Death by PowerPoint

Every few years they seem to make PowerPoint easier to use, making small changes; a little tweak here, another tweak there. Yet no matter how much they simplify the program, the majority of the presentations made with it are godawful. The PowerPoint about PowerPoint brought up many great points as to why this is the case, all the while doing so in 60 slides without losing my interest. Watching my fellow students present PowerPoints that are only 8 slides long gives me a headache at this point because of their font choices, their complicated and cluttered backgrounds, too much text on a slide, pictures having nothing to do with their topic.

Common Software

Wynn Read program: scans text and voices it
Co-writer: organizes writing
Alpha smart: personal word processor with Co-writer that aids in communication
Dragon Naturally Speaking for teens: helps younger kids with diction; speech-to-text program
Kurzwell: reading enhancement program
Write out Loud: audible word processor

Data-Driven Teachers

Although I prefer to envision myself in front of the classroom of yesterday, that is sadly no longer within the realm of possibility, due to both current legislation and the much different 21st century learner. The concept of data-driven decision-making strays far from how teachers are typically envisioned, but I feel the concept has, at least some, good to it. However, it should go without saying that in order to be an effective educator, records (or in this case, data) for students should not only be kept, but often referred back to so as to mark progress or a lack thereof. Where I begin to disagree with data-driven teaching, though, is with the incorporation of benchmarks. I wholeheartedly disagree with benchmarks and standardized testing in general. To assess student progress, it takes more than a simple formula and a calender; assessment needs to be wholly specific to the classroom. A teacher may be teaching the same history class three times a day, but to test the three classes on the same day may not be in the best interest of the students as they very well may be at different stages in learning.

"Engage Me or Enrage Me"

"Engage Me or Enrage Me" was simply an article of extremes, saying a teacher will either fully have the attention of a new 21st century student or drive them to angst at the teacher's outdated teaching style. I fully understand, and moreover agree, that much needs to be done to hold the attention and interest of the 21st century classroom, but I wholeheartedly disagree that the outcome is going to be simply one or the other: interest or rage. It is most certainly true that the outdated classroom of the 20th century will bore many students who are used to instant engagement, but rather than try and modify the classroom to the point where its essentially a videogame is bogus. Rather, students shouldn't have instant engagement anywhere. It is unneccessary for a third grader to be online often, let alone have multiple email addresses. Get out of your chair and go outside, kid. Go find some weird looking bugs, get hurt climbing trees and learn from your mistakes. Technology here is the issue, not simply just the classroom. True, the classroom should have more to offer in that it should include more relevence to a child's life. But parents, and moreover society as a whole, should be making some changes as well, curbing these kids demands.

Changes in the 21st Century Classroom

As we have recently witnessed the transfer into a new millenium, we have also witnessed great technological advances. Such advances have changed the world that today's youth are growing up in, yet our educational system has done little to change along with them. Learners today find themselves in schools teaching outdated curriculums in styles unfamiliar to their lives. In order to effectively teach these learners, much change is needed within the system. Today's classroom is supposed to be training these students for the working environment they will later partake in, yet the classroom is still training for the world of the 20th century. Textbooks, teacher-centered classrooms, objective testing that simply assesses memorization and recall - are all a thing of yesterday's classroom. The classroom of today emphasises performance-based assessment, classrooms revolving around learners, and technology in all kinds. Today's teachers need to realize this new educational climate and adapt with the times otherwise it will be the students who pay the price. If curriculums, teaching behavior, and technology don't all work in chorus for today's students, students will be losing more than just interest in a subject.