going to wait while they google it!! Parents need to supprot the educators in helping to get their children to not rely or spend so much time using technology. There is no reason any child should have a computer in their bedroom. A computer located in a common area in the home will allow parents to monitor what their children are doing on the computer as well as how long they are on it. Parents need to encourage their kids to use books and do hands on research lioke they did. If it worked for them it will work for their kids. The following article link describes how 21st century students and teachers differ and how teachers are effectively using technology to reach them.

[|**Connecting education to 21st century students**]

__Chapter 5__ Ok, so if, according to Comenius, “[s]chools remain exactly as they were” for the past 100 years, then maybe we should rethink exactly how education should be conducted before schools either become extinct like the dinosaurs, or worse yet, the students take over. On second thought, the latter of the two may not be such a bad idea considering a passage I read in an article by Will Richardson who is the author of //Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Tools for Classrooms//: This may be the first large technological shift in history that's being driven by children. Picture a bus. Your students are standing in the front; most teachers (maybe even you) are in the back, hanging on to the seat straps as the bus careens down the road under the guidance of kids who have never been taught to steer and who are figuring it out as they go. No doubt this is very perturbing image I imagine most educators would prefer not to become reality. With this in mind, the authors point to the “disconnect” between educators and the digital generation. Furthermore, they specify that those who are in education should “put aside their own personal preferences for teaching (48). But this may not entirely be the case. Since technology is progressing at lightening speed, and the digital generation seems to be catching on at lightening speed, maybe the image of the bus careening out of control is not so unrealistic after all. And if that isn’t enough of a probable cause for educators to actually bring about some changes, then the fact that what Comenius said about education almost 500 years ago can still be said today should be. The reality is, educators really are losing control of their students. Here’s the remainder of Will Richardson’s article titled “The Digital Footprint”:[|Article]
 * Diane**

Jen
School Drop Out Rates First, here is a link that states Massachusetts drop out rates are actually declining. While they are still declining, there is still a gap between socio-economic groups. So, this means that even though there is a decline, there are still problems with closing the gap between students.

“If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got.” This is a quote that I have heard before and I thought of it while reading this chapter. We are teaching the way we always taught and are getting the same students we’ve always gotten. We are still teaching the way we were 100 years ago, and as a result, we are preparing students for a world that no longer exists. As we all know, if we hope to prepare our students for the world of the future, then we need to find new ways to keep our students actively engaged so they stay around long enough to graduate and get the most of what we have to give them. We just need to, as an educational system, come together and stop arguing over what is best and finally just put into practice what needs to be done. I know this is easier said than done, but I feel that since a change of the school system has been talked about for over 50 years, someone needs to take initiative to stop the talks and start some action.