A study recently published by Indiana University found that the majority of high school students surveyed were bored by school because of lack of interaction with the teachers, boring material, and lack of relvance of the material. This is appalling, but not really surprising. We are failing to engage kids, especially in high school years. No wonder so many are dropping out before graduation.
One of the things I love about the work I do is that kids feel special when they use technology to learn. They are engaged and motivated and actually do better work as a result.
It doesn’t necessarily require technology to accomplish this, but it helps. Viewing each student as an individual and getting them engaged in their own education are central premises of differentiating instruction.