Comments on: A Focus on Individual Learning and Individual Technology

By: Maureen Devlin

Maureen Devlin — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:43:16 +0000

Thanks for your response, Mark. I agree that our work should put students first, and I hate seeing organizations waste time, when there are so many positive ways we can use our time and energy. I’ll keep thinking about what you’ve said as we continue to transition in my system. Take care.

By: Mark Wagner, Ph.D.

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:03:24 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Maureen. I was a fan of the 1997 English Language arts standards for grades 9-12 the last time around… and I guess I feel the same way about the common core standards in California: they’re pretty good – and I can “address” many of them with any good project. The trouble is this time I find myself wondering who the standards help… creative teachers having students doing meaningful projects will “do” many of the standards (or help their students “achieve” the standards) regardless, while teachers who teach in more traditional passive methods won’t… regardless. I don’t think the standards will convince anyone to change their teaching – or any organizations to change their culture. And I see a lot of organizations wasting a lot of effort on “transitioning” to “the common core” without any significant or meaningful change… or even understanding much about the purpose of the standards. I just hate to see all the unfocused wasted effort, especially in the name of “standardization” in education. We would be much better served to throw off the shackles of such thinking and focus on helping individual students.

By: Maureen Devlin

Maureen Devlin — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 09:00:52 +0000

I agree with your thoughts–every child needs access to the web and tech at home and at school. At my elementary school we have about 50%-60% one-to-one access during the day and I think that works well as I like having time to focus on other tools and learning endeavors too. I actually like the common core standards at my grade level since they are mainly basic skills that I’m able to embed into meaningful project work, yet I wish the numbers of standards were a bit less leaving more time for invention and scientific exploration in indoor and outdoor labs. Finally, it’s hard to beat Google–they’re upgrading almost every day, and their tools lead to ease of sharing and collaboration in-house and abroad, amazing! Yet, it’s good to diversify too so I try to use a number of tools in addition to Google’s awesome palette of learning venues.