After our discussion today about the Prensky article: Adopt and Adapt it brought a sense of fear of how do we do new things in new ways given all of the things on teachers’ plates today but the discussion also brought a feeling of challenge.
During the RSS discussion I was checking my Bloglines account and found this article from Steve Dembo. He was writing about the keynote address of the BLC conference in Boston. The keynote speaker was Marco Torres, a secondary social studies teacher from California. It is has given me a feeling of opportunity to meet the challenge. I’m not sure at what point that occurred but something that quickly sent shivers down my spine:
Teachers have three options, you can quit, complain or innovate.
WOW! How many of us wish we could say this to some of our colleagues who are stuck in old things in old ways!
Marco is using digital storytelling as a way of doing some innovative things with his students who come from low SES environments. His students connect with younger students to help build self-esteem and they are authors and publishers producing DVDs.
Marco makes a point of saying:
“It’s not about the technology, it’s about being different and being
distinct. He suggests that everything you do as a teacher should have a
life outside the classroom. Find ways to put yourself in an
uncomfortable situation. Make it meaningful. Give it a business plan.”
That is the challenge for teachers who integrate technology. Don’t give up the good fight people!
2 responses so far ↓
Yes! How wonderful to be able to say that statement (”quit, complain or innovate”… or better: “Quit or Innovate!”) to our colleagues. (Perhaps we can get shirts made?)
This post resonated with me, because I keep coming back to the word: purpose. So much of what we do in school is temporary and meaningless. How can we make our work count? I know in my job, I want to make a mark, affect change. I can’t imagine going to work and being asked to create something that will be looked at for a moment and then discarded, but that’s what we do with a lot of our kids’ work. Students need to do work that has meaning.
There’s a title from Richard Brautigan: *So the Wind Won’t Blow It Away*… I keep thinking of that title. How can I design meaningful work/experience/learning that won’t blow away tomorrow, at the end of the unit, at the end of the year? How can we create learning that has relevance?
Bob,if you figure out how the wind won’t blow it away please let me know. That would be the true essence of teaching, the holy grail so to speak.
Maybe we are the knights who say neee!