Tag Archives: ted talk

World Peace Games

by

What is education? I just finished reading David Warlich’s 2cents worth blog and commenting. About making education purposeful. That’s what’s missing. Forget reform, change blablabla. Just get people together with a purpose.

And what should that be? Well, I think it should be what John Hunter says. PLEASE take a moment and watch this. I will say no more. I’ll only hint it has something to do what I’ve been harping on for awhile – and the teacher going away……

He has me pining for my own grade 4s (now grade 9ers!) – they learned so much, grew so much and in turn allowed me to stand on their shoulders, as I learned so much, grew so much.

______________

If you liked this post, you may enjoy – Giving Students Room To Do Their Own Thing or visit Project Peace, a project I started and joined by teachers all over the world.

Giving students room to “do their own thing”

by

“but I gave them the room to just do the thing. Figure it out, go create”
– Diana Laufenberg

One of the things I’ve often done with teachers and students alike is just give them a set of materials, say flashcards and then, “just get out of the way”. Let them decide how to use them and let the learning objectives naturally emerge from their own processing and interaction.

It’s scary but it is the new paradigm that we are facing in education. Diana Laufenberg in her short, valuable TEDx talk – hits on this among other things. That with information surplus, kids no longer have to come to school to get information or be “informed” or “lectured to”. They come to school to be part of a learning culture where they engage with the content/curriculum – they don’t just consume it.

We have to give students a reason to come to school. And not just to be around their friends. We have to give them the chance to explore what THEY want and in their own fashion. Student created content – the mantra I’ve been expounding through my textbook is something appropriate for our day and age. It allows students to try, to try again. It emphasizes “doing” rather than “repeating”. It de-emphasizes the teacher as the “general” and makes them more of a “producer” that behind the scenes gets everything in place.

Take a watch, Diana offers valuable examples of the Sugata Mitra methodology of  “I’m going away now”. A method that won’t just be experiential in the future but rather what teaching is all about….