Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The More I Read, the More I Don't Know
Have you ever experienced that feeling of saturation and uncertainty? I'm feelin' it! I used to be so sure of my beliefs. I knew what to teach and how to do it effectively. Now my confidence is waning. I'm not sure if I'm getting brainwashed with all this information or if School 2.0 ("community-based next generation schools") is really on the horizon. It all started with reading Friedmann's The World is Flat. After all, he was quite believable. Then it was a couple summer courses and a fall technology conference touting Web 2.0.--fun tools for sure. And that Skype call from Bangkok was very convincing as well (except for maybe the thought of allowing students to be FaceBook users in school; my God...I just opened a FaceBook account and it is all consuming!). So then tonight I read How Do We Transform Our Schools. I think it put me over the edge (maybe 'cause it made so much sense or because it's late and I should be sleeping?). I'm torn between my old school values and my love of technology. What is the correlation between learning and fun? Do they always have to go together? Where are we going with computer-based learning? Hopefully during the upcoming weeks I will have a better understanding of how our schools need to transform and how best to incorporate technology into instruction (so it's not an add-on) to truly improve student learning. And I will continue to read, read, read and accept the fact that there will always be so much that I don't know.
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"And I will continue to read, read, read and accept the fact that there will always be so much that I don't know."
ReplyDeleteAnd accepting that fact is the first step to changing.
the other questions to me then are:
If we accept this fact then what do we teach our students? No longer is content based education worth teaching...because what we teach them will change...probably before the school year ends. :)
If we accept this fact what does the future hold? When you can Skype Bangkok to learn something you need to learn, or read a blog from outside your local neighborhood.
If we accept this fact that knowledge resides in the connections that the network allows then really what we need to be teaching is now to access this knowledge...that's where the power is. The powerless are the ones who don't know how to access it.
I took this philosophy to a recent technology meeting. Not one teacher around the table agreed. Technology is "fluff" said the history teacher. It's about the content they argued. Curriculum. Hmmmm....
ReplyDeleteIt is so funny that you write this! I had your same feelings at one point, and now I guess I am more at peace with the fact that I will get to it when I can get to it. (I think it is a bit of information overload, and knowing what to keep and what to get rid of, like Jeff said in another post) I am better accepting of all that I don't know, with the notion that I will keep plugging away a little at a time. It is great that you are comfortable admitting what you do not know or that you are feeling a bit "uncomfortable".
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