20-20+Entire+Staff+Discussion

On Wednesday, August 13, we met as an entire staff and heard about the 4-day Vision committee experience. This included going over the results of the End-of-the-Year staff survey and listening to Amanda Hurley read a Pioneer staff editorial that criticized the current educational system since it focuses more on standardized testing and figuring out how to "play the game" rather than truly learning. We also viewed the Shift Happens video. Following the survey, editorial and video, we asked for staff reaction to this information. The following is the result of that interaction:

//**Reflections on what we need to do to prepare students for the 21st century:**//
 * We need to teach students how to think
 * Engaging learning begins with personal contacts and good relationships (computers can't replace that)
 * We need to teach students to be able to learn and relearn and be innovative and motivative
 * We need to teach student to be mentally flexible and to solve problems in different ways
 * America promotes creativity while other educational systems do not
 * We can't be comfortable and complacent -- that's no longer an option. We need to realize that Shift Happens!
 * Teachers need to be able to take on the role of protecting kids against our culture (i.e. provide a refuge from instantaneous gratification of technology and keep values from before by using existing techniques)
 * We, as teachers, need to model the idea that learning doesn't end at graduation. It is a life-long process.
 * We need to expect students to do their best work. We are hurting them when we accept less than that.

//**What do we already have in place that will allow us to prepare students?**//
 * Technology
 * Essential Learnings
 * Genuinely committed teachers
 * Offering extra-curricular activities / sports that enable students to build lasting relationships with teachers/coaches/sponsors

//**What do we need to change in order to allow us to prepare students?**//
 * We need to require that students demonstrate their knowledge and not just continue to allow students to "play the game"
 * Society / state needs to find a more stable way to fund education so we can have fewer students in our classes so instruction is more personalized
 * We need to model the kind of learner we want our students to be
 * We need to teach parents how we are teaching their students (to prepare them for the future) and that it isn't okay to be teaching them the same way they learned
 * We need more money!
 * We need Rigor, Relevance and Relationships!
 * We need to incorporate 21st century knowledge with skills we currently have -- share out our expertise
 * We need to take supplemental technology classes
 * We need to realize that students are coming to us differently (thinking-wise) than before
 * We need to help students find connections (even if we don't know/have those connections) with the "real world" (i.e. business world)
 * We need to encourage students to engage in extra-curricular experiences