Curriculum Trnds

Just this morning I was watching the news and they spoke about this new gadget called the Clicker. The Clicker is currently being used in college classrooms. The students can use the Clicker to respond to questions and allows them to actively participate in classroom discussions. It can also be used to keep account of who attended class on any particular day. The Clicker is purchased at the beginning of the freshman year and can be used for the entire time the student is at college. These types of things are also currently being used in both middle and high school and are indeed a great way to keep the students focused, interested, and on task. Although the "clicker" concept has been around for a few years now, I still found this to be very interesting and thought about how much the curriculum is changing. We are no longer in the age where the use of pencil and paper will do, the new generation of students require much more.

From the chalk board to the white board; the encyclopedia to the Internet; the type writer to computers with word processors; and from the overhead projector to the Promethean Board, so many things have changed throughout the years and with good reason. Students of today are so much more tech savvy. "Since the minds of today are trained to interact with television, many different video and audio stimuli will be used to help students to focus more in class" (Mehner, 2009). Based on the current trends, we as teachers must prepare ourselves in order to prepare our kids.

At the school in which I currently work, we have what are called Smart classes. These classes are equipped with multiple technologies such as computers, Elmo document cameras, Promethean boards, LCD projectors, DVD players, and are equipped for surround sound. Only about ten classes are equipped with these materials, but I believe in the next ten years all classes will be. The world is changing fast and so are our children. In order for us to ensure that we are meeting the needs of the students, we must provide them with the type of experiences that they will come in contact with in the real world. Mehner (2009) stated, "Technology will make the classroom an exciting place for learning once again." I believe this is an accurate statement and this type of thinking will have a major impact on many, therefore increasing the likelihood of a complete technology takeover within the upcoming years.

Due to the "many changes occurring throughout the world, alterations need to be made in our schools so that our students are prepared for the current and future environments that they will be expected to succeed in" (Brooks, 2006). I don't believe that there will be a big change on what content is taught because no matter how many changes there are over time, students will still need to know the basic skills for math, science, language arts, and social studies. I do believe however, within the next ten years the way the content is taught will dramatically change. Teaching and learning as we know it, is currently seeing a change and the changes will only continue over time to ensure that our students are prepared for all