No teacher left behind
If your childhood education involved writing with a piece of chalk on a blackboard, or watching a film strip with a record that went "Beep!" we suggest you plan a visit to a USD 410 classroom soon after the new school year begins.
It's a brave new world in there.
We were invited to see how the next generation is learning its ABCs this past week, as 13 educators from the district made multimedia presentations to conclude a 10-day "Teach to the Future Essentials" course.
They learned more about integrating digital technology, to enhance the classroom teaching already taking place.
You could call it a "No Teacher Left Behind" course, or "Driver's Ed for the Super Information Highway."
During the summer over the next few years, all teachers in USD 410 will have an opportunity to take the course. At the end of last week's class, every educator said, "thank you, thank you, thank you," to the school board and superintendent for making the class available to them.
During their presentations, we learned that today's children have brains that are wired differently. We're not exactly sure what that means, but we do know that with the Internet, everything changed.
Today one single web site, (www.wikipedia.org), contains more information than any school library in the land.
And, with wireless Internet connections available in USD 410 classrooms, teachers can access a universe of information with a click of a mouse, and project it on a screen (where the blackboard used to be), for all of their students to see.
Imagine a class with no student's question left unanswered. Imagine subject lessons presented with music, voice, and video graphics, as captivating as anything on television. It's happening at USD 410.
The district's investment in technology is to be commended. And it is already bearing fruit. Three bright sophomores from Hillsboro High School are headed to the "national technology Olympics" this week, thanks in part to the digital learning opportunities they've had.
If there are limits to the future of education, the roadblocks will come in the form of political interference, or lack of funding.
Failed programs, such as "No Child Left Behind," and standardized testing could keep our teachers from teaching what is now possible to teach.
We see digital technology as a tool that will help today's competent educators do what teachers have done since the days of the one room schoolhouse — help children prepare for the Brave New World of tomorrow.
— GRANT OVERSTAKE
