"‘Gen Y’ Teachers Want to Innovate; Education Leaders Lag Behind" edweek article
"‘Gen Y’ Teachers Want to Innovate; Education Leaders Lag Behind"
By Sabrina Laine
from the article:
Generation Y teachers, those 20-somethings who connect with their friends via online social-networking sites and live with the world at their fingertips, are inherently going to be incompatible with a stagnant education system that can be painfully isolating and uninspiring. Will the system bend to their will or break their spirit? What does the answer mean for the future of public education in this country?
Whether schools nurture or negate the ideas of Gen Y teachers will be the 21st-century litmus test for their ability to lead in a knowledge-driven, global economy that is growing increasingly, and exponentially, competitive as our students fall dangerously behind. Just as the workplace is learning how to integrate Gen Y professionals on the brink of the biggest labor shortage in history, schools need a lesson in leveraging the next generation of teachers to take learning to the next level.
Generation Y teachers want to create, not conform. They want to color off the page, but are told to teach to the test. They want to work in small groups, but are given unmanageable numbers of students. They want to commune with colleagues online and across the school, but they are confined to their classrooms and limited to one-on-one teacher mentoring. They are sometimes pressured by peers to maintain the status quo, but they want the power to make a difference. They want financial stability and respect, but the importance of their role is monetarily marginalized. They want to co-teach, job-share, receive bonuses, and try their hand at leadership roles, but unions and politics can be unmovable barriers to work/life balance and optimum job satisfaction. But most important of all, Gen Y teachers want support from their leaders to innovate and inspire their students."
Any reactions to the article?
By Sabrina Laine
from the article:
Generation Y teachers, those 20-somethings who connect with their friends via online social-networking sites and live with the world at their fingertips, are inherently going to be incompatible with a stagnant education system that can be painfully isolating and uninspiring. Will the system bend to their will or break their spirit? What does the answer mean for the future of public education in this country?
Whether schools nurture or negate the ideas of Gen Y teachers will be the 21st-century litmus test for their ability to lead in a knowledge-driven, global economy that is growing increasingly, and exponentially, competitive as our students fall dangerously behind. Just as the workplace is learning how to integrate Gen Y professionals on the brink of the biggest labor shortage in history, schools need a lesson in leveraging the next generation of teachers to take learning to the next level.
Generation Y teachers want to create, not conform. They want to color off the page, but are told to teach to the test. They want to work in small groups, but are given unmanageable numbers of students. They want to commune with colleagues online and across the school, but they are confined to their classrooms and limited to one-on-one teacher mentoring. They are sometimes pressured by peers to maintain the status quo, but they want the power to make a difference. They want financial stability and respect, but the importance of their role is monetarily marginalized. They want to co-teach, job-share, receive bonuses, and try their hand at leadership roles, but unions and politics can be unmovable barriers to work/life balance and optimum job satisfaction. But most important of all, Gen Y teachers want support from their leaders to innovate and inspire their students."
Any reactions to the article?
Tags: 21st+century+skills, administrative+support, innovation
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Connie Weber on
-
Having a culture of innovation, or collegial camaraderie, is like nothing else for professional growth. Roland S. Barth writes about the importance of development of a community of learners. His book Learning by Heart addresses some ways to go about creation of that culture, and its benefit.
A lot of schools have moved too far into the testing craze, which only dumbs education down.
Getting charters going is a great idea--but often very hard... Lots of startup issues. Still, worth a try! (It'd be good to hear from some charter-school people on what they now do with innovation, web2.0, 21st century learning...)
-
Permalink Reply by Ed Jones on
-
Ooh. "testing craze"? Yes, testing may have mucked up your school or your classroom. And, if you think its bad now, know that we are getting closer to have the tests set at the national level, not the states! Ack!
But lets also give quality measurement and reporting some due. It is helping the most left behind of our students. Its showing us that failure to master reading can happen in all sorts of neighborhoods, and that mastery of math can happen in the most wretched dens of economic blight.
-
-
"quality measurement," by definition, would not be part of what's called a "testing craze."
Yes, all learners must be included, watched over, nurtured, helped along.
-
-
Agreed. But, shouldn't we do what we can to avoid enabling folk who want to point at NCLB as some great evil, to be stormed and taken down, its demise to be celebrated like Bastille Day?
In the article, the young teachers say they want to be compared to their peers; they want to be rewarded when they succeed. And they want those who have lost the spark to be able to find the door.
Before NCLB, teaching quality was measured by 1)Did you get a license, 2) How many years have you taught?
