Archive for July 2011
"Education is life itself." ~ John Dewey
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Last night, as I was falling alseep, I noticed a lump next to me...it turns out it was a fake grenade my son was playing with earlier in the day. He's 7, and obsessed with WWII. How did this happen?? I'm not really sure, honestly; but I do know that we have fostered his imagination by role play, gadgets, props, costumes and anything else we could discover through a parent's "aha" moment. It got me thinking...what will his future be like? After all, he is the class of 2022. Yikes! Are we prepared for that? More importantly, are we preparing our students for their future of work, college, a trade, or a family? What is our goal in today's classroom? Is it preparing them for college? 21st Century skills for the workforce? Or innovative thinking to prepare for the global economy? If we really think about it, some of our schools portray an old model of education. John Dewey proposed that education should be a seamless integration of activity and relevance. He realized, in his writings, that sitting behind a desk and receiving instruction from textbooks was outdated and inapplicable for most students. He was born in 1859. Pretty progressive, huh? Is what we are teaching relevant? Is it preparing them for 2022? Maybe this video will tweak your interest to think about it more. (It's not the latest version, but it's my favorite)
