It is mind-boggling how many similarities the language has in the video to how we talk about education today.  We want our students to accomplish while they are learning.  Hands-on projects are still one of the greatest trends amongst teachers. Connecting an experience to a concept will help learners retain that knowledge. Connecting lessons throughout the core subjects (and even electives like World Language courses and Business Management)  is also still a strategic approach we like to use.  But what is also strange is how much we have NOT changed since the 1940s.  We still stand at the front of a classroom and lecture while students take notes.   We still have the parents complaining about what their children are or are not learning.  They had a front seat to their education over the last 2 years, thanks to virtual learning.  This led to new voices speaking up about all the things they disagreed with that were happening in their child’s classroom.  While I believe parents/guardians need to be involved in the education of their children, there needs to be trusted on their part towards teachers, admin, and other personnel in the district to decide what content is presented and how it will be taught.  We are the ones who have been trained in making these decisions and it is always done with the best interests of our learners in mind.  That begs the question: how do teachers instigate change that will affect the classrooms outside of their own schoolhouse? Is it even possible?  This is one of the many questions I am pondering as I develop my Innovation project.  How can I bring about significant change for the good of my community?  I think it is possible, if not inevitable.  

From the blog, People who like this stuff…like this stuff, change has been avoided because a few stakeholders feel that the status quo is working just fine.  That is not what I see from my point of view.  My students and coworkers are struggling. My experiences and observations from inside my school have been echoed by many.  These last 2 years have exposed a system that is failing at a potentially catastrophic level.  So many educators are leaving and not enough going to school to become an educator. How do we get the people making the decisions to see the fight we face on a daily basis without it being at the expense of our learners and educators?  We have to bridge that abyss-sized divide between the stakeholders and our classrooms.  I will continue to better myself and my practices for my learners.  Hopefully, my experiences will allow me to share them with my colleagues and inspire others to find their full potential.  I feel those in the “trenches” need to find our voice and tell those making decisions that we need change.  Our students will continue to suffer if we do not throw our caution to the wind and try something innovative and, yes, scary.  As I like to remind my students, anything worth it in life will take effort and hard work. I, for one, am ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work engaging my learners.  They need to have a voice too!