Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Thoughts about 3 steps

In 3 steps there is a quote from Alvin Toffler which says, "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn." I just love that quote. I find it hopeful that being literate could mean being able to learn, unlearn and relearn. I mean just thinking about life in general, isn't that what we do everyday, we learn things, and then especially because of technology we have to unlearn and relearn things. I mean every day I get update notifications for one program or another. Recently I just updated firefox to the latest edition, and it took me a little while to get used to the new layout, I kept looking for buttons where they used to be so I had to unlearn what I knew about where everything was and relearn it because it had changed. I think being able to do that is an incredible skill to have. However I feel that so often in school, we are taught what we need to know, but not really how to learn for ourselves. I think by integrating technology into the classroom we can find ways to help our students learn how to learn. Technology involves a different kind of thinking and problem solving that doesn't always happen sitting at a desk in a classroom listening to a teacher lecture.

Another part of the video that I found interesting was the idea of competition. That one day our students would be competing against their peers from around the world, so it would serve them to know the people who they would one day be competing against. I found that interesting because competition was immediately followed by cooperation and collaboration. It seems to me that those two words, didn’t fit perfectly with competition. If you are cooperating and collaborating with someone, why would you want to compete with them? Not that I am against competition, not at all, I think competition can be good at times to help motivate people and propel them forward. However I think that for our students I would like to focus on cooperation and collaboration, because I think working together is a great way to really get things done. I like the idea of having students get to know and learn about other students from around the world, but instead of saying you they are learning about their competition so that they can win, I think it could be presented in a more positive way that knowing things about the world can help everyone be successful. Why not present our students with positive reasons for doing things rather than focusing on winning, focus on the journey first.

3 comments:

  1. I also really like the idea of focusing on collaboration and cooperation rather than competition. I know that if I were a student, I would feel very intimidated if I was in a classroom where competition was stressed because I would constantly wonder if I am good enough and feel that I am not as good as my other classmates. I think what you said about focusing on the journey rather than the winning is a great comment. So many people are focused on the end result, and they don't enjoy the things that happen on the way to the end; or they miss important things and miss out on learning important skills because they are so focused on the end.

    Also, I definitely agree that technology requires a different kind of thinking. With knowledge of technology becoming so important, it is definitely imperative that we incorporate it into our lessons. Technology can help teach students skills they can't learn when just sitting at a desk. Also, it can help make learning more engaging, lessons more meaningful, and the world can be expanded.

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  2. I also think htat it is a great idea to focus on colloaboration and cooperation because competition (while at times can be healthy) is very damaging to a child in a school setting. I am firm believe in team work, actually while watching Celebrity Aprrentice the other night Gary said the TEAM meant: Together Everyone Achieves More. And I believe that. However, at the same time, our schools promote competition through class rnakings, team sports, and the tracking system.

    Great Blog!

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  3. Very interesting points! It does seem to be a bit of a contradiction to talk about competition and collaboration together, but it is interesting to consider if this is something that technology and our global economy has made possible. I don't have the answer to that, but it is certainly interesting to think about (and read about). And as you said, an important skill today is the ability to learn, unlearn and relearn. Certainly students today will have to be resilient and flexible and realize that every day will potentially be a learning curve for them.

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