Please go to the link below and view the short video of Dan Brown’s Open Letter to Educators:
You will have students like Dan Brown (perhaps many of them). How does this attitude/philosophy/belief about education inform you as a prospective teacher? What does it mean for your actions, reactions, and pedagogical deployment?
Well that guy just summed up everything that I have been considering since I started taking my graduate education classes! Since I have been subbing, I have already heard many of my students asking me what the relevance of certain subjects are and why it is important that they learn them when their career will not rely on them. As a prospective teacher, this changing notion of what education is meant to do and what it should be is exciting to me. It is exciting that we are learning this and that we graduate students will be coming in on the ground floor ready to embrace this notion. This philosophy is really at the heart of what I want to do with my master's degree which is to help bring about change in education. It informs me that the value of education is in fostering creativity that he and others have spoken about. That education is about how to use information differently than just memorization of facts thats are readily and freely available on the net. It is about using this available and free information to our best use which is creating new ideas and things to help the world in every way. For my actions, reactions, and pedagogical deployment it means that I myself need to learn the strategies to foster creativity in my students and really just be able to do everything I would expect of my students to do with this information and today's technology. Really, what schools should now be all about is SKILLS and DOING since it is not about memorizing anymore. I want to help my students gain the skills to figure the things out no one else has even thought of yet.
ReplyDeleteI say: viva la revolution! I totally agree with Dan! Even when I was in undergrad, I was slowly able to see technology infiltrating my classes (well, my non-media classes, the media ones were often technology based). In the video we watch of Sir Ken Robinson, he makes a point that has stuck with me since I saw it the first time - if students are going to be reachable on all sorts of platforms (cell phones, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.) - we, as educators, need to use those platforms to our advantage! Dan was right - facts are free, and facts are easy. Facts are no longer what students need to be successful - at least they're not the only thing. Students need to learn how to learn, and they need to learn how THEY learn, specifically. They need to learn to think and read and solve problems, not just sit down and take notes. I agree with Dan so very much, and I wish every educator was required to watch this video!
ReplyDeleteI think that he needs to get a grip and go back to school even if he thinks he is not getting the education he wants. Maybe he should change schools or programs because he is not going to get far with out a degree. Now does that mean I think that educator can't do a better job-- NO! Educators need to challenge students and offer a better experience. Educators need to provide real working solutions for students. Teaching to the test and legislation like no child left behind are only keeping us locked into our current system. I am older so I don't like working on line nor do I like giving my thoughts all the time I like learning facts from a knowledgeable source and the internet is not always a knowledgeable source.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, he had some good points. However, I have never had anything presented to me in a more annoying fashion. What a horrible, annoying person. With that said, yes the world is ever-changing and education needs to ebb and flow with it. No some things aren't working, but where are the people trying to get them changed? Hopefully they aren't all making juvenille videos like that. Things aren't going to change unless the powers that be change them. I agree completely with Lauri that it's the system we have in place that is forcing teachers to continue doing what they're always done. Yeah it would be great to take a week to learn and study all the interesting information about Pearl Harbor, but unfortunately there's a five word question about it on the STAAR test and our TEKS tell us to move on in a day. A revolution is a wonderful idea, but who will realistically be able to put it into effect without a major overhaul of the educational system? And when will that major overhaul even be possible?
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