Department of Education 2.0

Linking the learning process in terms of an ecosystem is an interesting analogy. In an ecosystem every organism interacts and depends on each other for survival. I would like to see a larger collaboration of family and community with school systems, as everyone in a students life has something to both teach and to learn. I am remembering the old saying that it takes a community to raise a child. In today's world where parents are overworked and overstressed they leave the raising of thier child to the school system. This leaves teachers overburdened with the enormity of raising 50-100 students a year, much less getting students involved in the learning process.
What I remember from my school years and what I continue to see today are students that have tuned out the entire school experience. I feel that this is because schools still teach in a world that no longer exists. Reading, writing, rithmetic. This many classes that are this many minutes long, that teach this amount of content. This outdated model no longer works with todays students.
The future model of schools should take into consideration students interests and allow for some independance in both choosing their classes and structuring their days. For example all middle school teachers would function as a team to allow students to have diverse learning experiences and to allow for each student to learn at their own pace. I am continuosly frustrated that some of my students work so fast and then are bored and that some students can't get through the work or lab in the classtime alloted. Both of these groups have been proven to be "at risk" students for dropping out.
I feel that technology can be built utilized in a myraid of ways into schools. Virtual courses in small schools, or poor schools. I initially did not feel that science could be taught this way, but I discovered Gizmo, virtual lab software that you can buy for your school. YOu can find Gizmo at www.learninglab.com, if you would like to view it. It also has math labs.