Rethinking Chapter 8

As I am reading chapter 8 I am constantly being reminded of the teaching strategies I am learning in my Ed 302 class where we go over instructional strategies that are not the standardized or "reading to a worksheet" homework assignments but to enhance literacy through practice of reading and writing.  As this semester has rolled on I found that a complete overhaul of education to technology would be something that would take a lot of money and time before the takeover would possibly happen.  As the book states that right now America is really focusing on standardizing their testing in order to be able to keep up with the rest of the world.  Even watching President Obama's speech Wednesday where he acknowledged the democrats got killed in the elections he even stated that now America has to retain money in education in order to keep our students on pace with the rest of the world with the growing global economy becoming an issue.  Back to my point, the generic skills certifications would allow the students and teachers to use the technology available to adapt to each student case and become successful in which field they choose.  With the students creating a portfolio one could say it is much like the School of Education department here in UWSP where students would need to make a portfolio in order to graduate therefore it must be completed in order to receive their certification/diploma.
As this chapter rolls on it reminds me of chapter 6 were we talk bout parents selecting what the students need to learn.  One major difference is that the parents wouldn't be selecting topics for their children to take over the family farm, but guide their children to studying topics that they notice their children are interested in.  Using myself for and example I would be geared to learning about physical activity and sport.  Which oddly enough, I agree with what the book said about adapting games like Sims, SWAT 4 and World of Warcraft as tools to better meet content goals in problem solving and leadership skills.  Ironically enough I would like to think that my coaching, dealing with adversity, and problem solving comes from dealing with various tactical issues that arise from playing games like Madden where you deal with unforeseeable issues like injuries where you have to adapt to them.  Also, a couple years ago our coaching staff used either Madden or NCAA Football to show our quarterback what the defensive coverages looked like.  I won't lie that it was an unorthodox way of teaching it but it was effective.