TED Talk Reflection

TED Talk Reflection

In Geoffrey Canada's TED Talk, There's an Educational Cliff we are Walking Off Right Now, Mr. Canada talks about how we are failing schools because we are following a business model in which we have not been changing even though we know that things aren't working.

I would argue that we are changing. While these things might not be as evident in inner-city schools, things like standards-based grading and the entire elementary math curriculum is very different from my experience as a student. These changes are also two of the biggest areas of complaint from parents how fear this change that is unfamiliar to them. So, while the population is screaming for change, it is very difficult because change is also resisted.

Some areas that our group talked about in terms of failing our students were finding time to address needs of all students - including: challenging more independent learners, the need to do more to engage all students in a lesson, providing an isolationist learning model (math class/ english class/ science class, etc.) when the world is not isolated.

Some solutions we discussed were using student mini-lesson models, using outside or online resources for feedback, and making students more in charge of their learning through choice.