Hitting the lesson plan mother lode: a global classroom

I both finished my evening up and began my morning searching for truly helpful, engaging tutorial lessons for some of the most complicated subjects.  Man, did I hit the mother lode.  Talk about synchronicity and the infinite value of the World Wide Web…  Just when I was thrilled to discover some wonderful math sites, a friend of mine on facebook posted a most incredible link to my wall this morning.

I have always said that every child’s education needs to be personalized, and while that is true, until now that has been difficult for teachers in mainstream schools.  Homeschooling parents resolve this, but as their kids grow older with more sophisticated lessons, it becomes very daunting as they wonder, “How can I teach them what I don’t know myself?”  I have always been a strong believer in that an educator doesn’t need to know everything, they just need to how to find the answers to everything.

Khan Academy has connected those dots for all of us.  Better yet — in an unbelievably humanitarian gesture — membership is FREE.  Salman Khan has developed over 2,700 video lessons in all sorts of subjects, and using colored gel pens on a black background, he divides the information up by color as it is presented.  This is the same technique I have applied to teaching phonics.

Besides allowing the individualized progression for each student, you can also track their comprehension of the topics so that you aren’t spending time on items they have grasped.  It also opens up the doors to world-wide collaboration which is something many students miss, especially homeschoolers.  No matter where you are, what your age, or what manner you are educated, when you get stumped on an issue, help is just a networking link away:  social media at its finest.

Khan Academy also encourages anyone savvy in a topic to sign up as a tutor, whether you are a student using the software or an adult just wanting to help.  I’d like to add that he takes a conversational, sometimes humorous, approach to presentation rather than monotonous lecture.  Please watch this full presentation that describes what Khanacademy has to offer, and take special note of the esteem boosters this approach to education has to offer.