Change for the sake of change is bad. That old saying, "if it's not broken don't fix it" really applies to school. We change too much to do something new that someone else is trying. We should always look at the facts and change because it is going to help are students. As a special ed. teacher I find myself having to try new stuff all the time. What worked with last years class might not work with this years class. Change is not hard if you keep in mind that it is being done to help the students.
When saying "change for the sake of change," I understand where you stand. Education is not and should not be about fades and what is in. But I do have to say that the saying, "If it's not broke don't fix it," is hard to hold in education. The problem I believe is that education has to change or in some way be tweaked every 3-5 or so years. I say this because education has to stay relevant with our culture. I can't remember what district person made this comment, but it stuck with me..."We prepare our students for the future by making them walk into our classroom of the past." It's true, if we are preparing our kids for what is relevant in their lives then we must tweak and stay up with our every changing world.
I agree with you. We do live in an ever changing world and therefore must continue to change and evolve with it. Change is never easy, but it is a necessity. As a special education teacher as well, I really do have to learn to teach using different methods and approaches. Not only do my students' needs change from year to year, the needs within a class vary significantly. These types of changes though I believe would classify as First-order change and not second-order change that completely transforms education. I think being able to change how we teach and how we differentiate instruction for students by infusing instruction with technology will be second-order change. I believe classes 10 years down the road will look extremely different then classes do today. Yet the important thing to remember is that change takes time. As mentioned in chapter one, "the capability and knowledge exist to move schools steadily toward a new paradigm--a goal that can be accomplished over time by redesigning schools to a new level of technology integration..."
Well said. I too am a special education teacher and I am always looking for ways to improve my instruction, my students' education, and along the way, their test scores. I really like the idea of having students being prepared to learn new things as much of what they will need to learn in the future has yet to be pressented. Considering that when my daughter was born, cell phones looked like walkie-talkies. Now she is in middle school and using her cell phone for internet access, includng social media such as facebook, which didn't exist that long ago. Our students need to be prepared to be able to make the adjustments and learn as they go through life. I believe that we are moving in the right direction with the technology integration as we teach the students how to learn, regardless of the subject matter.