Rethinking Education Chapter 10 Reflection

The last chapter in Rethinking Education focused on its title name. The chapter provided conclusions and things to think about after reading this book. The author claims that technology is leveling out the playing field as far as careers as concerned on the first page of the chapter. I would agree more with this statement if it was the case that everyone had access to all the same technology and could all afford it. This not being the case, I would not claim that we are all going to be at the same level anytime soon. I thought the book did do a sufficient job pointing out that educators need to reconsider the learning process. If all different kinds of beneficial technological tools are available for us as teachers, why are we ignoring that? I do not think that there is any excuse why educators are not incorporating more technology into the classroom. I would recommend this book to any of my future colleagues who are stubborn to changing their methods of instruction.  The whole life-long learning concept brought up numerous times in this book is something that we as teachers also need to consider.  How are we preparing our students for the real world? I was glad that the book also mentioned that technology has been a tool that some people are using to escape from poverty. I am thrilled about this advancement because it means this will hopefully help some of my future student’s have a better life provided for them.

                Under the “Rethinking Motivation” section in the last chapter, some disturbing statistics were brought to attention. 50% of high school students are bored in their everyday classes. I have to admit that I was part of the half that was bored in class. The majority of my teachers in high school were older and I think had more traditional ways of how they thought students should be educated. Thinking back, my teachers that were more engaging were my business and marketing teachers, whose classes were held in computer labs. Also with this study I think that high school students especially feel as though they can’t take enjoyment in their classes because that is not socially acceptable. By using not just technology but other creative teaching methods, we can increase the level of interest in our classrooms. I loved the idea of including fantasy sports in math class because that is something many students participate in and do in their own time anyways.

                An important thing for educators to think about is that with technology, the level of challenge is set to the individual. It is impossible for one teacher in a classroom of 25+ students to address every student’s level of capability. By giving them each a level to work at that challenges the individual, no student will be bored because of being under stimulated.