It's been a while and many things are going on...many others just took a different turn.
I'm on an independent adventure now... Still working on curriculum development and editing. I miss working the classroom a lot and feel that the creative sparks dim out when not able to try things out at once... That's me thinking out loud...
Standards... It seems that we fall short (or too long, really!) when thinking about what should be done in the classroom and what actually happens thereafter. I truly believe that both sides are right, only that it should be more a matter of options. Standards...keep them to the point: short and precise and let teachers elaborate and adapt as required. Should there be a national standards, Yes, and by all means international too. We need to agree on the minimum to get our generations prepared for the future; NO, we don't need to spell out every little detail so that we suffocate creativity, adaptability and flexibility.
Textbooks... Uhhh the irony!! When I was in college, the one thing that kept turning my budget inside out was the issue of books. I still want to kick myself for shelling out the $$$ for a handbook that I should have kept dragging just one more semester out of the Library.... after graduation I never went back to it... Textbook buying or not can keep students without sleep or making it through a course, and there is no easy way around that either; however, the Internet has changed all this and publishers have to come to terms with it. Students need not buy a whole book if what is needed is 2 - 5 chapters.. let them get it on line for a fraction... "Oh, but these mean students dare to share!!" Oh come on, you'll think something to make up for it! If the music industry has been able to do it, so will the publishers... Besides, we all know that information goes by, and knowledge changes so fast, that editing and printing textbooks cannot possibly get done at the same pace. That doesn't mean that the classics and new novels shouldn't be printed... on the contrary, those are a different matter and should be treated differently altogether. I couldn't imagine my world without a good novel to curl up with on a lazy afternoon.
Until next time
