Educators Get Behind The Student Desk To Improve Education
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Dozens of Miami-Dade County School educators got a day in the classroom – this time to learn, not teach.
A couple thousand principals, assistant principals and teachers learned how to educate the kids with current technology.
They were all there to update their teaching methods to educate the kids in a modern world with current technology.
"One of the things I'm looking forward to as a teacher is to be able to educate our students on professions that have not been created yet," said WJ Bryan Elem. Teacher Katya Barrett.
Kids in school today, think differently and they process information differently, so educators need to update their teaching methods.
The Miami-Dade County School system is doing it through a day of training called Synergy 2016.
"The biggest challenge is just making sure kids have all the necessary resources in order to access the best digital content out there and guiding the students on the best practices out there to use these digital devices," said Hialeah Middle School Principal Nelson Gonzalez.
They are digital devices where students learn through experience - actually doing the task.
In one device, they can dissect a heart and hold it in their hands - a much different experience from days of the past.
"Besides the fact that we are a technologically based school system now, it's more not on teaching our students how to use devices. They are very comfortable with that. But how to use them critically, how do I apply them to solve problems not only in this generation but future generations," said Barrett.
They also learned about strategic planning, digital fluency, and how to apply digital data to improve their lessons.
Miami-Dade County Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said the school system is being recognized for its recent success but more needs to be done.
"We had a terrific 15/16 school year with a higher percentage of A-rated schools in the state of Florida, a higher graduation rate in the state of Florida, and to continue that momentum, we need to prepare our principals, our assistant principals and our teachers," said Carvalho.
