Should MoCo Adopt the Florida Solution

Here is an interesting article about one school district's approach to a budget crunch.

Virtual learning.

Use those high tech toys, oops, I mean, tools, that we already have, and save some money too.

From my experience teaching in the distance learning program at Montgomery College a few years back, I'd be hesitant to use virtual teaching in the classrooms with students in traditional K-12 classrooms.  Distance learning works best with extremely motivated students, such as those who can only access content through alternative delivery systems.  I had numerous nurses, public safety officials, second career/transitional types who did well, but many students who wanted an easy course were disappointed.

But what about virtual training for our teachers?  Money is tight, why not use technology, web based resources, or other computer based training systems already widely accepted in many other workplaces, to train the adults?     Extend this a bit further - and teleconferences can be used by MoCo staff to attend conferences and network with their peers across the country, all from the comfort of Carver, and without those pesky credit card charges.

Here's the beginning of the article:

January 17, 2011

Florida Has Classes Without Teachers

By LAURA HERRERA

MIAMI — On the first day of her senior year at North Miami Beach Senior High School, Naomi Baptiste expected to be greeted by a teacher when she walked into her precalculus class.

“All there were were computers in the class,” said Naomi, who walked into a room of confused students. “We found out that over the summer they signed us up for these courses.”

Naomi is one of over 7,000 students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools enrolled in a program in which core subjects are taken using computers in a classroom with no teacher. A “facilitator” is in the room to make sure students progress. That person also deals with any technical problems.

These virtual classrooms, called e-learning labs, were put in place last August as a result of Florida’s Class Size Reduction Amendment, passed in 2002. The amendment limits the number of students allowed in classrooms, but not in virtual labs.

continues at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/education/18classrooms.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Critical thinking? You need knowledge - The Boston Globe

Critical thinking? You need knowledge - The Boston Globe

THE LATEST fad to sweep K-12 education is called “21st-Century Skills.’’...

...For over a century we have numbed the brains of teachers with endless blather about process and abstract thinking skills. We have taught them about graphic organizers and Venn diagrams and accountable talk, data-based decision-making, rubrics, and leveled libraries.

But we have ignored what matters most. We have neglected to teach them that one cannot think critically without quite a lot of knowledge to think about. Thinking critically involves comparing and contrasting and synthesizing what one has learned. And a great deal of knowledge is necessary before one can begin to reflect on its meaning and look for alternative explanations...

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