“Why School? by Will Richardson was the first reading I completed for this class, and one that got me very excited about the dialogue that would follow. As I was reading I felt a sense of relief. Finally, there is someone out there saying it has to change. We owe it to ourselves and our students to make that change, yet there are still conversations in the hall listing the excuses as to why students are not learning….and not on what we can do differently (note: I did not say better). The biggest shift that I do not see happening is that “while many adults may not be swimming in this huge and quickly expanding sea of digital content and connections, most of our children are” ( Richardson, 2012) I am not saying that adults are not online...they are. What I am saying is the learning that needs to take place in classrooms is not happening online even though so much of what are children are doing is. As Richardson’s states, “...the world has changed- and continues to changing- rapidly and radically when it comes to the ways in which we can learn, and what knowledge, skills, dispositions, and forms of literacy our children will need to flourish in their futures.” (Richardson, 2012) When I think of how much information is out that and how easy it is for us all to be in touch with it, I am also reminded of Richardson’s words, “ access doesn’t automatically come with an ability to use the Web well. We aren’t suddenly self-directed, organized, and literate enough to make sense of all the people and information online-...the fact is [our students] can still use our help to do those things and more if they are to thrive in the abundance of their times.” (Richardson, 2012) It is our job as adults to not only understand that learning needs to look much different but simply because there are chromebooks in our classroom does not mean that every student knows how to effectively use to connect to a global audience or contributing collaboratively with each other either. There is still much to learn in terms of effectively using technology in the classroom. Within Richardson's essay he touches upon six unlearning/relearning strategies. One that jumped out at me as something to challenge me is “discover, don’t deliver the curriculum” (Richardson, 2012) I am in a unique position in that I do not have my own classroom however I am helping teachers understand the new ELD CCSS. I have to discover it along with them or as my director put it, we have to teach them to fish, instead of giving them the fish. I would say the more challenging step would be “talk to strangers.” (Richardson, 2012) Its not that I don’t enjoy meeting new people, I just haven’t stepped out to meet new people online. Just as White says there are residents and visitors of the internet, I tend to stay at the visitor line professionally and resident personally. (White, 2014). Richardson’s essay has challenged me as a parent and as an educator to continue this conversation with my peers. I cannot help but think back on the useless tests that I have given my students because that's what I was suppose to do. The data from the tests were used for very little, yet I still gave the test. It was a check off that I had to and add to the pile of other tests that were given. I am hopeful for education though as the conversation does not end there. As Richardson said, “The world doesn’t care what you know. What the world cares about is what you can do with what you know.” (Richardson, 2012) Resources: Richardson, W. (2012). Why school how education must change when learning and information are everywhere / Will Richardson. New York, NY: TED Conferences.
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6/8/2015 07:59:30 am
I too was very excited reading the book "Why School?" it really spoke to me as an educator. I have always believed that we need to cater to our students and meet them where they are. Currently, most middle school students are online and communicate very differently then I did when I was in middle school. We cannot compete with the lure of the web, so we must be on the web in order to in order to adequately reach and teach our audience.
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6/9/2015 02:01:15 pm
Kelly, I also highlighted the Richardson quote: "We aren’t suddenly self-directed, organized, and literate enough to make sense of all the people and information online... " It's our job as educators to help our students sort through all the data and discern what is good/useful and what is garbage. They need to consider the source, as much as the data itself.
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6/11/2015 10:52:17 am
Kelly, I appreciate your honesty in talking about testing, especially these statements: “I cannot help but think back on the useless tests that I have given my students because that's what I was suppose to do. The data from the tests were used for very little, yet I still gave the test. It was a check off that I had to and add to the pile of other tests that were given.” I instantly pictured the end of unit multiple choice tests I used to give at the end of each story and unit in my English Language Arts textbooks. I just did it because I thought that is what good teachers did, even though I noticed how ridiculous the questions were and often had to rely on the answer key to figure out the correct answers even though I was supposed to be the expert. I am glad that we are no longer just assigning tests for the sake of assigning tests!
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