Are we doing the best for our students?

I am not a teacher yet so I am not sure how well I can answer the question:
Dr. Scott McLeod asks:
“Are we doing what is best for our students, or are we doing what is most convenient for us?

I do think that people in general stick with what they know. If they are used to doing a task one way and have been doing it the same way for a while they don't usually change.  I am sure this is no exception for some teachers especially ones who have been teaching for a long time and are comfortable with their curriculum.

I was in a conversation with a teacher I know and they said that once they have their lesson plan set they use the same one time after time.  This seems to be a lazy way to teach out youth.  This isn't the way all teachers are but there are the teachers out there who are like this.  There needs to be a way to have accountability for teachers to keep up with technology and the changing world.  What do you think about teachers who teach this way?

There are more and more schools that are incorporating online classes for high school studies.  According to The Journal.com,  David Nagel states:  "The percentage of high school students taking online courses nearly doubled in a single year. According to the latest data available from Project Tomorrow's annual Speak Up Survey, more than one-quarter (27 percent) of all high school students took at least one class online last year, up from 14 percent the year before. But the numbers could have been higher, according to the researchers." (Nagel, 2010)  This concerns me if students aren't learning how to utilize technology.  This could hinder their ability to reach their potential to learn all they can from this type of environment.  There are some schools that are too rural to offer students some classes but online classes could be the answer for them.  This was new to me because when I was living in NY they didn't offer online classes to High School students but here in Florida they offer it to students.  Shouldn't we give our kids every advantage we can for them to succeed? 


Resources:

Nagel, D (2010), Report: Online Learning Nearly Doubles Among High School Students, The Journal, Retrieved from: http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/06/29/report-online-learning-nearly-doubles-among-high-school-students.aspx