Journal 8- "Culture of Collaboration" NETS-T5

McCombs, Brenda. "Culture of Collaboration ."Learning and Leading with Technology 38.3 (2010): 10-3. Web. 7 Dec 2010. <http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-november.aspx>.


This article is about how this school district in North Carolina had to rethink there whole view of education. They did this through the integration of technology by using different forms of assessment for students and teachers, and focusing on a more collaborative effort from the teachers. They were also able to provide the teachers with new technology equipment such as new laptops and interactive whiteboards from a grant they had received. The author went on to say how successful the new changes were as the students test scores rose significantly. 


Question#1: Can teachers implement a this more collaborative approach to teaching without grants? 
I keep hearing over and over again how education needs to be reformed and changed to have relevance in todays society. Though I rarely hear, except for a few exceptions here and there, that there is anything being done about it. Those few exceptions that I mentioned are generally the schools with enough funding to revamp the system. Though money is needed for new supplies, such as new laptops and other materials, no  money is needed to collaborate with teachers within the same schools. While some may argue that many teachers need training,there are so many free educational technology tools on the internet that the teachers could work on discovering the tools together and get to talking and collaborating together. Teachers need to start the process even though money may not be readily available they need to move forward and work with what they got.  


Question#2:If students scores go up as much as 21% why aren't more schools adapting a more collaborative approach to teaching? 
While I think it is primarily the responsibility of the teacher come up with more engaging twenty-first century material for the students.I also believe that the school should work together to provided these different aspects into the classrooms of all students.