Teachers Challenge: Be In or Be Out

I've delighted to read her letter-post and this is the very first time we quote Sheryl from 21st Century Learning, but today's post is a Open Letter and we want to share it with you, particularly some paragraphs we were really impressed about our takes on technology in the classroom:

...If you can be replaced by a computer then you probably should be! The truth is that technology will never replace teachers, however teachers who know how to use technology effectively to help their students connect and collaborate together online will replace those who do not.
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Sylvia Martinez says we are trying to solve this 21st C PD issue in schools with 6% of the population (teachers) when 94% of the population (kids) are better positioned to help us learn what we need to know to be successful. Turn your classrooms into learning ecologies- learn with and from your students. Get rid of top down, expert driven instruction methods and nurture self-directed discovery- both your own and theirs. Turn your passions into classroom curriculum. Get excited and mentor your kids integrating your passions with core content and foundational knowledge. Help them develop a love and understanding for culture and our rich heritage. Advocate hard to get the metrics we are using to measure classroom effectiveness changed- for we teach what we measure. Leverage NCLB to push for personalization of curriculum in an effort to meet AYP and all the various needs of your subgroup populations.

Teachers wouldn't be replaced by computers(robots), rest assured that even when that's entirely possible, no machine can make intellectual work as teachers have to do it on a daily basis. We do agree, we teachers, have to learn a lot from students on technology knowledge and skills. The challenge is yours(ours), we can still keep peace with those eight years Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach talks about, educators can and they have to re-learn and act under a redefined concept of professional development!