School-of-One and Kahn Academy -- What is the future?

What do you think of the concept of a “School-of-one” and Kahn Academies? How will this approach to technology shape the classroom of the future? How can we help children gain mastery of concepts, interpersonal skills, and become successful citizens in a democratic society? Educators are faced with this question every day they come to school. I believe that all educators come with their own prior knowledge. They construct new understanding by reading articles, exposure to discussions about education, and by assessing the children in their classrooms to discover how to best support their unique needs. Currently, there are new technologies being created that can help meet the needs of every individual in a classroom. Every teacher needs to be on the forefront of exploration when looking for strategies that can help children be successful at accomplishing the goals in the opening question. Kahn Academy is free, universal access to a wide variety of lessons. The overall goal is a worthwhile endeavor and I am encouraged to see so much invested interest in creating educational opportunities for anyone with interest. I listened to his presentations for basic addition and although helpful, he did not speak to a 7 year old. He spoke clearly but quickly and although very informative, it was not tailored to grade levels that basic addition are being taught. The award program is centered around time, energy and mastery of concepts. This provides incentive but I am curious to learn if this kind of external motivation is transferrable in the learning process, if the student is asked to learn without the end goal of the Meteorite award (there were many others but this seemed like the first step). Sal Kahn mentioned how this program, as implemented in one school district, is making education more 'humanized'. I did see the validity of this statement and am interested to see how using Kahn Academy as a supplemental teaching approach could free up a classroom for more direct instruction and group discussions. The School-of-One takes the concept highlighted by the Kahn Academy and moves into the next level. Children are participating in an education program that is taught on computers. Algorithms are computing their scores and providing formative assessments to determine their level of expertise in a subject matter. School for these students does not involve the standard classroom procedures that many adults experienced in their education. Teachers are present to provide small group discussion and to monitor all students completing the classes. Children are working at their level, at their pace and if the data is correctly analyzed, the students are receiving instruction that best supports their needs. It appears to be working according to this programs statistics but many of the comments posted on Freakonomics were negative, both of School-of-One and Pandora. I do not fully understand how the School-of-One provides services to their students but it appears that computer programs are the primary source of instruction. I wonder how well these students are working within a community of learners and building understanding through group activities. As a student teacher, I am excited to see new developments and strategies for teaching with technology. Differentiating lessons to meet the needs of individual students is a primary focus of the MAT course instruction. I am observing a classroom teacher tailor every lesson to include and meet the current level of understand for all 22 students in her classroom.I believe that every student has different learning modalities and perhaps computers are the next phase of education. However it is important that intentional teachers are constantly evaluating their current knowledge and adjusting their thinking to account for all types of teaching techniques.

This seems pretty simple...

First post on a blog site. I am so savvy with the computer!