Chapter 7
Quote: According to Thomas and Seely Brown (2011) "knowledge is becoming less a question of "What is the information and more of "Where is the information? (loc. 1231) I have to disagree with the authors on this point, I believe that knowledge is becoming more of how can you tell if the information is correct. I see it all the time in my classroom, my students believe what the internet tells them without critically analyzing the source of the information. Question: My question is and I think is a valid one, is static information still relevant? I believe so, when people were asked to find Iraq and they weren't able to that still needs to carry some weight. It can just be what google puts in front of us, what if that information is incorrect. Connection: I find it refreshing that the authors pointed out that evaluation of the where question is very important. As I pointed out in the quote section of this chapter, we need to teach our students to evaluate information since now information is so easily attained. Aha: This is not necessarily an "AHA" moment but Thomas and Seely Brown (2011) mentioned that we need to learn in a new way. That since information does not come with a seal of approval anymore it is critical for us to be able to evaluate information and I completely agree with them. I think this will be the biggest challenge for teachers, teaching their students who and what to believe and why. Chapter 8 For this particular chapter I am going to change the format of my response. In this chapter Thomas and Seely Brown (2011) discuss that there are three levels of "play" that people can interact in. The first is the "hanging out", then "messing around" and finally "geeking out". One usually follows another and the build on each other. I can see how this is relevant to teaching because when students are in a classroom they usually learn those stages. Well in all honesty they learn the first stage, which is how to belong to a community. As Thomas and Seely Brown (2011) point out "What is my relationship to others? (loc. 1420). If you really think about it as teachers that is all we really teach, we never go beyond that. Few of us have discuss with our students the social impact they could and can have on their communities. Even a fewer number have discussed how they can use that power and knowledge to connect with other like minded individuals to create a global change. Chapter 9 Quote: "Finding an environment like that sounds difficult, but it sin't. It already exists, and in one of the most unlikely places: a new generation of games" (Thomas and Seely Brown,2011, loc. 1499). Question: What are some examples of this in the classroom? Connection: In some ways this is like Performance Task which the student knows some information but they do not the question or outcome. This could be an interesting flip on that where the students create the inquiry questions and they choose groups to research them. Aha: Kids need to be challenge at the level that they enjoy, for some getting an A is abstract but if you break down the significance of each grade they are more likely to want to achieve it, So in a rubric you don't give them 1-4, you give them rubrics that are 1 and 4. Reference: Thomas, D., & Brown, J. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
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Chapter 4
Quote: According to Thomas and Seely Brown (2011) "people learn through their interaction and participation with one another in fluid relationships that are the results of shared interests and opportunity" (loc. 573) This quote is very important to me because at our school this is what we strived for. It is so interesting and refreshing to see what we are doing in our school is championed by progressive educators. Question: How do you motivate students to take the lead in their own learning when they are unmotivated to do it? Connection: As much as I love this type of learning and I do believe in it, I find difficult to motivate my students at time to take the lead and want to learn. Even when I let them do their 20Time project on anything they wanted it was difficult to see them really get into it and for the most part their projects were on the surface. Epiphany/Aha: For this chapter I did not have an "Aha" moment, in many ways I ended with more questions then answers. For example the whole mention of the collective, how is that structured in a school (if schools are suppose to exist)? Do we need to get rid of schools? If so how do students learn the basics? Chapter 5 Quote: "Sharing something personal with a collective, therefore, is very different from taking something private and putting it into the public domain" (Thomas and Seely Brown, 2011, loc. 671). Question: Does one have to be balanced in their learning in this new collective or do we become compartments/experts in certain fields as (young)students? It seems what this chapter is saying is that students will learn what they want to learn and become experts at that because they are motivated to do so, but shouldn't we all have a balance of knowledge? Connection: For me the connection to this chapter was the way students are graded. I have begun to move away from grading individually but it is still a challenge because I know students get frustrated when students receive credit even if they did not do all the work. In order to try to fix this issue I have my students grade each other using google forms. Epiphany/Aha: I love that explanation of why a students panics when asked a question they know. I have never seen that interaction through that lens, students have to become exposed when being asked a question from he private to the public. Chapter 6 Quote: "In a world where things are constantly changing, focusing exclusively on the explicit dimension is no longer a viable model for education" (Thomas and Seely Brown, 2011, loc. 977). I see where this makes sense, and I do appreciate how the authors do not throw explicit education, which I think is still important. Question: How do we in education provide students with authentic experiences so they can learn, specially with budgets being the way they are? Connection: It is interesting that as an adult I can come up with questions and use my time to answer them but as a teacher I take that power away from my students due to time constraints. I will say this, as we have gone 1:1 at our school, I'm starting to give that power back to the students by having them do the research on questions they themselves have, but I need to go deeper. Epiphany/Aha: Students need authentic experiences to learn, tactic learning provides them that. Reference: Thomas, D., & Brown, J. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
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