When the ideas present by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie are directly applied and examined from an educational perspective the influence is profound. As a future English educator this video shows the importance of teaching diverse works in the classroom and not allowing single stories to influence my perception of my students.
The implementation of Common Core in the United States I feel allows teacher to expand the range of pieces of writing they present to their class. It is important that these works do not create a single stories in the students’ heads about a culture they have not been exposed to. I believe the way to navigate the perils of the single story to exposure. If I can, as an English teacher, not nothing more than expose my students to new ideas I will feel like I have achieved a what I set out to do. Through my edustory allowed me to reflect on what story I felt was important to tell from educational perspective. Additionally, it allowed me to reflect on how I wanted to tell it. Humor is one way that I address many topic. By infusing an air of humor through the "teacher myth" idea I was able to directly address how of the perspectives that I have experience that I do not feel are beneficial to my students. The edustory provides a source to document my teacher story in a way that I learn; through visuals. The old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" still hold true today, especially in this photo. The edustory connected to the idea I wrote about in my blog post for Show Your Work! transparency of the process is shows through an edustory. This transparency and accuracy I was able to achieve through this tool made me feel empowered and understood. Nogozi Adichie, Chimamanda (July 2009). The Danger of a Single Story. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story To you, and you alone, what matters is the process: the experience of sharping the artwork
Fear is often just the imagination taking a wrong turn. Bad criticism is not the end of the world. As far as I know no one has ever died from a bad review. Take a deep breathe and accept whatever comes your way. These three ideas the importance of transparency in learning, acceptance of failure (think 20time), and the interconnectedness of the technology age we are all muddling through today.
Kleon writes in his book, "Humans being are interested in other human beings and what other human beings are doing". This brought together my discomfort with being a "resident" on the internet and my own love of instagram stalking. As a teacher if I choose to be transparent with my students, parents, and coworkers it creates a window for me to share myself with those that are most important to my educational life. This idea leads into my second point of focus the acceptance of failure (This is also discussed in chapter 8 Learn to Take A Punch), by sharing my learning I will enviably be sharing my failures as well. Teachers always discuss the topic that students have to be ok with failures and learn and grow from them. But how can we expect students to be ok with failure if we do not show them that everyone experiences failure? This is why a professional social media and internet presence is important. This brings me to my final idea about the interconnectivness of learning. I struggle when my technological educational journey began because I felt I had nothing to share because I didn't know anything yet. However, through this year and this book I have learned it is about starting somewhere, anywhere, and documenting it. All the amazing teachers I follow on twitter and who's blogs I read had to start somewhere just as I have. Chapter 7
Quote: “In the new information economy, expertise is less about a stockpile of information or facts at one’s disposal and increasingly about knowing how to find and evaluate information on a given topic.” Question: With the shifting views of what demonstrates “intelligence” and “knowing” how can 20th century “thinkers” and 21st century “thinkers” coexist productively in the workplace? Would one devalue the other’s knowledge and vice versa? Connection: The change from “stockpile information” to finding and evaluating information connected with the multitude of my friends that got jobs at tech companies in San Francisco after graduation. Graduating from a research school, UCSB, most of my friend studies things like psychology and global studies, and now they are working in tech. The intelligence of my friends was not evaluated by these companies by taking a test. They were evaluated on their ability to express novel ideas that required high level critical thought. Epiphany/aha: This chapter helped me to put concrete meaning to what I feel many of my friends are doing with their education. Chapter 8 Quote: “The richness of experience and social agency produced by hanging out and the sense of embodiment and personal agency created by messing around, combined with the sense of making produces what we think is the ultimate goal of indwelling; learning. Geeking out provides an experiential, embodied sense of learning within a rich social context of peer interaction, feedback, and knowledge construction enabled by a technological infrastructure that promotes ‘intense, autonomous, interest driven’ learning.” Question: Each aspect builds on one another. Is it possible to use one or parts of these ideas? Connection: Although all of the terms clearly connect with this class it was through this chapter I saw the strong connection between the principals of geeking of and this class. Epiphany/aha: This chapter connected all the ideas of this book for me because I was able to see the linear connections to all of the three ideas. I was able to see the relationship between them and the interactions amongst them. Chapter 9 Quote: “And where imaginations play, learning happens” Question: Will administrators be open to “playful learning”? Connection: This idea really connections to the 20% project for me. I am genuinely excited to start my research. By allowing people a space to explore their own interest is connects learning with feelings of happiness. And who does love that?!Projects like the 20% project give people an “excuse” to explore their interests. Epiphany/aha: I had that epiphany that play could simply be incorporated through student choice and experimentation. These ideas are not commonly associated with English but it can be done through different writing styles, types of reading materials and projects students do. Chapter 4
