Key ideas you noted from the C-Content speakers.
John Seeley Brown - A new culture of learning -The skills we are teaching now have a half life of 5 years. We need to teach how to learn and apply the skills not the skill itself because they my not be there. -Learning has to do with creating the new not just learning the old. Kids can access info we no longer have to give it to them so now we have to foster ways to use that information. -“If you're not curious your screwed in a world of constant flux” Love this quote. You will get left behind -We need to rethink how and what we need to learn and how media has changed the game. Old teaching is knowledge transfer and new teaching is participation. Study groups have huge impact and only thing that has stood the test of time and now we can do it virtually. How can we utilize our current learning platforms Ie ECHO Google classroom to foster this Modern Day collaboration -Analogy of the surfers from Maui. Together they went through the most authentic learning process and every kid is a world champion. This again just reinforces the ideas that as long as someone is invested in the work they're doing, they will keep trying, repeated failure isn't a block. Howard Gardner - Five minds of the future -You must remain disciplined in your learning throughout life. “Can’t rest on our Laurels” This is part of why I am in this program, I wanted to continue to learn more about teaching because I know it is continually changing. We need to now be lifelong learners to stay relevant and successful. -Most of what people think of as discipline is really subject matter. You can know facts but can you transfer that knowledge and apply it in new situations. - "it used to take 10 years to master a discipline, now it takes 5, because of computers" , I believe that this is a testimony to the fact that we had better be teaching not only tech skills to our students but also, how to find good information. -His ideas about teaching respect and ethics as well as content resonated with me as well. It seems like we must teach our students that there is a responsibility that comes with the knowledge that we obtain. Sir Ken Robinson- Do Schools Kill Creativity? -Sir Ken Robinson states, "if you are not prepared to be wrong, you will not come up with anything original", which is a testimony to how we need to value creativity and originality in our students work. He talked about the "gift of human imagination" and about "using it wisely" We need to guide kids to do this and not what they think we want them to do or say -Creativity should be treated with the same importance as literacy -Kids are not afraid to be wrong...by the time they get to us in the secondary grades they are. My students stress out over having the right answer. How much of this is because of their age and how they have been conditioned? Are they afraid getting it wrong for social reasons or for educational reasons? How many really care about the learning I agree we need to reorganize our priorities. This needs to happen throughout the whole education system. Daniel Pink- The surprising science of motivation -Just like he said we need to rethink how we run businesses, I think the same applies to our running our schools. -The Candle problem reminded me of fixed mindset vs. growth mindset and I feel my school is still there. We have a problem of low math test scores so we create a bunch of intervention classes because that’s what has been done without really digging into why The solution isn’t to do more of the same wrong things, this has been the same response to low test scores for the 16 years I have been teaching. -Extrinsic based rewards kills thinking and blocks creativity instead of sharpening thinking and accelerating creativity and only work for mechanical skills, the higher the pay the better performance. It’s like the more points the assignment is worth the harder they will work on it. Doing the work for the grade not the learning. -Rewards based on intrinsic motivation to do things because they matter are important. At first I thought these are adults not middle school kids, but then I thought what middle school kid doesn’t want independence? Peer pressure and social acceptance play a huge role in motivation for my age level students. -If work has changed to right brained problem solving and thinking outside the box for solutions, isn’t it obvious schools need to do the same, and start to develop those critical thinking skills? 2. insights and common threads. How they fit in with the other topics in this class Times have changed and as educators we need to change with it. Learning is no longer teacher gives students the knowledge or skill and off they go to repeat it. Now that things are moving at exponential rates, knowledge is readily accessible and skills are obsolete in 5 years. We need to teach our kids how to be lifelong learners. Utilize technology as a collaborative and a creative tool but with that comes responsibility and ethics need to be taught. Growth Mindset was another theme throughout. Learning has to have meaning and when it does failure becomes part of the process and success isn’t wheather you master a skill but how you can apply it to different situations 3. As instructional leaders, how might you apply Mobley's 6 insights to help your students think creatively? We need to get our students to be creative on how they gain and use the knowledge once they have gained it. Like the guy who made millions on the solar eclipse glasses tweaking his outdated movie 3D glasses factory that he was going to have to close. I think Mobley’s 2nd discovery is often the most challenging in Middle School. Many kids haven’t been pushed out of their comfort zones so they don’t know how to handle it. They need to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. His third realization reminded me of a science PD I went to and he talked about a clip from “The Big Bang” were Sheldon was trying to learn to swim from internet without ever getting in the water. Mobley’s fourth insight is so true with teachers. If you are planning a unit with a creative, outside the box colleague it is contagious and you can’t help to start thinking that way His 5th discovery made me think of self reflection. We need know what is holding us back from being creative before we can move forward I love his last one. Permission to be wrong. Seems so simple to me but hard to get kids to understand this. It really takes a conscious effort of building that culture in the class and school.
3 Comments
Lisa Gottfried
11/13/2017 06:26:33 pm
"His ideas about teaching respect and ethics as well as content resonated with me as well. It seems like we must teach our students that there is a responsibility that comes with the knowledge that we obtain. " This takes time in the classroom, so how can you, as an admin allow teachers to take the time needed to have these ethics oriented conversations? In what ways can you model these sorts of conversations with your staff? Community circles? Discussions about what's right and wrong in an ambiguous situation and just a chance to explore? "At first I thought these are adults not middle school kids, but then I thought what middle school kid doesn’t want independence? Peer pressure and social acceptance play a huge role in motivation for my age level students." Amazingly, but not surprisingly, my high school students are asking for more independence in choosing their learning topics and guess what, so are the members of my PLC. It seems to be a frequent request these days.
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Ben
11/13/2017 09:32:09 pm
For some reason when you wrote "We need to teach our kids how to be lifelong learners," I immediately asked myself if we are capable of doing that. I almost shed a tear...almost...recognizing our own limitations and frame of reference. I am not trying to sound fatalistic, but I ask myself if I am even equipped for such a task. I am definitely willing, but acknowledge that education remains largely the same despite many great thinkers who have predated us. I know the mantra of the time is now, but wasn't the time then too? We shall give it a go
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Maria
11/14/2017 10:20:57 pm
"If work has changed to right brained problem solving and thinking outside the box for solutions, isn’t it obvious schools need to do the same, and start to develop those critical thinking skills?"
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