Reform Education - Fight With Tools

There is a war going on for the attention of our students that is fought daily. If we don't take the steps necessary to reform the education system and update the way we engage students, we will loose. No one is going to do it for us.

Sorry if this is beginning to sound like a revolution piece. But, maybe, that's what we need right now (queue the drum roll and march). How do pens and pencils stand against touch screens and the constant barrage of multimedia that our children are exposed to daily? Have you seen the video of the kid in a mech-warrior suit? How are we supposed to compete with this?

The truth is we can't. Competition is not the answer. If we embrace technology and specialize it to be used in our classrooms, that is how our kids will thrive. Notebooks can be replaced with digital notebooks programs, chalk boards give way to interactive white boards, and 3D technology finds its rightful place - as a part of everyday lessons.

We, the entire education body, need to change the way we react towards "new" technology. Stop thinking that technology is a monster, spawned to distract and confuse our kids. Instead, start looking at technology as the tool by which our children can absorb large packets of information and retain it in a manner that promotes imaginative thinking, ingenuity, and a low-stress working environment.