Education's Death Valley

 "Children are natural learners," and "Great teachers facilitate learning" by being able "mentor,"'stimulate, provoke and engage...to get people to learn." (Robinson; 7:09-7:39). In the American Education System, teachers need to obsess over standardized testing, which doesn't measure students humanitarian values. As a country that spends millions more on education than most other countries. Yet, the students across the country score less on standardized skills tests than do students in other countries who do not place such high and competitive values on tests, such as Finland, but rather on "Individualized learning plans" because teachers are valued as the experts with creative talents to "nurture our youngest generations with a climate of possibility" so that there is truly "No child left behind."  Personalized learning plans, "alternative education' is a "human system in which learners thrive." 

I carry Sir Ken Robinson's notion that the "right organic systems" in which teachers are "cherished and valued" will create a "climate of possibility" and encourage "the movable" as the most relative for I do see this as truth held by most teachers hired for their certifiable credentials.🙌

Introduction to Rethinking Media

It would be irresponsible to not include the use of median in curriculum to maintain students engaged and recognize "the diverse popular cultural materials and modes through which young people read, view and consume the world" (Marshal & Sensoy, 1). Brings back Sir Robinson's point to individualize learners' plans to increase engagement and reduce dropout rates. If teachers aren't including media and digital technologies then they are not considering the students' ingenuity, and hard work youth experience with digital media" (Boyd 2014), a source for their critical thinking processes.

According to Boyd (Chapter 7) Digital natives have had this digital technology accessibility since birth. How else would they think? But their "inherent Media Literacy Has to be fostered." (Boyd 2014).  so I believe that I stand at a crossroads, excited of the new technology, fashioned to be faster tools to store our thoughts as we build/ process.

References

Boyd, D. (2014). it complicated: the social lives of networked teens. New Haven CT: Yale University Press.