Stop Stealing Dreams by Seth Godin has changed the way I think about education. His book reminds me of a series of blog-like posts as he shares his ideals on public education. One of his quotes that caught me off guard was “The notion that organization could teach anyone at all, is a relatively new one." - This stands out in my head so much, especially as I look down at my notes and see how I was organizing my thoughts. We definitely assume the artistic creators that express themselves in unconventional ways compared to the rest of society, are going to somehow find their way in the work force. How many educators are really thinking of their students in this way? Godin to me constantly echoes that we have lost touch with our students and our world. Godin is calling for change and that we need to question our motives. Are we still doing education the same way our great grandparents learned? If no modification we will force our students to conform and move with the flow, getting a 9-5 job and trying to buy your freedom until your time is up here on Earth. We teach nothing about desire, motivation, feeding your self-worth, yet we expect students to want what culture considers "The best of the best." Go to a prestigious college, become a lawyer, CEO, Doctor. Each and every blog-like post is prompting me to reevaluate my motives and how I could change in a positive way to influence my students to follow their dreams. When Godin talks about our education system producing factory workers it reminds me of the Pink Floyds song and video “Another Brick in the Wall”. We are pushing out robots who at some point in their life will break or get accustom to misery. Regardless of social status, education status or economic status, we have created a system where at one time we needed people to do various jobs. We put people through schooling and educated them because we had a need of skills. "Jobs were invented before workers were invented” Was a simple quote that explains the problem with our views on what children are brought up and taught in school in regards to the purpose of the rest of their life. This book has really been a treat for me. One of the things I really enjoyed was Godin attitude in that he didn’t have all the answers but he wanted to address our system. A book that can cause you to reevaluate your whole thought process about education is truly a work of art.
This is a great article that every teacher needs to read. I have not been a student in a classroom setting for at least 15 years. When this veteran teacher was explain their experience it reminded me the week long in-service we have before school starts. We are sitting all day long listening to old information that we have covered already. Teachers can’t even handle sitting and paying attention for the in-service and we set high standards on our students. I really like some of the changes this veteran teacher suggested like mandatory stretch halfway through the class and maybe putting a Nerf basketball hoop on the back of my door and have kids to play in the first and final minutes of class. Activity’s like these break up the monotony. I also liked how they would incorporate “mini-lessons “to help students stay engaged , it’s about quality rather than quantity. I start work tomorrow and I will have to sit for the next five days all day long, I will pay close attention to my mindset, physical well-being and my overall attitude. This will give me an idea on how my students feel and what I can do to change my class up. In Stop Stealing Dreams every blog-like writing Godin writes makes me question and reevaluate my own thinking and teaching philosophy. "This is a test of lower order thinking, for lower thinkers." Godin in reference to the standardized testing used generally today, gives us a very different view point of the foundation of what we use to consider "progress". I concur with Godin in that the multiple choice test is being used as a plot of convenience to organize uneducated people in a system where we could distribute them easier in the early 1900s. When looking at some of our more "important" tests we take in our youth and onwards, the SATs still revolves around this format of multiple choice. What does this suggest about our system that is already struggling? We are doing the same old thing, “a test of lower thinkers for lower thinkers”. The reason our education system strives, or at least it appears to others is because the motivated individuals. We have particular students with the right mentality trying to build themselves in this system to reach their goals. At what cost? What is the cost of being the perfect soldier in a flawed system? The successful students have the one attribute that would make them successful whether they were a student in the system or not; A sense of empowerment. These are the kinds of things that need to be preached and given examples of, in our school system today. Not the idea of sorting out what could potentially be "right" or "wrong". We are creating lazy individuals who do not think for themselves. We need a system that gives the student broad opportunities to reach a goal. Something that relies on them being unique to who they are as an individual, yet still providing structure that can guide them along the way. Allowing the students to create academic portfolios of work throughout the year containing items such as ; reports on topics that relate to the feelings of the individual, goals, personal resume, creating/formatting/designing a blog. These, if guided correctly, can drastically give a sense of empowerment and open the doors for self-motivation, rather than fear of "failing.” Stop Stealing Dreams is an excellent book that captivated me from the start. The author Seth Godin supplies thought provoking concepts that make you rethink everything. The idea that our school system revolves around an economic plan from the beginning of the century is not as surprising once the idea is entertained. Organizing “soldiers” of children for the advancement of a company’s economic growth makes sense when we ask ourselves; what kind of system does this revolve around? What is the purpose of this system we are using? What is our goal with these students? Is our mentality even in the right place? Anything implemented now is for the convenience of the teacher for organization purposes. We are finding ways to make the teachers jobs easier, even though it is a failed system in most people’s eyes. When we are teaching, the goals of our systems are generalized. Godin believes we should be trying to embrace motivation and self-improvement, rather than teaching them to perform tasks that will never be used once they leave school. Students are being forced to stand in line straight, sit in rows in assigned seats, and perform specific tasks that are specific to each of their teachers. Ideas and concepts behind specific scenarios are not explained while in school. Everything revolves around how well the student can regurgitate information on paper. Also, how well can someone follow specific directions? This may seem practical, but it’s only because it’s what has been enforced over the last century. When leading youth with no purpose or goal, especially this generation, we push lots of confused individuals into the working force. This has led to the instability of our work force, not from the economic stand point, but from the viewpoint of individuals getting fired due to particular tasks that may be different than the tasks that we preached throughout their entire life in school. In a time where students have more questions than ever in history, we need positive reinforcement with a purpose. Our biggest priority should be our education system and the reform of its outdated blueprint. Once we have a goal we can make a plan. Godin philosophy echoes throughout the whole book, once we have a plan we can implement change. Once the implementation is in place, we can adjust and start working towards the advancement of a more unified culture from the bottom floor up.
