The Stories We Tell -EduBloggerCon #2

What stories do we tell about education? What stories are broken? What new stories are emerging?

What's "true?"

Old story- The teacher has to know everything.

New story- We all learn from each other. Everyone can be a teacher.

I like "stories we tell" as a way of thinking about what is happening in schools/education.

Old story- all learning takes place in the 4 walls of the school building, School year based on agricultural calendar

New story- Learning is participatory, learning can happen anywhere you are, learning is creative.

Old story- If you aren't attentive when the info is given, you lose.

New story- People learn at different times of the day, in different ways.

Old story -Learning is linear and subjects are separate.

What story or stories do we have to tell about technology in education?

Can our system of education truly adjust or will there be a whole new system that will emerge?

the story about one-to-one laptops is that they're not working... ?? (I hadn't heard this)

Old story -Learning is neat, quiet orderly

New story- Learning is messy!

Old story Curriculum focused on knowledge of information (ie: everyone should know the parts of a flower)

New story learning how to learn

competing stories.

Technology doesn't improve instruction, teachers improve instruction.

New story - Learning is social.

Should the "new stories" be mandated? J. Alba- how to we move toward a paradigm shift large-scale? must be mandated and supported. and a movement away from testing as assessment.

Kevin- Not mandated, invited, inspired-- meet teachers on the front porch with their stories

What can we take away from this that has value? Knowing that these are stories...As humans we identify with stories as a way to explain things but stories change. We are going through a period where we are redefining the way things work because of the internet.

Book recommendation from Kevin Honeycutt- Don't Think of an Elephant

Another Example of Why We Don't Have to "Teach Tech"

I remember reading this post on Melanie Holtsman's blog called "Why am I Surprised?" about how her 5 year-old twins had playfully and independently discovered text-messaging each other with pictures. Digital Natives? 

It's obvious that children approach technology with no fear and a spirit of exploration while some adults are still having trouble getting into the head-space required to really have fun with it.

So here's my example. While I am not surprised, I am pleased and impressed with both the process and the product. I'm going to share one of the little movies my 8 year-old daughter has created while playing on WebKinz. In case you have been living under a rock for a while WebKinz is a virtual world for kids. You must buy a little, stuffed animal in the real world in order to get a code that allows you to adopt the pet in the WebKinz world. Both my kids love WebKinz. They earn money, buy and sell stuff, cook, feed their pets, search for gems, spin the Wheel of Wow, play games, decorate rooms, even watch virtual television. It is extremely safe, creative, engaging, and in my own humble opinion (disagreed with by some), educational. 

One recent morning my daughter was especially engaged in something in the WebKinz World. She didn't want to stop to eat breakfast. When I went to see what she was doing, I thought I'd find her playing a game, but she showed me that she was making a movie. Turns out she bought a movie camera (for 1000 Kinzcash) and, all on her own, with no instruction or previous movie-making experience, was creating digital stories. 

I know, I know....I'm the mom! But, I am pretty impressed with how she came up with the story so quickly and used the different faces of the characters to show the emotions as the story progressed. 

P.S. I used Jing to capture the movie.