What a time to be alive amirite?

    I am extremely excited for the future of education and even more so to be a part of it. Education is finally moving away from the framework that is designed to do little more than train children for the workforce and is moving toward equipping students with REAL life skills fit for our modern society. In my experience, school always just felt like a scam because I didn't feel like I was learning anything really useful to me (which, let's be honest, is more true than I would like it to be) but I had no choice but to go and the only motivation to even graduate was the social pressure rather than a desire to grow and learn. I believe this shift in goal orientation from content-driven to skill-driven is revolutionary and I am filled with anticipation to find out how this new framework is going to change society long-term. Many educators have ignored the resources that technology can provide us with for too long, and the trial this recent panini forced us into has been so much more successful than anybody expected and even a clear improvement from the old design in many ways. I believe we can and must continue this shift to the point where we no longer create curriculums based on the student's anticipated success on a standardized test but instead create curriculums based on the student's interests, assets, and needs.

    This system of memorizing a bunch of content to prepare for several high-stakes standardized tests that are essentially all the same, and is also severely exclusive to a distinct population of students with the ability to succeed in these conditions. However, the tests are still damaging to all students because they are not learning critical thinking skills, research skills, creativity, or individuality which has fueled a society of complacency, apathy, and redundancy. Students do not need to rehearse over and over how to fill in hundreds of little bubbles, and the skills they are supposed to be using to answer these questions become overshadowed by the content itself. There are now so many other and more effective ways to assess progress in students and technology is largely to thank for this. If the curriculum is student-centered, the assessments should be student-centered as well and technology has finally been recognized to allow educators the space, time, and resources to tend to the unique needs of each student on a one-to-one scale much more efficiently and personally. 

    Although I must say I am a bit jealous that I could not grow up in a school system with this new frame of mind and the resources made possible by modern technology, I cannot wait to be a part of it from the teacher's perspective of things.