First 2 Weeks of School

So, the first 2 weeks of school have come to and end; and so has the month of August. Willie is a junior, 11th grade, soon to be 17, driving to and from school, taking honors and advanced classes, taking aviation, playing football, going to church, and trying to eat and sleep when he has time.

Teachers are piling on the homework. One teacher in particular assigned 200 vocabulary words to be written on the front of 3x5 cards with part of speech and definition on the back of the card. Oh my! In what century do we live 20th or 21st? This is such an old fashioned assignment! This course also comes with worksheets! ARRGGGG!!!!! I'll bet that every student in the class has a "hand held" device and most of the devices are likely to have a data plan. Does the teacher know that the students can google any word in split seconds and find the definition, the part of speech, multiple uses, synonyms, antonyms, listen to how the word is pronounced, and more? I am not sure.

Yesterday, I sat in a meeting with key decision-makers for the school district in which I work. A discussion ensued regarding a new platform for instruction called CANVAS. It is a pretty slick program that lends itself to online everything for classroom teachers -- posting assignments, connecting to online texts, message centers, storage space for student assignments, submitting assignments, assessment, and more. I was actually introduced to the program this summer as it was the instructional platform used for Willie's online PE course. (Yes, he plays football, basketball, tennis, and all those sports entail, but he still needs PE Fitness for Life and a graduation requirement -- a topic of debate for yet another day.)

I asked a really stupid question in the course of the meeting as to the status of the roll out of CANVAS to teachers. I was told that the building principals have the information and they can get their staff on board when they choose. I was also told that the "district" staff over the program will do training on CANVAS at school sites from now until November. Well, those responses didn't satisfy me. I suggested that we blast the information out to all teachers and let those who are techno savvy the opportunity to use it now, today, to make their instructional organization more 21st century now, at the beginning of the year. Granted, we do have a few old duffers in our classrooms, but largely a well-trained ready to go with something new corps of teachers.

This final inquiry of the meeting was met with silence. After some time to process, it was explained by many in the room that doing what I had suggested would only look like "one more thing" added on a teacher's plate; it would be overwhelming and stressful for them; it would be too much to move ahead without the support of the education association; and a few more weighty excuses.

So, my conclusion -- it will be another century or longer before our education system moves into the current century. Years form now students will be searching Walmart (the only place their sold) for 3x5 cards made in China (the only place their made).

I can't get too discouraged because students in one of our high schools each have an iTouch and I read about a new school in Davis County where all kids get notebooks (computer notebooks)!