Schools chief attends creativity forum

Most students are not
passive learners today, the superintendent said.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

CANFIELD — Adults can find it hard sometimes to understand how teenagers can be so different from the way they were.

How can they spend hour after hour instant messaging, text messaging and Web surfing?

At the same time, we notice, much of the rest of the world is changing, too, with technology and world economics transforming our workplace.

Dante Zambrini, superintendent of the Canfield school district, says it’s time educators started to understand the effect technology has had on the way kids learn and to use different teaching methods to prepare them for the jobs of the future.

It’s such thinking that led Gov. Ted Strickland to invite Zambrini and 87 other educators and business leaders to a three-day conference in Columbus starting today aimed at revolutionizing the state’s educational system.

Zambrini says he’s apparently one of only three of four superintendents statewide and one of only a few representatives from Northeast Ohio asked to participate in the conference, called the Governor’s Institute on Creativity and Innovation in Education.

“Learning has to be engaged,” Zambrini said, and that too often doesn’t happen in classrooms where the traditional “fountain and sponge” style of learning is used.

In such classrooms, the teacher is the fountain, and the students are the sponge, and the students “soak up” information.

But most kids today are not passive learners, in part because of their exposure to new technologies. They also need to learn how to teach themselves and find relevant information on their own, because the worker of tomorrow will change jobs every five to 12 years, Zambrini said.

“Nobody can be an expert these days,” Zambrini added. “Even doctors can’t know everything. They must constantly update their knowledge.”

Zambrini plans to start a pilot program at Canfield High School within two years that he believes will more effectively prepare students for their future careers.

One of the keys to the program will be to change the “fountain and sponge” concept to one of collaboration.

A classroom of students, each sitting at one of 25 desks, listening to a lecturer was fine for Americans preparing for manufacturing jobs during the Industrial Revolution, Zambrini said. It taught values such as punctuality and independence.

Today’s workplace demands collaboration, however.

Teachers will plan lessons around a theme, such as whether China represents a challenge or opportunity, or a lesson exploring issues surrounding the Middle East.

Zambrini’s pilot project will place 125 students with five teachers, each of whom will be responsible for core subjects. By having familiarity with the students, the teachers can personalize the pace and style of learning to the abilities and strengths of the students, he noted.

Educators also must focus training on two important areas that will serve as a foundation for everything else: analytical reading and persuasive writing skills, he added.

runyan@vindy.com