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TOPIC: AAdjusting to the Future@

Lesson Element .1: ATeachers: A Guide to the World@

There Is a Lot of Important Information That Lurks Behind Questions in a Quiz.

However, as teachers, we often downplay the behind the scenes information in favor of the more accepted version of history.

Example: Many of the Viking explorers weren=t very interested in the lands in North America that they discovered. Yet this would make dull reading so we emphasize the colonization aspects.
Example: We emphasize the size of Columbus= ships, yet for centuries, the Chinese had been trading over vast distances with a treasure fleet that featured ships significantly longer. We seldom if ever mention this.
Example: We make a big deal out of Guttenburg creating moveable type. Yet the Chinese invented moveable type in the 11^th century. They made one mistake though, instead of making each sound correspond to one character, they made each tile represent a whole word. Thus they had an unwieldy system of 20,000 tiles. Guttenburg avoided that trap and got the credit for inventing moveable type.
Example: Clock faces did not use to have numerals on them. This is because the time was told by sounding a bell to call pious monks to prayer. The first ones only rang on the hour. Gradually they began to toll the half and then later, the quarter-hours.

We sometimes shortchange our students by not giving them the real stories, which are often more interesting than the myths.

We Have a Tendency to Make History Dull. This Is a Mistake.

If something is dull, you often don=t learn much from it.

If something is exciting, there are lots of lessons to be learned.

How would the world have been changed if the Chinese had made their moveable type system work?

China is an ancient civilization with continuity over 5,000 years.
In the U.S., we tend to think our own 400 year old history is ancient.
As a collective people we tend to be ethnocentric.
We often dismiss the achievements of other peoples. This is a mistake.

As Teachers We Need to Be Broader People than We Normally Tend to Be.

It is wrong to assume that a teacher should only mastered a narrow body of knowledge and not be aware of other knowledge.

The teacher should be a guide to the world for all their students.

There are moments when as a teacher, you can intervene in peoples= lives and make a real difference.

There are the moments that we as teachers should be living for.

Teaching is about giving people the context of learning, and helping them understand how to deal with that context.

Without those skills, students will emerge from school unprepared to deal with 21^st century life.

Lesson Element .2: AStudying the Future@

To Properly Prepare Our Students for the next Century, We Need to Teach Them Skill That Help Them to Analyze the Future.

One of the biggest mistakes we make is to think about history as being in the past than being about the future.

Many people don=t realize that they know as much about the future as they do the past.

Example: We all know that the sun is going to rise tomorrow.

We are often uncertain about events in the past because we keep changing our minds.

Example: Decades ago, students were taught that the U.S. won the War of 1812.
Then this was revised to teach that the British won the war.
This subject is now being taught that the war ended in a tie.
In this fashion, our knowledge of the past is not concrete and can be compared to our knowledge of the future.

Sometimes We Are More Certain about the Distant Future than the near Future.

You may be certain that you won=t be alive 100 years from now. But are you as certain that you might not be alive next week?

The key is that we should not try to predict the future, but rather study it.

Studying the future means that we can interact with the future and help make it happen.

Understanding Global Interdependence Is the Study of the Future.

Everything from the environment to politics is going to eventually be more unified.

If our students are prepared to study the future, they will be helpless in the face of change.

We have difficulty with this because our predecessors lived in a world that could have books go unchanged for over a hundred years. We do not have this same situation today.

Everyone can help study the future. Education is one of the things that can make that happen.

Lesson Element .3: ASCANS Reports@

AThe Forgotten Half@

Our current curriculum is defined by preparing students for college admission standards.

But only half the student population goes on to college.

The other half is the AForgotten Half.@

They basically are a kind of onlooker for the folks who are getting prepared for college.

We need to bridge the gap between these students and incorporate students who have other strengths that overshadow their academics, such as vocational and technical skills.

Since Not Everyone Will Go on to College, We Need a New Definition of Basic Skills.

SCANS is recommended by Dr. Allen as a blueprint for such a change in definition.

SCANS: Secretary=s Commission for the Achievement of Necessary Skills.

Produced by the Department of Labor.
Motivated by concerns in the 1980's that America was getting uncompetitive.
Addresses what skills are needed for the workplace of the 21^st century.
Widely accepted by those who have studied the issues.

SCANS Define Competencies. Defined Around Five Elements:

Resources:

Workers need to be able to allocate time, money, materials, space, and staff.
This is a very different dimension than the old reading, writing, and arithmetic paradigm.

Interpersonal Skills:

This is usually something left out of most educational programs.
It deals with working on teams, teaching others, serving customers, leading, negotiating, and working with people with diverse backgrounds.
These are important skills necessary to learning how to live in a very complex, diverse, and interdependent world.

Information:

This deals with acquiring and evaluating data.
This is difficult because there are so many sources of data.
Organizing and maintaining files is a real skill that most of us struggle with.

Systems:

This deals with understanding social, organizational, and technological systems, monitoring and correcting performances, and designing or improving systems.
We don=t understand organizations that we are part of, such as the family.
The sexism of underlying values is that kids do not have rights, or in some cases, fathers have no responsibilities to the household chores. These are both example of failing in system competency.

Technology:

Technology is selecting equipment and tools, and selecting/operating ideal technology for each situation.

Lesson Element .4: AApplying SCANS to the Forgotten Half@

If Not Diagnosed as College Bound, Many Students Are Not Pushed to Excel.

This can lead to boredom, dislike of school, and eventually dropping out.

The forgotten half needs to have material presented to them in a fun and exciting way, possibly even more so than the higher motivated students.

These students should be exposed to concepts even if they do not understand them.

This at least enables the student to understand what they are if referred to in conversation.
Example: Math and fractals.
Most people are not familiar with fractals, yet they are the basis of computer graphics.

Knowing little facts about certain fields is part of having a well-rounded education.

Listening Skills are Another Important Fundamental Skill that is Forgotten in Teaching the Forgotten Half.

Fundamental skill that it very important in our everyday world.

Sometimes we are adept at talking, but very poor at listening.

Dr. Allen gives an example of his interaction with the Navajo people. They don=t interrupt and he would talk for hours. But when they talked, he would interrupt them. Eventually he figured out what was happening and was very embarrassed.

The lesson is that as human being in a modern society we need to be productive and sensitive to others. We can achieve this through listening skills.

SCANS Reports List Basic Skills That Include the Forgotten Half.

They emphasize human skills such as individual responsibility and self-esteem, sociability, self-management and integrity.

Many educators have problems in teaching self-esteem, due to a possible conflict with values and value clarification.

To get around this problem they need to not focus on a type of personal quality, but should teach other things and go on from there.

SCANS makes a complimentary basic curriculum which can be fleshed out with liberal arts.

These competencies would create a real-world context for learning.