2 Million Minutes

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That’s the amount of time our 8th grade class will have from the last day of school this year until they graduate high school. Ironically, that is the same amount of time that Indian and Chinese students in their home countries will have before they complete their high school.

As the subject of a new documentary reveals,  2 Million Minutes may not be enough time to prepare our students to the future. Once, the problem was simple: prepare students for the specific challenges they would face upon finishing school. Now we face a complex problem: prepare students to adapt to the constantly changing challenges and landscape the future holds.

All that in 2 Million Minutes.

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On another note, a quote from a video on one of my favorite blogs almost knocked me out of my chair this weekend.

:53 into the video…

“We have to accept, as educators, that technology is not really a choice. It has created a world; it’s not just here to help you teach traditional subjects. It has invented, it has emerged a completely new environment.”

This thought took the perception of “teaching with technology” and turned it on its head. Can you imagine walking into a school in the fall and “teaching Technology with English” or “teaching Technology with Math?”

This June will mark the 6th year that HCPS middle school students have been included in the One-to-One initiative. Take a step back, are we still “teaching with technology” or have we migrated to teaching technology through our subjects? We already know that our kids have adapted to “learning technology through cellphones/video games/MySpace/IM/e-mail/Flickr/FaceBook/YouTube/GPS/iPod/Skype.” When will they teach us how to teach English/Music/Math/Social Studies/World Languages/Science/CTE using their native skills?