When I was a high school student, I had the sense that I was waiting for my chance to make an impact on the world. Now students make their mark every day through technologies like wikis, class blogs, and through corresponding with people all over the world via email or social networking sites. It’s incredible to be able to offer our students this kind of opportunity to participate in the world just as they are. They can leave their fingerprint on the world even now—there’s no need to wait for adulthood. Just think of brother and sister team Dave and Catherine who are probably millionaires now because of their invention, myyearbook.com. I think the future will bring many more examples of student potential as we gain more technology and become more familiar with the possibilities of the technology we already have. Adolescents (really, even pre-teens) in 2020 will more closely resemble fellow citizens rather than subordinate students. Students are thriving and will continue to thrive in this world of rapid change, and we as educators are going to have to lace up our Nikes and commit to keeping up.

In looking to the future, we’ll have to continually question how our role as educators will change. Really, the definition of the term “teacher” will continue to evolve as students take a more and more active role in their own education and in the world around them as a result of the emerging technologies that invite them to do so. With any search engine, students today have access to the information that previously required a persistent academic search. One can only imagine how much truer this statement will be in 2020! Simply providing information will not suffice for teachers to continue to have jobs. (If information were all students needed, teachers would become more obsolete with every Google search.) In 2020, teachers will need to provide opportunities for learning and unique guidance rather than simply provide information (though I would argue that this is just as necessary today). In 2020, I doubt teachers will lecture and lead—instead, I think they will guide and facilitate. Teachers of 2020 will need to work with students to meet a common goal and they will need to be clear why specific goals are important and valuable to society—because the kids will ask, and they won’t feel the need to cooperate if the answer doesn’t satisfy them. Students of 2020 will be much more independent and probably better versed on the culture and technologies in the world around them. Teachers need to be prepared to learn from students.

The idea of “keeping up” is a recurring theme when I think of the year 2020, and it doesn’t just apply to teachers keeping up with our students. Countries like India and China are placing a much higher value on education (though it’s up for debate whether or not this is a good thing), with longer school days, fewer breaks, and Saturday school. In order to continue to complete in the global market, our students, and teachers alike, are going to have to do some fancy footwork. (If you’d like more information on this phenomenon, check out www.2mminutes.com.) With students overseas clocking in many more educational hours, it’s daunting to think what implications the sum of these extra hours will have on our society eleven years from now. A little bit at a time, other countries are inching forward. I’m not sure whether or not this should make us panic, but I do think that we need to consider what it means for education today, and what it will mean for education in the future.

In 2020, it seems that our country will be tempted, out of a fear that other countries are outdoing us or out of a sense of competition, to place primary focus on subjects that support careers like engineering. I hope that we won’t continue to shy away from the arts, but if legislation mandates it, teachers will want to be prepared to incorporate the arts in other ways. For example, the English teacher should teach poetry through music, theatre through Shakespeare, etc. The 2020 teacher should be a renaissance man or woman—willing to take on more than just his or her content area (technology, the arts, literacy, etc.) in the best interest of his or her students.

We should certainly be excited about the way that technology is pushing us forward, but we’ll want to be careful that we don’t forget other important aspects of education in the whirlwind. In 2020, I hope that we will be so accustomed to technology that we use it as a means and not an end, which seems to happen a lot now. We don’t want to use technology for the sake of technology, but because it can enhance our lives and the educational experiences of our students. In addition, in 2020, because we’ll be more accustomed to the implications of technologies like social networking, blogs, wikis, etc., we’ll be better prepared to educate our students on the ethical aspects of these technologies.

The future looks bright, but it’s up to us to ensure that all of the technologies and knowledge we are accumulating are used to educate, and not to replace educators. My vision of 2020 stars teachers who are doing just that, working towards a more student-centered approach with every new innovation.

A paperless classroom would only change my role in a minor way—students wouldn’t need me to “hand out” assignments or readings because they would already have access to them online. This, to me, is a bonus. Students must become more self-sufficient and learn, along with the content taught in the class, how to obtain information from technology. It’s a literacy that all students need to succeed in a world that more and more resembles a paperless society with every Facebook post and Kindle book purchase. So, in this way, I think that a paperless class would change learning by increasing what students are learning about. They still get the content, but the way that they receive the content has changed to become a learning experience in itself. Furthermore, it would change the way we assess or measure learning, because we would want our assessments to align with the way we instructed, which means paperless technology would need to be incorporated into the assessment.

The possibilities for a paperless classroom are far-reaching and exciting. The very presence of technology in the classroom allows us to expand our learning network (because technology puts us in touch with people and ideas from around the world), and when a class is committed to being paperless, our learning network expands even further.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA

Group A sited this YouTube video in their wiki. I found it found especially helpful in expanding my ideas about the potential for technology in the classroom. Good work, Group A!

“Just wait till you start teaching,” they say with a roll of the eyes. I don’t like to hear it. I have to wonder why so many teachers have been so quick to discourage me in my efforts. Do they not like what they do? Do they not remember why they chose this career path in the first place? I have no doubt that the students can see right through this and I’m sure a negative attitude sabotages all educational efforts.

Now, I’m all about a healthy rant. Any job brings some level of frustration and it’s okay to let off some steam. But the attitude crisis that I’m talking about surpasses “letting off steam.” It seems to stem not from mere frustration but from a much deeper dissatisfaction. Perhaps this dissatisfaction comes from pay, working conditions, pressures from administration, etc., but whatever is triggering it, we need to think about what we can to overcome it.

What do you think about this attitude crisis? Why is it so prevalent in this profession? What can we do to prevent it? What can teacher education programs do to better prepare student teachers for the unforseen challenges that have claimed the good graces of so many teachers?

This podcast takes sound clips from an audio version of The Great Gatsby and pairs the clips with music. It’s a bizarre and memorable combination of literary and musical elements that actually tells the story of The Great Gatsby. I would love to play this podcast in the classroom to add a unique audio aspect to studying the work. Then, I’d like to ask students to respond to it either in writing or by making their own podcast. It takes the story to a completely different level, and I think this will challenge my students to think outside the box.

Image Citation:
A Million to One. (2004, March 16). Thistle (Creative Commons Project). A Million to One’s Photostream. Retrieved July 7, 2009, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/grope4mac/3563166485/.

I think this could also challenge students to take their own photos and become inspired to write by the visual elements they encounter every day. To me, the artistry of photography is similar to the artistry of creative writing, and I definitely think that Flickr is a valuable tool for encouraging creativity in general.

Of course, like all technologies, students must be trained not only to use the technology, but to use it ethically. Teachers will want to protect students from inappropriate images and we will want to teach them to protect themselves as well.

When wikis are mentioned, Wikipedia must be mentioned. My opinion of Wikipedia has changed over the years, specifically when someone hired me to do a bit of PR work for her, and she asked me to create a Wikipedia entry for her company. I could NOT create an entry that would pass Wikipedia’s requirements (small and/or new companies, however valid they may be, do not have a shot at Wikipedia unless they are mentioned by other reliable sources), and I was shocked. Since then, I’ve realized that Wikipedia, though surely flawed, it much more legitimate than we might have originally thought. This week I’ve been able to explore that a bit more, and I’m happy to say that I believe that Wikipedia has great value in the classroom. It is a portal to sources that are traditionally considered valid, teaches our students to distinguish between reliable and unreliable information, and gives them the opportunity to contribute themselves.

Here’s one example of a classroom wiki:

http://community.saugususd.org/dlindsay/page/

Check it out… I can’t wait to do this kind of thing in my own classroom one day!