People who like this stuff... (EDLD 5305)

Unfortunately, I see myself falling into these traps at times. I think people are resistant to a major change in education because it is uncomfortable, unfamiliar, and frankly, a lot of work. Although I have only been teaching for five years, I have accumulated and created a ton of resources that I use in a traditional education setting. Although these resources could be used in a blended learning setting, it would require much, much more. With that said, I fully acknowledge the need for this movement.

Watching the “Progressive Educations in the 1940s” video was quite jarring. The first thing I thought of was if you added some color and updated it to current times, it could have been created yesterday. The mention of essentially project based learning developing a deeper understanding of content is familiar to all educators, apparently since the 1940s.

In a public school district such as mine, there are many experienced teachers who are viewed at the leaders, whether they are department chairs or just respected co-workers. New teachers who come in with ideas are often partnered with these experienced teachers and although I wouldn’t say they conform to their ways, they somewhat follow their framework. I believe the change must come from administrators, school board members, and curriculum specialists who will essentially allow for it and provide the support.

I believe the “People who like this stuff…like this stuff” applies to my district. First, those people who are in power are not coming in with ideas to change what we do, but rather seem set in their ways. With all of this said, we can all agree regardless of our viewpoints that COVID-19 turned education upside down for over a year. I believe that now is the time to take advantage. Experienced teachers have been forced to create asynchronous lessons and become comfortable with different forms of technology that can be the catalyst for