I really love TED Talks. This one addresses the massive
shift in education that has taken place in the last decade due to the ease with
which we access the Internet. The way society, and as a consequence education,
has changed cannot be overstated. When I was a high school student I did not
have a cell phone. Notice I did not say smart phone – I did not have a cell
phone. I received my first one when I went to college. It was for emergencies
and only had 100 minutes on it. I distinctly remember when people started
texting, and I told a friend that texting wouldn’t last because it was just
easier to call. I stand corrected. Social media didn’t exist, or at least I
didn’t know about it, until after I had already graduated from college.
Now the amount of information available at our fingertips is
astronomical. I can learn to rewire my house, study the history of China, and
practice square dancing with the click of a few buttons. Education has changed.
We are no longer the keepers of the knowledge, but are rather facilitators of
experiences with knowledge. We are no longer the main source of information,
but rather are instructors of students as they process and analyze information.
In some ways it undermines the respect that students once had for educators
because teachers and schools are not the only name in the learning game
anymore.
I admit that I have a difficult time wrapping my mind around
these digital natives, who despite only being one generation removed, are
incredibly different from me. It is easy for me to focus on the negative
aspects of this cultural shift – the exploitative nature of social media, the
massive amounts of misinformation, the inflammatory programming of modern
television. It is frustrating, and frankly it is often just plain offensive. I
realize that I have to retrain my thinking, and accept that the way I love to
learn may not be the way these kids love to learn. As a student, I was
mesmerized by a knowledgeable teacher, and I fit in well with the public school
system that rewards the strong reader and the thinker who processes in outline
format. It is no wonder that our
students have short attention spans when they spend their days Snap Chatting,
Vining, Tweeting, and texting – their communication has been limited to 140
characters and a 20 second time limit! It is no wonder that our students
struggle with traditional notes when they are used to getting information on
websites packed with images and links.
We have to change and it isn’t going to be comfortable. We
did not learn like these kids learn, and we did not have the ability to
undermine the knowledge of the teacher right at our fingertips all day, every
day. The reason they crave authentic experiences with knowledge is that they
are constantly bombarded with information that is mostly fluff. They are the
most marketed to generation in history, and the media messages they receive are
immense. These messages have little value and do not allow our kids to feel
like they are creative participants in the world around them. They are begging
us to let them DO something with all of this information they are being given.
It is my hope that AHS will become the trailblazer in this area. What would
happen if our students took real responsibility for their learning and for this
school? What would happen if the burden was truly on them to build something?
As I’ve been visiting successful school systems across Alabama, I have witnessed students engaged in authentic, cross-curricular learning experiences. One administrator even told me that the key to his school’s success was the hiring of young teachers because they have been trained to teach students differently. While I don’t necessarily think that our school needs an army of young teachers straight out of college; we do need teachers who are willing to be innovative and change up their style to meet the needs of today’s learners. Most of us came into the business because we have a passion for teaching and we want what’s best for children. If the kids we are teaching today have changed, then so must our methods of delivery. Let’s make sure the focus of our efforts remains on what is best for kids and be willing to make adjustments so our students are having hands-on, authentic experiences that they will remember long after they graduate.
ReplyDeleteL. Bailey
"When I was your age"...I couldn't stop thinking about this common phrase while watching the TED talk and reading your blog post. Times are changing and we must embrace this in the educational world. I do agree with the TED talk that teachers and schools are no longer the information keeper. That being said, our role is absolutely crucial to the development of students and future citizens. What we have to be okay with is our role as educators shifting. We are no longer the keeper of the knowledge, but the facilitator. Caroline, you made this point in your response and I couldnt agree more with you. For some reason I think this role can often be looked down upon as not being as important. I totally disagree. What it is though is a change in style, craft, and presentation of the information. It is okay to fail while trying something new, just like the TED talk described. What we will learn from that failure will be invaluable.
ReplyDeleteB. Morrissey
It is important to note though that being a facilitator does not simply mean providing a task and letting the students see if they can complete what has been assigned. There is still a lot of direct teaching and modeling required as the skills associated with learning/knowing must be illustrated. This may be something like assessing the quality of sources or creating a geometry proof. When the term "guide on the side" is utilized, we must be careful to not allow ourselves to become the teacher at the desk.
Delete-Blake
You are exactly right Dr. Busbin! I definitely should have made that more clear in my post.
DeleteBo
I certainly think that the reality of 21st century technology and its flooding of our students with easy-to-access, widespread choices of sources, and vast array of topics presents quite the hurdle to those dedicated to 20th century teaching that is largely rooted in 19th century Industrial Revolution theory of processing (wow…two centuries removed!). Yet, it also presents a challenge to even “new” and “young” teachers today who believe their sole responsibility is the transferring of information about a particular disciplinary area (economics, anatomy, algebra, etc.). The new information age is a threat to anyone who believes learning occurs through solely through transmission or one who values coverage over depth. Therefore, our biggest shift requires us to begin thinking of ourselves less as lecturers or defenders of classroom order (the tyrannical sense of desks straight in a row with handouts to complete all class long when we do not have slides for students to copy-anything to provide a sense of calmness and that the teacher is fully-in-charge) to our role as coaches of learning. Simply because there is the widespread availability of information does not mean that this data translates into operational and factual (however the term applies in varies fields) knowledge readily at one’s hands for usage. Thus, we have to become guides/coaches/journeymen (whatever metaphor works best for you) in helping students develop (1) the skills and thought processes of our respected areas, (2) the cognitive framework for placing the information into an appropriate mental structure, (3) curiosity to discover more and be engaged with what they are learning currently. However, the problem with the recent project-based curriculum related to current thinking about the twenty-first century and the widespread access to information is that many teachers lack the ability to connect projects to rigorous learning goals and outcomes. Rather, a web-quest simply becomes a list of questions for students to find online or students are told to draw a picture based on what they read in a textbook; such teaching techniques gives ammunition to those stuck in past centuries that the new models of teaching look like craft-time in elementary school. On the surface, yes, students are using technology or they are demonstrating varied learning approaches. Yet, neither activity asks them to process the information at a very high level. If AHS were to become a trailblazer in this area, it calls for much more collaboration in departments as well as across the schools to identify what are the skills in our own areas as well as skills that transcend the disciplines. At that point, we can begin examining what learning looks, hears, and (perhaps) feels like. We can begin crafting appropriate assessment tools, both formative and summative, that lead our students towards higher learning objectives than simply content memorization that even our best students will then forget once they have received an “A.”
ReplyDelete-Blake B.