Chapter 7
“They are homosapiens, homofabers and homoludens – or humans who know, humans who make things and humans who play” Question: Why are we using a single system of teaching different types individuals? Connection: I have seen from experience that individuals retain information from different reinforcement methods. Some can adjust to the traditional reading/hearing data – regurgitate. Many get lost along the way, not because of incapability’s, but simply because the doors have not been opened for them. We need to let our students out of the box so they can learn the way they were wired to learn. Aha: It’s only obvious that we cannot cater to each student by boxing them into a system that makes it more convenient for the teacher to keep track of their “progress” on paper. We need to teach our teachers how to teach so our students can thrive in our changing society. Chapter 8 ‘young people are constructing new social norms and forms of media literacy’ Question: How can we better utilize a platform like social media in the classroom? Connection: Social media IS what youth culture of today revolves around. For having such an impact, it is not being looked at as progressive in the education system. I see the need for social media in the classroom like never before, it can be a valuable tool for learning, communicating and group projects. The old saying “you must know your audience” well our audience works and learns on social media. “Equity and relevance concerns should be pushing us toward, not away from, meaningful technology integration”. Aha: Social media can be used as a gateway to interaction between different minds. It opens doors for debate and discussion on any topic 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is a powerful tool that if used correctly can change the history of our education system. Chapter 9 ‘Imagine where learning happens on a continuous basis’ Question: How can we get this to come to fruition? Connection: Not only do we expect students to all learn the same way, but we also expect them to jam pack the retention of this data into a limited amount of hours each day. This makes learning feel like “work” and keeps the student from being able to express themselves freely and create a source of motivation to acquire useful information. We need to accommodate our students to be creative, it’s only then will we see learning on a continuous basis. Aha: My mind is being opened to different methods that can be utilized in unorthodox forms of communication. Forms of communication where individuals are free to express themselves and have a desire to progress rather than an obligation. Great book!!! I could have never imagined at the start of EDL680 that I would be on twitter having my own website and using social media the way I am now. The only social media I really used in the past was Facebook. I have been out of my comfort zone in the last seven weeks and it has been for the betterment of my education, instruction, and all around benefit. I am nowhere near the place I want to be and need to be, but at least I’m taking steps in the right direction. One of the most eye opening things I have learned is that there is so much networking and information out there if you know where to look. I am so excited and energized at the networking possibilities, I feel like I’m beginning to be a part of a great community of leaders and educators. For the first time in my education endeavors, I don’t feel like I am alone in my journey. I am going back to work in three weeks and I am excited to take all the new information and resources I have gained through EDL680.
Rafael Parente speaker for TED talks gives three reasons to improve education. Rafael says many teachers and students lack motivation, because of this he and his team came up with three ways to combat the problem. They came up with the three I’s, the first “I” is Innovation. With the help of teachers and staff they came up with a new curriculum that was taught online. The new curriculum was exciting for students as they could navigate through an endless amount of lessons and videos. The second “I” was for Inspiration, not to inspire the students even though students need inspiring. The people they wanted to inspire were the teachers that are supposed in turn inspire the students. These teachers that got inspired to use the new curriculum online were later called “ambassadors”. These ambassadors would seek out students and teachers who were having trouble with the new system and try to coach them so they would be able to use the online system effectively. The last “I” is Infrastructure, teachers and students alike needed the right infrastructure to be successful. There could be no hindrances in any of the new endeavors that would cause teachers and students to doubt what they were trying to do. Rafael’s team started from an end point and worked their way backwards making sure they paid lots of attention to the details within the system. The team thought any small mistake would harm the implementation of the program, so they wanted to make sure it had no flaws. The success of this program Parente says comes from the teachers and students working together and being open to the idea of rethinking how education can work. Chapter 4
Quote “The new culture of learning is based on three principles: 1, the old ways of learning are unable to keep up with our rapidly changing world.” (50) Question: what are we doing to combat this problem? Connection: The education system has changed very slightly in the last few centuries. We still have the same structure of teaching today as we did a hundred years ago, we lecture about a subject for a period of time than we test them on it. We are teaching our students to remember facts rather than letting them finding themselves and driving them to go for their passions. Aha: I seem to change things up in my class and the way I instruct when I learn something new or when I get new technology. This means I need to keep up with technology and always be willing to learn and adapt to be relevant in this “changing world” 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 Chapter 5 Quote: “One of the greatest concerns about digital media is today it may be rendering our lives to transparent”(55). Question: Is digital media the answer to making vast community’s small enough to have personal relationships. Connection: Social media is a good way to interact with our students and parents. Instructors can also communicate easily with a vast community of colleagues to share ideas and different concepts. This was not possible when all we had were telephone calls and letters. I see digital media as a tool for teacher and students to embark on a new way of learning in our educational system. Aha: Social media is a great way to interact with people, not only in your local community, but across the globe. If social media can assist in facilitating learning, then it should be utilized in the educational process. Students are captivated with social media, this is a great way to keep some of my students engaged for more than a few minutes. It’s also a good way some shy students can open up and interact with students they would never talk to face to face. 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 Chapter 6 Quote: “knowledge was valued in the old culture because it was seen as a stable.” Questions: How do we keep up with the ever-changing information? Connection: If new information is not introduced in education, how do you think children are supposed to compete in a changing world? Knowledge and information is growing, and will continue to grow, just as our education system should. That’s why I feel technology needs to bombard your schools. It is almost unquestionably necessary to incorporate new technology into our curriculum. Aha: Education should have started changing drastically in the early 1990's with the advancement of the Internet. Now more than ever schools should be introducing new technology in their teachings. Students should have access to computers and tablets. They should have classes on how they work and how programs within them are created. This would develop a generation of employable workers. It can only benefit the our next generations. 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 |
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