Every now and then, District Administration, a digital magazine I read each month, sponsors webinars about different subjects. On Tuesday, August 9th I'm attending a webinar entitled "Building parental engagement in classroom activities". The leaders of the webinar note "strong parental engagement with their children's classroom experience is highly correlated with successful learning outcomes, especially in earlier grades." The sponsor of the webinar, Shutterfly, is going to share information about their classroom Websites and how such sites can increase parental involvement. I believe the use of classroom sites can help give timely information to parents and guardians and provide a way to support students in their academic career. After tomorrow's webinar, look for another entry in this blog to share what I learned.
Now, for another piece of information I found interesting. This morning (Monday, August 8th) in the New York Times opinion portion of the e-mail newsletter I receive every day, Virginia Heffernan states "full 65 percent of today's grade-school kids may end up doing work that hasn't been invented yet." Heffernan goes on to say we continue to ask if the Internet is bad for our children, but the better question is whether the form of learning we are instilling in our children is useful to their future. Very simply, we cannot keep preparing students for a world which doesn't exist. Heffernan says "the contemporary American classroom, with its grades and deference to the clock, is an inheritance from the late 19th century." Quoting a book by Cathy N. Davidson, Now You See It, Heffernan notes year after year, teachers and professors ask students to write papers and they are appalled when they turn out terrible. However, those same students can write very intelligent blog entries and exhibit fewer typos and factual errors.
According to Davidson, "a classroom suited to today's students should deemphasize solitary piecework." It should facilitate collaboration instead and have new ways of measuring progress. "The new classroom should teach the huge array of complex skills that come under the heading of digital literacy." If you are interested in the entire article, click this link. There you can read all of what Heffernan says, plus read many of the interesting comments which have been posted.
Don't forget - Opening Day will be August 22nd and the First Day for Students will be August 23rd. Have a wonderful week!
