Saturday, August 17, 2019

Newsletter #1 - The Rationale

--- Newsletter #1 ---
The catalyst that started this project was the idea of taking years of hard work as a teacher in the bad neighborhood, and the success that came with it, and move it onto the internet.

I started teaching in 1996.  The ‘World Wide Web’ was a new (and quiet) medium.  Windows 95 was a big deal.  Apple Computer had fallen to a distant second place.  I used Netscape Navigator to browse the Web.  My computer’s hard drive had 6.6GB.  Most people had pagers – a few had cellphones.

Think about how technology, communication, and media have changed since then.

Now think about how little school has changed.  Sure, there are smartboards, Google classroom, laptops and tablets, and quick wireless connectivity.  But students still go into a building for 7 hours a day, are grouped the same way, and get all the same assignments.  It doesn’t make sense to me.

This first newsletter is about philosophy:  I think it’s time we use the technology available to not only teach well, explain things clearly, and search for the truth, but also to use the tools we have to teach those who don’t fit into the narrow school paradigm we’ve been given.

Thank you,
Douglas Marolla
https://thefreelanceteacher.teachable.com/

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