Education Needs Better Tools

April 21st, 2009

Education doesn’t need any more theories.

Education doesn’t need any more assessment methods.

Education doesn’t need any more fanciness.

Education needs better tools.

Education needs more action.

It’s been almost 100 years since John Dewey sparked the pedagogical revolution … and how far have we come?

We reward theories, assessments, and fancy ways to display information. We don’t reward educational tools that bring the real-world into the classroom for students and teachers; tools that make educational potent … that make it fun, exciting, and meaningful.

Would a military general ask his soldiers to invent and build their own weapons? Of course not! Yet we ask our teachers (the ones in the educational trenches day-in and day-out) to do this every day.

We need our experts to talk less, to theorize less, and to assess less. We need our experts to build things, to create cutting-edge learning programs instead of talking about what they would be like!  Whether they be games, investigative scenarios, simulations, life-like competitions, role plays, productions, or what have you … we just need less talk about how to change things, and more action.

With reference to the Monty Pythons, we need less PFJ … and more feminists!

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Regan Ross Presenting at the 2009 STA Convention

April 20th, 2009

Join Regan Ross for a full-day Civic Mirror game/workshop at the 2009 Surrey Teacher’s Association Convention. Check out the Civic Mirror Trenches Blog for highlights from a recent Civic Mirror workshop for educators.

2009 STA Convention

By playing The Civic Mirror, participants will learn:

  • Its game rules and major events,
  • How the online program works and how it sets up classroom events,
  • How to use its Web2.0 tools to extend learning outside the classroom,
  • How to capitalize on the teachable moments it provides (related to law, government, economics, and active citizenship)

For more info on The Civic Mirror, click here.

For conference registration and location information, click here.

This workshop is ideal for British Columbia teachers who want to enliven their classrooms with this citizenship simulation, especially teachers of Social Studies 11, Civic Studies 11, Social Studies 8 – 10, Law 12, Economics, Business Ed., as well as other courses.

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What’s RSS? What’s a Web Reader?

April 19th, 2009

This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post for those of you who haven’t quite figured out RSS, web readers, and the other great ways we can customize our news delivery on the internet. Trust me, once you start down this path, you’ll be wanting to call the newspaper the oldspaper too.

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Newspapers and the Classroom Status Quo?

April 18th, 2009

Wow. I just tried reading a newspaper today for the first time in a long time … and I couldn’t believe how old and antique it felt, even though it was just a few hours old. This made me think about education, but let me share why the newspaper felt so old and out-dated first:

  • It was on paper. I know, I know … but compared to my customized browser screen, it just felt old … and it made my fingers all black.
  • There was nothing on topics I wanted to read about.
  • There was no search function and it was really, really clunky.
  • I couldn’t read other people’s comments.
  • The articles were safe and bland and written for the “average reader” (a person who doesn’t really exist and someone I’d not want to get cornered by at a cocktail party).
  • There was nothing on topics I was interested in. This is worth saying again because, to me …
  • The newspaper wasn’t a “news”paper at all. I didn’t care about their news.

So I threw it on the floor (I still love that sound) and thought, “OK, if newspaper’s aren’t newspapers to me any more, what would I say about classrooms if I was forced back into a typical one … as a student?”

It was a fun exercise. I chuckled lots to myself (like a lot) …  And for fun … I thought I’d share a few of the questions I imagined myself asking my imaginary teachers in the typical (and outdated) classroom.

Here it goes, and if you’d like to share some of your own, go for it! by commenting below:

  • What are you talking about “Turn to the next chapter!?” We just learned this stuff … it’s great! Why can’t we fool around and experiment with it for a while?
  • Uuhhh … like no offense … but I didn’t really ask for you to teach me. I was kind of enjoying the cool physics proff from MIT … Not that I don’t think you’re cool, of course.
  • You’re joking, right?  We have to use this lame book … with all these lame pictures? They don’t even have anything on Obama in it.
  • A biblio-what? Couldn’t you just verify my links or bookmarks. I give props to everyone there. It’d be way easier, and it lets them know I was referencing them.”
  • Isn’t there a way we could turn this into a game? You know? Like that cool school in NYC?
  • What do you mean, “Why wasn’t I in class yesterday?”  The project was due today.  Seriously … do you really think I’d be able to get anything done in here?
  • What’s up with all the bells?
  • Like I know this ‘might’ help me in the future, but would you mind elaborating?
  • Can we just play for a while?

I’m not – by sharing these questions to my imaginary scenario – trying to slam schools or teachers. But I used to love the newspaper, and today I realized that I have no use for them anymore. And I just had to ask myself, “What have I become accustomed to in my own learning that would make the typical classroom seem outdated? What would I question about learning and the classroom status quo?”

That’s my fun list of questions. I hope you share some of yours too.

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Why Don’t Students Get It?

April 15th, 2009

Often I’ll hear frustrated teachers say something like:

“I’ve explained it to them a hundred different ways – that they won’t get a good grade if they don’t do the work – but they don’t listen. They won’t work. They just don’t get it!  Why? Why? Why won’t they do the work? It drives me crazy!”

This is understandable. I think one of the most difficult things many teachers face is having to work with a clientele that doesn’t necessarily want to work with them. Police officers too. It’s not fun when people don’t want you around. It’s frustrating.

But what’s always bothered me about the “Why don’t they get it?” comment is the massive assumption on the teacher’s part. What is the “IT” that some kids don’t get? Clearly the teacher gets “it” … right?

Often not. It’s been my experience that most of the well-intentioned educators who regularly ask, “Why don’t they get it? Why won’t they do their work?” are also the ones who fail to realize that – to their students – it’s not about the grades. They fail to step back and ask themselves questions like:

  • “Why is this worth learning, really?”
  • “Why should my students work at this?”
  • “How is this relevant to their lives? To their worlds”
  • “Why did the curriculum experts find this important enough to make me teach it?”
  • “How can I get all these things across to them?”

And that’s the key word: across. There’s a chasm there that needs crossing. You get “it.” In this case, some of your students don’t. If they did get it, you wouldn’t be complaining. And the best teachers are able to move these insights about “it” across the gap of understanding. They make learning relevant. They make it meaningful. That’s why they’re good teachers.

So if you ever find yourself asking, “Why don’t they get it?”

  1. Step back. Acknowledge that for some of your students grades – on their own – just aren’t motivating.
  2. Imagine you’re them. Like really try to imagine what makes them tick. What’s their language?
  3. Ask yourself,“What’s the ‘it’ that I want my students (or employees even) to be getting?” Define it.
  4. Then come up with 5 good reasons why they should “get it.” Why it should matter to them.
  5. Then try and come up with a couple of ways to communicate this to them.
  6. In a language they understand.

At the very least you’ll be showing them that you care; that you’re trying to reach them; that you’re trying to teach to them. That’s why teachers exist, isn’t it?

And although this alone can often be enough to spark interest and motivate … maybe, just maybe, you’ll help them get “it” too.

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