Experimentation and making mistakes are the two major factors that allow for innovation to occur. No invention has ever been made perfect the first time it was constructed--inventors are always tinkering and improving their product to make it better. Similarly, this young computer scientist tried new things and did not get discouraged if they did not work out.
One Question: How can Becky and Nick (a mom and her son) have 15-20 hours per week to spend playing video games together? [If divided evenly, that's at least 2 hours per day, which makes up 780-1040 hours per year and, divided by 40 hours, it would be the equivalent of 19.5-26 work weeks.] (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p.27).
Connection: My students and I last week made class goals and talked about how my co-teacher and I do not have traditional grading in our classes. We discussed the point of school, the value of learning, and what motivates people (especially students). After the three days, they handed in a reflection and many stated that the idea of learning for themselves and not for a traditional grade was something they liked about the class so far. I'm also excited that they are all coming to class with high quality questions and insights--the lack of grades for them has alleviated stress, encouraged curiosity, and motivated them to truly learn. This idea of learning for oneself is exactly what the new culture of learning is all about.
Epiphany/Aha: My "aha" moment was when the video game instructor, Professor Douglas Thomas (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p.23), could not fathom that his students were engaged in the class and wanted to be a part of it and add to it. They had been inspired by the class and, to Professor Thomas, taking over the class in a sense. But that's sort of the point of teaching--to guide students to true learning. In my current classes, my co-teacher and I joke about metaphorically "getting out of their [our students'] way" when they're working and collaborating and thinking. After all, it's their class. And, as we always say in the credential program, the ones doing the work are the ones doing the learning.
This reminded me of our duty as teachers to spur students' problem-solving skills. We can give them guidelines and then let them come up with something creative. Every time I've ever given my students freedom to choose a project or to make up one of their own, they have always surprised and amazed me with their creativity. Letting students "just run with it" as we often say is the only way they'll learn how to do anything independently. And, the best part is that what they come up with is often things that I never thought to do and are completely delightful. For instance, for a "disease" research project last year, my co-teacher and I had originally thought of a few ideas and then came up with 10-15 on our own. From that, one student wanted to do an emergency broadcast announcement that mimicked a real one; he found an app, he programmed it, and included all the elements required of the project. It was extremely well done, he had put time and effort into it, it was creative, and it was the proudest I'd seen him all year.
One Question: With the teaching-based approach being "about the world" (p. 38) and the new culture about "engagement within the world," (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p. 38) don't people need at least some sort of foundation/background knowledge about the world before being able to engage with it?
Connection: The idea of being engaged in the creation of a deeper culture of learning rather than just "responding to it" (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p.37) made me think of a frozen lake. If you use a sharp object to break the ice, you need to not just hit it once, but several times in the same spot in order for it to finally, eventually break. The idea of a culture of learning is similar. To get to that deeper level of learning and creation, students need to take a few hacks at the frozen lake of learning and not just one hack at it in response to it. Learning is a process and it takes time. There was once the now antiquated idea that students' brains are sent to school to be "filled" by the teacher. Students are not empty receptacles and should be the ones at the heart of this culture of learning and we need to inspire them to give the lake of learning multiple hacks.
Epiphany/Aha: The idea of exploring students' own ideas, thoughts and questions within the class rather than dictating what should be learned about _____ is a far more engaging (and interesting) approach to teaching. This is something that my co-teacher and I are doing together this year and, apparently, we have made a big impact so far. One student reflected that we had "asked more of her opinion in three days than any of her 8th grade teachers did in an entire year." I'm quickly learning that students have a lot to say about the material we present to them and it's our job as teachers to let them develop their own thoughts and ideas and go from there (especially since every student has a different and often fascinating insight or interpretation!).
Change is something that happens often in education. Oftentimes, change comes quickly and, as such, the adaptation of it is difficult. For instance, with the new rollout of Common Core, not only are the state standards changing but so are the textbooks (or lack thereof), the national common assessments (CAASP/ Smarter Balanced test), and the way in which these tests are administered to students (and we have no idea if any of it will work!). In contrast, I feel that if these changes had been slower and alterations were made along the way as problems arose, the Common Core would likely have been more of what students and teachers wanted it to be like and the adaptation of it would have been easier.
One Question: Although "Youtube's website in 2007 took up more bandwidth than did the entire Internet in the year 2000," (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p. 41) what changed in our society (was it innovation, schooling, etc.?) that caused us to have technology to progress so quickly?
Connection: Technology is constantly changing. For instance, I bought a Windows 10 laptop last year (which is amazing to me because I still remember Windows 95, 97, 99, Vista, XP, 7, and 8--all from the small amount of life I've lived!). Anticipating the new technology and what will be used in the future was something that I kept in mind when purchasing a new laptop and there was certainly a learning curve and some small bugs that Microsoft is still working out, but there is progress being made (that and Windows 7 was nearly obsolete on any laptop I looked at, my first Windows 7 laptop was on its deathbed, and I hated Windows 8 with a passion). So, like how Windows computers are updating to Windows 10, students and teachers also have to update to a constantly changing world.
Epiphany/Aha: My co-teacher and I set three major goals for us as teachers that we wanted our students to accomplish this semester: 1. To develop a critical lens by which they identify the text’s purpose and how to use that knowledge to understand the text’s impact ( ie. political ads); 2. To become an effective Communicator, which includes speaker and writing and being able to justify their ideas with evidence; and 3. To be able to look at things via perspectives other than one’s own and, in tandem, why do they believe something. The goals of this new culture of learning seems to be the same. While looking at the example of Wikipedia, Thomas and Brown say, " it [Wikipedia] requires a new kind of reading practice, an ability to evaluate a contested piece of knowledge and decide for yourself on how you want to interpret it" (2011, p. 47) Essentially, the real goal is not just reading a text and deciphering it but it requires critical thinking to judge the source's credibility, the information's validity, and come up with your own opinion about it.