Quote: “In a collective, there is no sense of core or center. People are free to move in and out of the group at various time for various reasons, and their participation may vary based on topic, interest, experience, or need. Therefore, collectives scale in an almost unlimited way. In fact, they improve with size and diversity, providing access to an increasing number of resources managed by a technological infrastructure. Participation in a collective does not necessarily require a standard notion of contribution, such as explicitly creating content, but instead may be something as basic as following and rating post on a website.” Question: I understand the idea of a collective but I do not necessarily see the purpose of it being its own entity. It appears to be that it should just be referred as learning. If a collective is so “undefined” why does it need to be define as anything? What is the sense of community created through collectives? Connection: Peer-to-peer learning explores the idea of mentors instead of traditional student and teacher learning. In this departure from tradition roles anyone can be the mentor on a given topic. This idea is embodied through the Big Brother Big Sister organization. The success of this organization in positively influence trouble or at risk youth lives is profound. By presenting information in a mentor situation the willingness to learn the information shifts greatly. In this system each person is one other’s equal which makes people more willing to learn and take information to heart. Epiphany/aha: I struggled with this chapter. What's the point of collective if they can’t be defined, implemented, or understood!? Or is that the point…? Am I just a cog in a traditional world of test based learning?! The idea of no structure is really my worst nightmare." No definition" is my definition of hell (ok, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration). One true epiphany I did have through my discomfort was that this is an example of different learning styles that will occur, and does occur now, in my classroom. Although I enjoy structure and clear expectations that does not mean all people do. In a traditional school setting I must find a way to weave in some non traditional learning methods. Chapter 5 Quote: “Classrooms are predicated on the sense of the public and the private. Teachers stand before the group (the public) to lecture or guide discussions. Students sit in isolation, privately writing down notes, taking examinations, or listening to lectures. The goal is to transmit information in a public way to the private minds of the students. That’s why a student panics when she is called on in class, even if she knows the answer to the question. It’s because she is being asked to expose in public what has been until that moment a very private activity. Question: How do teachers (instructor or educator) and students that are raised in different ages of technology, social media, and information share and find a common ground? Connection: The discussion of “the public and the private” immediately commented to the video discussion done by Dave White on idea of visitor versus resident. This idea was in connection with an individual’s identity and presence online. Epiphany/aha: The discussion of “the public and the private” helped me to have words and ideas that I believe would resonate with students. Students today have such a different view of privacy than even I do and we are not that different in age. Students have grown up hearing “once it’s online it’s there forever” so it has lost its poignancy. The ideas presented in this chapter can help create a dialogue about public and private internet topics that I believe students would understand and be interested in. Chapter 6 Quote: “Because our minds, bodies, and senses are always learning, we pick up vast amounts of tacit knowledge just by going about our everyday activities - unlike learning through formal education, which takes place during specified, focused, brief period of time.” Question: How can tacit learning be best implemented in the classroom in regards to unstable information? Connection: The idea of environmental learning connected to the ways that babies learn. There was a statistic I heard about the amount of information that humans learn in their adolescents years compared to their older or more adult years of learning and it was depressing. The amount of information we learned, according to this studying, during the years that we are taking part in formal education was shockingly small. However, the amount of tacit learning that we carry out in connection with unstable information learning gives a more accurate picture of the learning that takes place in our adult life.. Epiphany/aha: The epiphany I had while reading this could be paired with an epiphany I seem to have on a regular basis as I grow older...my parent were always right. However, now I have a scientific idea to explain why I did not listen to them as often as I should have...I had to experience ideas through tacit learning. Although I present this idea somewhat comically it was a real “aha” moment for me. With the short amount of time I have spent interacting with high schoolers and the relatively few years older I am than them I already finding myself wanting to say things like, “trust me you should really…” or “you guys don’t even know how lucky you are! when I was in school…”. But I refrain because I know it will do little to change the behaviors or mindset of my students on certain topics. There is merit and importance to students learning life lessons "the hard way". Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace? QQCE Chapter 1,2,&3I have begun reading A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination of Learning by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown. Below are the muddled thoughts, connections, and questions from the first three chapters. I reflected using the quote, question, connection, and epiphany format.
