As an educator at the Elemetary level I find it interesting that there are so many opinions about how to educate from those with no experience in the field. Sort of like folks who watch a football game and offer advice on how best to accomplish a task they, themselves, are incapable of doing.
The problem is not simple. There is no one answer and that is the key to the solution. For the child who cannot read or practice math, what they need is good solid instruction and the time to practice. Programs like NOVEL and SuccessMaker may be useful here. They don't replace instruction, they reinforce it. The student who is accomplished but sitting in the same classroom as the student who is years behind has different needs.
The solutions that may be most effective in delivering an education are those that can apply the appropriate instruction and tools (including computers).
Visit Quickmind.net to see how appropriate material can be enhanced using technology.
The stumbling blocks are varied: (1) courts which bring politics into the classroom (2) a society that does not prepare students for school, read: clothing, food and sleep. (3) homes where TVs and playstations replace interpersonal interactions (4) citizens who insist on putting things into and removing things from the curricula: no Christmas, unscientific environmentalism, etc.
You want to fix the schools. Fix society. Computers will have minimal impact whether or not they are used unless the more basic needs of the students are met first.
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As an educator at the Elemetary level I find it interesting that there are so many opinions about how to educate from those with no experience in the field. Sort of like folks who watch a football game and offer advice on how best to accomplish a task they, themselves, are incapable of doing.
The problem is not simple. There is no one answer and that is the key to the solution. For the child who cannot read or practice math, what they need is good solid instruction and the time to practice. Programs like NOVEL and SuccessMaker may be useful here. They don't replace instruction, they reinforce it. The student who is accomplished but sitting in the same classroom as the student who is years behind has different needs.
The solutions that may be most effective in delivering an education are those that can apply the appropriate instruction and tools (including computers).
Visit Quickmind.net to see how appropriate material can be enhanced using technology.
The stumbling blocks are varied: (1) courts which bring politics into the classroom (2) a society that does not prepare students for school, read: clothing, food and sleep. (3) homes where TVs and playstations replace interpersonal interactions (4) citizens who insist on putting things into and removing things from the curricula: no Christmas, unscientific environmentalism, etc.
You want to fix the schools. Fix society. Computers will have minimal impact whether or not they are used unless the more basic needs of the students are met first.
Thanks for listening.