Empowering Teachers and Students Through Technology This article from Reading Online is an interview with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, a Virginia teacher, about the program that she runs and for which she was awarded Teacher of the Year in her school district. Here's one great quote: "Our schools are a reflection of our culture and our values. It seems that the technological revolution that has dramatically permeated every other area of the community has left education untouched. What implications does this have for children growing up in an environment where they control the flow of information and the graphic format in which they receive it? Think about it. Children have grown up with remote control everything, push button phones, and instant access to information in entertaining formats. Almost everywhere they go, they find this stream of multimedia. They are moving toward the future at full speed ahead and then they come to school and find that they are locked in the past. Information is presented in a convergent, linear format as opposed to the divergent, integrated format in the rest of their world. As a result, school seems rigid, uninteresting, and unyielding. It is time for education to be restructured to reflect the community in which the school resides. How will we educate these students? Technology will have to become more than just an add-on, more than another thing the overburdened teacher must fit into the curriculum and day. Principled changes in curriculum should be considered. Technology should become the collaboration and communication tool through which the content area curriculum is delivered. Technology in and of itself will not bring about change. We will need to see ourselves as agents of change, advocating what is in the best interest of children." 2:09:44 PM     [comment []];[]