Mindsets in Education Always Changing and Will at the Start of its Greatest Change Yet

Sir Ken Robinson’s video, Changing Paradigms, claims that we are trying to meet the future by what we did in the past. I don’t agree. Changing mind sets has been an issue in education for decades.  In my lifetime I have seen many shifts, all in the name of improvement. Traditional classrooms with desks in rows, separate rooms and grades shifted to open concept buildings without walls where students moved freely to the level they chose. Then, the schools shifted back to traditional classrooms. Special education, once delivered in separate schools became illegal and students were fully integrated, even in cases where it was not the best environment. Now we see a small shift back to short pull out sessions when necessary. Atomic phonics based reading instruction approaches moved to whole language and back to explicitly taught phonics until a certain level mastered and scored through running records. Round robin reading once viewed as heralded pedagogy was  just banned this week in my district. Individual work moved to the cooperative grouping, ability grouping to mixed grouping to flexible grouping. Spelling and penmanship were core language arts curriculum, thrown out all together, added back.  Don’t get me started on the New Math, which is now ancient.

The schools of today certainly hold elements of the past, but they are greatly changed from the schools that I attended. My public school education was much poorer than the education my children receive. That difference was achieved through shifts in pedagogy ( approaches and content). My children are reading at a higher level, able to solve higher level math problems, and definitely write narratives and essays exceeding my abilities at their age. I believe strongly that educators are going to embrace the change in mindset that is required to fully utilize the information technology available. It just won’t happen quickly.

Why won’t it happen quickly? There is too much at stake. Public education serves our children, the very thing that most people cherish the most. Yes, our children are our future but more importantly they are our responsibility. No one wants their child to be the educational guinea pig. Past shifts in education have brought us great advances, but they have also left some casualties along the way as new methods did not meet the needs for all students and created unpredicted problems for others. Public education is not a private startup company that we can simply throw our money and talents into and take a huge risk that it will pay off because we have a vision. Educators and parents want to know that something works before they do something different.

The first step is the blended classroom. Here teachers can give students technologically advanced lessons while still utilizing the more traditional settings and lessons that have been successful. Teachers can first dip their toes in the water and wade into deeper and deeper technologically advanced lessons as they learn them and find support for their effectiveness. Educators sharing with each other is a key part to the changing mindset. It is impossible to become an expert in a field that is rapidly changing and advancing so a teacher must rely on the experiences of peers as a guide for what to invest time and energy learning and what to avoid.

Mindsets are being changed. Administrators are pushing for the change. Exposure to truly successful methods will pull teachers to make the change. Teachers themselves can feel the disconnect between their personal lives in the world of technology and the classroom without technology. As we allow students to bring in their various devices to the classroom and view them as assisting their educational pursuits rather than distracting them, we are making the first change in mindset. They are not toys, they are tools. The next mindset change is seeing educators as guides to learning in this environment rather than teachers.  That is a scary step, but once made, I believe it unlocks the potential for what can be learned through information technology age. Discovery learning at its finest. Teaching students how to find information for themselves, introducing the tools available and allowing them to discover the information they need.

What I am changing? That is harder. My current course policies...hmmm. I don't know how to answer that. I work outside of any course. I find myself working to change policies that put my ENL students at a disadvantage. Namely, allowing the utilization of translation devices and sources to obtain information in my students' first language. Most of the teachers I work with are now on board. It took some evidence in improved test results. What was first viewed as "cheating" is now seen as accommodating. Changing my mindset within my own course. I feel I am open to change, I just don't know what to do. That is why I am here in this course. Show me what I COULD be doing with technology to improve my teaching and I am eager to begin.