Theories of Critical Thinking

There’s an old saying in coaching I always like to use and it says “either you are getting better or you are getting worse. You never stay the same” and that applies to education with technology as well. The education profession is a unique field where you were taught a certain way, but you are asked to teach in another. In all five articles, education was viewed as a profession that has become inefficient compared to what capacity we are able to be innovated. The days of pulling information from a textbook are almost obsolete. Teachers who have been teaching twenty-plus years can lose their effectiveness if they are not up with the times. Being removed from high school just eleven years, I have seen drastic change in education. I had multiple honors and AP classes and we were still using textbooks then. The articles, especially the Deep Learning article stated that sort of learning is really handcuffing our educational system as a whole because that is only one source. Students simply pulling information from a textbook are at the mercy of what the perspectives of the authors in the textbook perceive is the best way to present information to the reader. Technology can be a blessing and a curse. Students have to the ability to be informed about anything at the swipe of a finger on any app they choose to synthesize themselves to. The ability to have access to multiple sources causes competition among sources, providing news and educational outlets to be on their best games all the time to get the most followers and sponsorship money they can attain. My mother has been working in IT for a law firm longer than I can remember, but why is technology slow to be being adopted and implemented in learning with flipped classrooms? In my personal opinion the reason for this is simply control. As teachers we are given the responsibility and pressure of student achievement within the four walls of our class rooms. To make sure this on schedule and on pace we like to have a hand in every step within this process pulling further away from being more of a drill sergeant where everything has to be done the way like we always done before. In my opinion, and I can honestly say this because I am one, the people in the school building who have the most difficult time relinquishing control in a classroom are your coaches. For the last 8 years of my young coaching career I have always done and taught the same practices in the same order early on in the season because I want certain things done in a certain way. For the most part, I have had a great deal of success early on in my career, so why change things up if it has already been proven to have success? Currently I am reading a book my old football coach wrote, and even he said that he had to evolve as a coach through the years. Student athletes are not wired the same way as they were when he first entered coach, so why would the same way of doing things be the most effective way in reaching athletes maximum potential? In the adoption process I am man enough to admit that I have always fallen in the late majority on the bell curve. I have always been skeptical of change and need to see proven results before I try something new. For this reason, I feel like this where PLCs are the most effective for me because we have so many different personalities in our group all at different stages in their careers. If this pandemic has any positives over the last year, I hope that it shows educators like me that are resistant to change and risk, the use of more technology in the classroom may be a curveball to us, but worth it for our student’s future.