We've Always Done it This Way!

Those immortal words were spoken by Rear Admiral Grace Hopper. This led me to reflect on the practices that are presently in place in the school setting. I know we work hard to advance our thinking and best practices. However, I needed to put on proverbial “reflective practitioner hat” to truly assess my school’s work (as well as that of other schools). What I learned is that “IF this is true in an educational setting, then we must work to reverse that philosophy, practice, and pedagogy.

In our schools we indeed have teachers, administrators, and support staff personnel who are pioneers in their schools. They are forging ahead with the implementation of BYOD/BYOT, Social Media, and APPs in the classroom. They are meeting the learners on a common playing field – and it is exciting to witness.

So what can we do? Simply stated, we should remain focused on the learner. We should continue our implementing the best practices of 21c. In order to counter the “We’ve always done it this way” syndrome you can support:

·         Flipped Classroom

·         Genius Hour (20% time)

·         Google Docs (and now Google Calendar

·         Remind101

·         Twitter use in the classroom

·         Skype

·         Infographics

·         Augmented Reality (e.g. Arasma, Layar, ColAR, Flashcards)

·         Backchannel (e.g. TodaysMeet)

·         Blog writing

·         Building a PLN

·         Student Voice

·         Teacher Voice

This only scratches the surface of ideas that can counter this “non-productive” philosophical practice. Keep posting additional ideas!