The challenge now is to replace NCLB with smarter means of diagnostics. I hope EduWeb 3.0 or 4.0 are a part of that; I'm not optimistic.
-
Permalink Reply by nlowell on
-
I know better but ...
One of the issues with the current schema of "quality measurement and reporting" is that failure in one neighbor hood would be deemed mastery in another. There are a lot of really dedicated people working to protect "their kids" by gaming the "quality measurement and reporting" and I don't blame them.
When you use a reliable but invalid instrument, you learn that every student in your school weighs 98.6 with a very small standard deviation. And, ironically, the only way to raise that score is to make them all sick.
(only half jest)
-
Permalink Reply by ddeubel on
-
I have a whole lot to say, including the need to for the education system to be more innovative. I think at the end of the day it will start NOT with teachers, students, schools but how we "label" learning and pronounce success.
Can anyone tell me a state or province that accepts an online high school degree? Can anyone tell me where it is offered? This should be the starting place, a recognition that technology can do what the classroom hasn't. It will start when we "label" and rubber stamp success differently.
David
http://eflclassroom.ning.com
-
-
Can anyone tell me a state or province that accepts an online high school degree?
Actually there are a number. Ohio Virtual Academy is one here; there are others here, and the company that backs OVA runs them in other states.
Not that I'd recommend a completely virtual diploma to a kid; but there are worse legal ways to satisfy mandatory education requirements in Ohio.
Alas, our new Governor, when he is not out on the campaign trail for Senator Clinton, has obliterating them as his top priority.
-
Permalink Reply by James Dykstra on
-
Alberta Distance Learning Centre (http://www.adlc.ca/) offers accredited school (including high school) programs. It is a school of the Pembina Hills division, and it's courses are delivered in standard correspondance style print format and more funky online formats.
-
Permalink Reply by Frank, Divergent Learner on
-
Well, it better get figured out soon if the USA is going to compete globally with the likes of China and India, the 2 rising economic (and educational) powers.
Places like Mexico, where I live, need to get movin' too. With globalization, no country and no person is immune or sheltered. Technology has blurred country boundaries and the ability to isolate oneself in blissful isolation (with power or without).
Sadly, many educators believe that using email is using technology (and some are reluctant to even use email). As we shift teachers and teaching away from teacher-fronted lecture models to more collaborative inquiry-based projects that are student-centered,,,, technology has to be rolled in too, or students will not be engaged nor prepared for the work they are living in. I like the term technoconstructivism.
-
-
Thanks Ed, I'll check into it.
I thought there were but as you make clear, it is something not that common and which I think would make a first step towards both engaging youth in their self improvement (which is education and not just getting a legal document) and more importantly, improving standards of education.
I don't think the best situation is something all online. Still, I do think online can even help improve the quality and standards of education. I think this should be THE SELLING POINT to politicians, parents and society as a whole. Accountability. Technology enables that to a larger degree.
Frank, yes, so many believe technology is only email. And you are right, so many are falling behind and just don't have the skills DESPITE high school degrees precisely for those reasons. The youth for the most part no better and would be engaged by online degrees/options and the flexibility it allows and which is the concept that has allowed so much improved productivity worldwide. So why not education becoming "flexible" instead of just flexing muscles and power?
David
http://eflclassroom.ning.com
-
-
To take this a bit further, the company in question above is K12, Inc. K12 is basically a textbook publisher 2.0 They have developed curricula somewhat (I think) off the work of the Core Knowledge Foundation. They also do a lot of their own cognitive engineering and analysis.
They're making their way forward with online interactive lessons, but its slow. Such lessons are expensive. Plus, we don't really understand how to make them effective. Also, the reluctance of public schools to try things like this means that their customers are charters, online or not; and homeschoolers, who may buy and use parts of the curriculum, a la carte.
That last bit, the homeschooler part, also holds things back, as many still don't have broadband.
I highly recommend the blog of their Chief Learning Officer, Bror Saxberg, a certifiable genius. Its Bror's Blog.
-
-
Hi Ed,
Core knowledge still depends on teachers who know how to be involved and get kids involved. (I'm pretty sure you agree with that.) So aren't we still talking about creating communities of learners and high-powered, innovative settings in which teachers can be collaborative professionals?
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next ›
Report
Win at School
Commercial Policy
If you are representing a commercial entity, please see the specific guidelines on your participation.
Badge
Follow
Awards:
© 2024 Created by Steve Hargadon.
Powered by