Chapter 1 Quote: “The new culture of learning actually comprises two elements. The first is a massive information network that provides almost unlimited access and resources to learn about anything. The second is a bounded and structured environment that allows for unlimited agency to build and experiment with things within those boundaries.” (*agency: is the capacity of an entity [a person or other entity, human or any living being in general, or soul-consciousness in religion] to act in any given environment) *according to wikipedia Question: How can schools with limited resources and access to information networks allows their students to experience the new culture of learning? Connection: The idea of exploring agency within bounded and structured environments aligns so closely with the ideas that Shawn Cornally implemented in his B.I.G school in rural Iowa. His “stripped down” school has boundaries, or expectations, of students exploring and connecting an idea they are interested to many other other ideas and environments. Within that structure they have the agency to explore and learn as it best suits themselves and their interests. Students have access to all networks of information conceivable to they leave the school with an idea and project that they have created and are genuinely interested in. Epiphany/aha: There was always a disconnect between the boundless nature of information networks, student choice, and teaching in my head. However, the example of the college course about second life connect all of these ideas for me. The students were continually learning because of a genuine interest in the class. The professor was a facilitator of learning rather than a “teacher”. This model can be applied to high school students if I, as a teacher, am willing to be a facilitator of the controlled chaos of unlimited student agency paired with structured boundaries. Sometimes all a person needs is the beginning of the trail of an idea in order to take of with it and forge their own path of thinking. Chapter 2 Quote: “...learning should be viewed in terms of an environment - combined with the rich resources provided by the digital information network - where the context in which learning happens, the boundaries that define it, and the students, teachers, and information within it all coexist and shape each other in a mutually reinforcing way.” Questions: Are boundaries necessary to define the role and responsibilities of the students and teacher in the new culture of learning? Connection: The idea of coexistence presented in this chapter resembles an ecosystem. As aspect of the ecosystem change like climate, species, environments, etc. everything within that ecosystem must change and evolve. Each part of the ecosystem influences and affects each aspect of system. In this way the environment of education should change, grow, and evolve as different aspects of our world change. Epiphany/aha: The recurring contrast of stability versus constant change and adaptation is very striking. It is human nature to fear the unknown and often avoid change. However, education and learning is the same as the rest of aspects of one’s life because change and unknown must be embraced. The idea that knowledge is not “stable” and that mere act of memorization is no longer enough can be unsettling but this can no longer be used as an excuse. The unknown world that students must be prepared for is built of an ever changing foundation of knowledge that we must teach our students the way to succeed in this new environment. Chapter 3: Quote: “Embracing change and seeing information as a resource can help us stop being of learning as an isolated process of information absorption and starting thinking of it as a cultural and social process of engaging with the constantly changing world around us.” Question: Why can’t a high school English class be a book club that leads to scholarly debates and the occasional analytical writing? Connection: I believe student choice is important for student success. Students need to be interested and engaged with content. These ideas were all presented in the literature circles that took place in EDSS 511. We all had choice of what classroom management book we read and it is fair to presume that all of us were interested in the topic, or education at least. However, I did not feel or experience the ignited interested of lively debates that we stimulated by Harry Potter or similar books. What is missing? Epiphany/aha: I always valued Wikipedia for its ability to give me the exact bit of information that I was looking for but I never understood the weight and full value that Wikipedia gifted to the world...until A New Culture of Learning broke it down for me. The transparency, interpretations, and controversies of information, topics, and ideas are all equally important. The most important outcome of education is individual, critical thinkers. Wikipedia allows this to be achieved by archiving many vast views on a single topic. It all makes sense to me now! You go Wikipedia! Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace? |
AuthorFuture shaper of young minds. Archives
May 2016
Categories |