Innovation in Education

Innovation is an unusual word to have to tackle, here.  Webster’s Dictionary defines innovation as “the introduction of something new; a new idea, method, or device”.  When I think about my process and even the rudiments of my classroom environment, I do not immediately think of something new.  Rather, I think of something very, very old.

Before the current paradigm of compulsory public education was introduced in the late 19^th Century, most average citizens of the United States were educated for whatever years their lives allowed at whatever points in time their lives allowed.  These students would gather in a single room regardless of age or gender, and they would learn from a single teacher who serviced the entire population of school-aged children in the region.  This is how I see my classroom.  We are going back to the little red schoolhouse because something incredible and valuable and irreplaceable became necessary in that context: the teacher had to individualize instruction for each child.

I have four classes during my work day that are titled, “Reading Improvement”.  There are 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th graders together in each of those course sections.  The children in those classes read on anywhere from a 3^rd grade level to a 6^th grade level, and there is no guarantee that one can match ability to anything as superficial as age or grade.  I must assess and monitor and evaluate and meet and talk with and get to know every one of them as an individual.  I must learn where they are in their reading, and I must learn what they know. I have to learn what motivates each one, and I have to put those motivations on the table and entice each one to come a little bit closer to grade-level each and every day they are with me.

My other students are enrolled in “English Language Arts and Reading Pre-AP”, and they require the same kind of differentiated instruction in order that every child in the classroom progresses.  In that class, I have regular students who are optimistic about their future success and others who are very bright and are the very souls for whom the Advanced Placement program was designed.  I also, though, have children who’ve been labeled Gifted and Talented, and these are another creature altogether.  I have heard it said that, if one thinks of the human mind as a television set, and we average folks have three or four channels going on in our minds, the genius level child can have anywhere between 100 and 5,000 channels going on in his or hers.  The G/T child does not learn in the same ways as the average or even the bright child.  So, again, I differentiate and strive to teach each child – from his point of need and ability to his highest potential.

Now, there is one bit of Webster’s definition that I do have and put to work daily – “a new…device”.  I have devices.  My reading students read in tandem with audio cassettes, mp3’s, and ebooks that generate text-to-speech audio tracks as one reads.  We use computers for comprehension testing, weekly progress monitoring assessments, monthly diagnostic testing, and weekly skills practice.  My Pre-AP students type their essays and research papers into desktop keyboards that connect to my computer via a radio frequency (RF) transmitter then submit them to a web-based assessment program that uses advanced algorithms to assess, evaluate, and advise them in their work.  We write directions using a Google map of Beaumont displayed on an interactive whiteboard and submit those within our online classroom.

My innovation, then, is to take an idea that worked well and still does and use it launch kids into the 21^st Century.