Education reform has never ended in our schools and never will. The sad part is it always restarts with ELA and Math then starts to trickle down to science and social studies. Then another push comes from somewhere else and the process starts all over again. Unfortunately Technology Education is rarely updated nor appreciated. As a Technology Teacher myself I know the value in what I teach and I see how the skills that we teach are used every day. I just wish the people / politicians who make these education policies would see the value of technology education and encourage more of it in schools.
Over the years I have had hundreds of parents dragged into my room by excited students during Open House. After hearing the course description I hear comments like "Can I take your class", "We need more of this in our schools", and "I wish somebody taught me that when I was in school". These comments are great; unfortunately I am just giving an introduction to technology because I only have 20 weeks with my students. During that period I cover a lot of cool things in my class like Tech Concepts, Woodworking, Computer Aided Drawing, Electricity, Plumbing, Home repair, Internet Safety and Web Design. While teaching these topics I have the students reading, writing, and using math. Guess what, my kids don't complain about it either. The only complaint I hear is" awe I have to go to ELA or math next." Not realizing that I just had them adding and subtracting fractions, and writing descriptive instructions on how to do something or updating their daily activity log on their website.
Over the years I have had hundreds of parents dragged into my room by excited students during Open House. After hearing the course description I hear comments like "Can I take your class", "We need more of this in our schools", and "I wish somebody taught me that when I was in school". These comments are great; unfortunately I am just giving an introduction to technology because I only have 20 weeks with my students. During that period I cover a lot of cool things in my class like Tech Concepts, Woodworking, Computer Aided Drawing, Electricity, Plumbing, Home repair, Internet Safety and Web Design. While teaching these topics I have the students reading, writing, and using math. Guess what, my kids don't complain about it either. The only complaint I hear is" awe I have to go to ELA or math next." Not realizing that I just had them adding and subtracting fractions, and writing descriptive instructions on how to do something or updating their daily activity log on their website.
The bottom line is, most kids love technology classes as it allows them to build and be creative while learning. Most of the kids don't even realize they are learning while making their projects. Most states don't have a mandate for technology classes and those that do only require a minimal amount of seat time in a technology classroom. This needs to change.
Maybe I am ignorant and blind to educational theory, but wouldn't it make sense to have more technology classes in schools if that is what the kids like and it contains reading, writing ,and math. It is a fact that manufacturing is coming back to the States; and a lot of it is in the form of robotic manufacturing. The jobs that are in high demand are good paying jobs like electro-mechanical engineers, computer programmers, robotic technicians, and so on. We do not need to push students in this direction, we just need to pave the pathway for them to get there.
Please share and post your thoughts and comments below. www.techedlearning.com
Maybe I am ignorant and blind to educational theory, but wouldn't it make sense to have more technology classes in schools if that is what the kids like and it contains reading, writing ,and math. It is a fact that manufacturing is coming back to the States; and a lot of it is in the form of robotic manufacturing. The jobs that are in high demand are good paying jobs like electro-mechanical engineers, computer programmers, robotic technicians, and so on. We do not need to push students in this direction, we just need to pave the pathway for them to get there.
Please share and post your thoughts and comments below. www.techedlearning.com
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