EDAD 536 Day 1 Reflections

I find it interesting that during all the time that society has been building greater advances in technology that the schools have been left behind.  Its an interesting concept that we are teaching our students traditionally, which essentially is becoming history as we speak and our teachers are not advanced enough to stay in front of the students with technology, but the students essentially have the ability to learn more “history” from the machine in their hand in 10 minutes than a teacher can “lecture” to them in a whole year.  Is part of the fear from teachers that they will become obsolete?  Teachers are stereotypically helpers, guides, nurturing, “I know this and you don’t, let me show you,” type people.  If we let technology in, then we won’t be needed any longer.

Tyranny of common sense

It is crazy how we so easily put our dreams for our children’s success in front of theirs.  At what point in the system do we stop allowing them to dream for their future and expect them to conform to a dream we have designed for them.  From the tippy top down to the student… federal government educational expectations high… the federal dream is to be better than any one else in the world… in math, science, reading, writing… how does that relate to the person who really desires to (do laundry) for a living, or any other number of activities that don’t take high scores on a standardized test to be able to learn an do very well.  Our country is built on rebellion… our children will not conform to the direction of the federal dream… in fact, even if that was their dream, they will most likely rebel to see their own dream in their own light…

The future of learning (not teaching)

A teacher that can be replaced by a machine should be.  Children that are interested in a topic will learn about the topic.  If it can be researched/found on line, why does it have to be memorized?  The method of the grandmother:  stand behind them and admire them.  Discussion of topics increases learning (self organized learning environments (SOLE):  group learning on-line, with the granny cloud).  If it is “so simple” why do we resist.  The teacher (guide) is still very relevant; someone has to ask the questions.  Would this experiment still show success over entire genres of study?  When would students start to become uninterested?  Is there any need for a certain amount of information that needs to be learned?  That is how do we know that we have allowed them to be curious enough that they have learned all they can or need to, to “finish” a topic?  Competition with each other to see who can learn the most… the students will self adjust and those who learn quickly will move faster and on to different things, while the uninterested will most certainly fall aside or move to other topics more quickly.  I don’t think this experiment would work quite the same way in a country where the parents and families believe that they are entitled and have taught their children the same concept.  Are the children as curious for delving into various topics, if it requires work?  Is it because they don’t have the curiosity for the topic?  Maybe the curiosity is what gets the students in the door? I don’t like that end either…  With this concept, how do we measure what was important to learn… are there important topics to stick to? I really like the concept, I think we’ve lost curiosity for learning by the majority by the time the students come to the junior high level (some sooner, some later).  How do we rekindle or foster a continuation of that kind of curiosity in the upper (even college level) student.  It reminds me of a Montessori approach (a little), but even with those students, the “fire dies”….