Thread: Major Project

In the United States, primary school is typically defined as being the first 4 years of a child's education. This includes kindergarten. The age range for primary school is 5-9 or possibly even 6-10.

I have no idea what you mean by "innovative digital technology" because this is a very general description with no specifications.

In terms of what school will be like in 2020, if NCLB (No Child Left Behind) is not rescinded here in the states, it is quite possible that 99% of all schools will have failed to meet AYP, annual yearly progress by 2014. Under the current terms of NCLB, schools failing to meet AYP for two or more years in a row may be taken over by the state.

Worst case scenario?

By 2020, U.S. public education as we know it could well be dead. Schools that have failed to meet AYP will be run as charter schools either by well intentioned individuals or more likely, by private for profit corporations such as Edison or Kaplan.

If NCLB has not been rescinded, we could be looking at standardized exit exams for high school seniors, standards based curriculum with specific measurable outcomes for each course, standardized tests for each year of college study, and/or mandatory college attendance (at least two years and an associate's degree) for all students.

Instruction will have become standardized so that each teacher on a given grade level will teach the exact same lesson to all students. Individual creativity will be gone. Teachers will no longer be teachers as much as they'll be educational accountants responsible for tweaking instruction to improve test scores.

The home school movement will have increased while those who can afford it will have pulled their kids from public school for enrollment in private schools.

Public schools could well become the schools of "last resort" either for those who don't have the time or ability to home school their children or those who can't afford to put their children in private schools.

Dark days are ahead if NCLB is approved for renewal as we appear to be in the process of creating an educated elite whose superior private education will give them a greater advantage over students educated in state funded schools.

Thanks David for your comment. It is interesting to see the difference between the countries like United States and New Zealand.

You might be familiar with Microsoft Surface that has just been released?
[url="http://www.microsoft.com/surface/"]http://www.microsoft.com/surface/[/url]
It's basically a multitouch computer that allows interactive between the user and the screen. Is there a way to incorporate these kind of technologies to assist with the learning environment? Any thoughts

Technology-wise, I don't see any drastic changes. It still comes down to a teacher with a brain working with kids with brains.

The problem I see with any computer-based technology is the time required to set up a lesson. Sure, it's nice to show another "what if" idea where movie clips and images just pop up on demand while the teacher is lecturing and classes converse across nations. But this takes a lot of time to set up.

It's why the teachers in my district don't want SmartBoards. Using them turns every lesson into a Powerpoint presentation, which are not as flexible as teachers want them to be. PP is good for board meetings and student projects, but it won't replace a good ol' blackboard.

In the real world computers break down (especially if using IBM clones running Windoze), there are never enough for everyone, and using them usually takes more time than is saved.

Personal computers have been around for twenty years and still they're only occasionally used in the classroom. They're normally used for Accelerated Reader or independant research projects. A lot of schools have computer labs where classes schedule to spend an hour working with math and reading educational games, but still that's "tacked-on" with the regular curriculum.

I can't see computers in a central role in the classroom until some of the basic technological hurdles are overcome. At present, computers are like the experimental cars of the late 1800s and early 1900s. They worked, but the driver needed a mechanic to ride with him in case the engine broke, a tire blew, and axle snapped, or any number of common mechanical failures occurred.

Computers are like this at present. A large number of computers requires a "system administrator" or "computer tech" or other full-time position just to keep them all running. Otherwise the computers will conk out one-by-one until there are only a few working.

Computer will eventually become like cars of today, where you just turn them on and they work. You'll need computer help as often as you need a headgasket replaced. Only then will computers start to play a central role in the classroom. By that time, there will be programs that can respond on-the-fly (perhaps with voice recognition) to create something like a click-free internet browser.

And someday we'll get away from NCLB and return to the Good Old Days when failing schools were rewarded with extra funds and high school graduates couldn't read their diplomas.

Wow, K......I hope that's sarcasm..... I use my laptop and projector to teach, show movies, and about anything else I want force it to do. I wouldn't go back to an overhead projector and a chalkboard for nothing. Yeah, the prep time is a bit long, but I find it worth it (and with the external hard drives and flash drives we got nowadays, you can be prepared all the time....)

I'd make a suggestion on the project but I teach high school.....

I'd actually like a projector for myself. Art history does not work well when taught out of the text. Kids keep getting grossed-out by all the naked people. A slide show with a projector would be a good use of technology in this case. I can also put Warbirds in there and make everyone in the room motion sick.


What I'd like for my art room is something I saw at California Adventure. There is an exhibit to draw Disney characters. The artist has a camera pointed at her drawing pad and the video feed goes to a projection screen so everyone can see the pencil technique. This'd be much better than trying to demonstrate shading or ink techniques using chalk or dry-erase marker. And I could face the class at the same time.

Wow, K......I hope that's sarcasm

Yep. It's interesting how everyone said the educational system was broken... Until someone from an "incorrect" political party tried to fix it. Now everyone wants it back the way it was.