Article - "Why Kids Need Schools to Change"

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/09/why-kids-need-schools-to-change/

“One thing we know for sure is that kids learn better when teachers are invested and paying attention and showing they care,” she said. “The biggest impact you’ll have as a teachers is the relationship you establish with your student.”

Some things don't change in education.  I am only in my tenth year of teaching, but I can attest to this.  At the end of the day, students just want to know that they matter in this complex 21st century.  However, the problem becomes us teachers evolving with the culture we teach.  Have you tried to use Twitter and see what all the fuss is about?  Have you taken your class roster and passed it around for students to write their favorite song on?  How have you tried to connect with them lately?  

Let me focus on the heart of the article.  Why do kids need schools to change?  As I could go on and on through this article, a couple of my colleagues and I discussed one major component.  School Start Time.  "SCHEDULING. Neuroscience research on sleep is becoming more compelling by the day, particularly around depression, Levine said. “We’d always thought fatigue is symptom of depression, but now it’s looking more like lack of sleep causes depression, and that’s something looked at seriously.” Kids needs nine hours of sleep, and if schools were in synch developmentally with teenagers, should would start at 10 a.m., especially when kids enter adolescence. Teachers should also coordinate their exams with each other to ensure that students are not taking multiple tests on the same day."  

What do you think?