Robert Smith - Post 01

Assignment 1A

The current American educational model has not been radically changed or altered in almost 200 years. Classrooms in the 21st century are still derived on a Prussian model brought to the United States by Horace Mann in 1843 (Rose, 2012) whereby all citizens are deserving of a free educational system. The result of his idea was a publicly-funded educational system, a rectangular-shaped classroom housing approximately 30 similarly-aged students, all led by a single teacher (Eide, 2012). This model became, and has remained, the primary template for public schooling in the United States.

One of the real challenges is to innovate fundamentally in education. Innovation is hard, because it means doing something that people don't find very easy, for the most part. It means challenging what we take for granted, things that we think are obvious. The great problem for reform or transformation is the tyranny of common sense. Things that people think, “It can't be done differently, that's how it's done.”

- Sir Ken Robinson

Meanwhile, technology has revolutionized society outside of the classroom (Prensky, 2008). Computers, and the Internet, have changed how human beings interact with one another, communicate with one another, and go about conducting everyday searchers and research (An & Reigeluth, 2011). The modern world has become always linked-in to some facet of the digital world. Whether through the cellular telephones people carry, or through the applications and conveniences of the modern computer, the world has become an interconnected place.

Robinson commented that “(e)very education system in the world is being reformed at the moment and it's not enough. Reform is no use anymore, because that's simply improving a broken model. What we need…is not evolution, but a revolution in education.” Unfortunately, as summarily argued by Rose (2012), while society has evolved and grown from the conventions of the mid-1800s, there has been little evidence to suggest that this growth has any significant impact on teaching in general, but specifically on learners’ academic performances. This non-result comes even though many school leaders have tried to modernize the old Industrial education model (Rose, 2012).

Regarding how Robinson’s comments may be used in conjunction with the development of a Project Based Learning (PBL) mindset for Spartanburg School District Six students, I believe that administrators, teachers, and learners, in that order, must all believe that: a) there is a real urgency for educational “revolution” and b) that PBL is that instrument of change.

Assignment 1B

For me, Robinson’s challenge means that I do not stop carrying out my vision of education. For many years, I have used projects and interdisciplinary methods to teach. Projects usually begin in my classroom by the second week of school and are used throughout the year. Unfortunately, many times my assignments are projects for the sake of projects and not project-based learning. If I am going to become a true instrument of Robinson's educational revolution, then my vision of what a real PBL classroom is, what my classroom is, must change. I adopted the Wiggins and McTighe (1998) model of Understanding by Design many years ago. I have been integrating my lessons since before I truly understood what integration meant. However, that is not enough, per Robinson. Project-Based Learning should not only be my guiding pedagogical approach, but be the actual “framework for teaching skills and content” (Lenz, 2011).

I am not advocating for an abandonment of direct instruction. At times, especially in my discipline, mathematics, direct instruction is a necessity. However, I can control how much rigor and inquiry goes into my learners’ practice and personal knowledge construction. In other words, I may not be able to do the actual learning for my students, but I can make sure the practice and activities they use to acquire their knowledge is more rigorous, real-world based, and with true application opportunities than textbook problems provide. As far as my greatest challenge in implementing PBL in the upcoming school year, I cannot comment on this yet. As I already provide many opportunities for learners to engage in project-like, I will not commit to saying true project-based, yet, my greatest challenge may be how to do so in a more -based, not -like, approach.