RAndom Thoughts
From time to time, while reflecting on education, learning and humanity, I have some random thoughts. Here are some of them, in no particular order.
The more I learn, the more I feel like I haven't at all.
Education is a concept. Humans create concepts. Concepts cannot be changed until those who think of them do.
Talk of transforming education is like talk of expecting new fruit whilst still planting the same seed.
If the nail that sticks out gets hammered, I sure hope I splinter their petrified concepts on the way down.
Nature is always changing, growing, dying. Maybe we should hold planning meetings outside?
One of the greatest challenges that lies ahead of us is not finding new ways for students to learn through technology. It's finding value in ways they can't.
What's more frightening? The thought of what your students might be doing for work 20 years from now? Or the thought of what you might be?
Some schools have funding problems. Some schools have connectivity problems. But most schools have human problems. Maybe we should be investing more in inner structure than infrastructure.
Humanity wouldn't have evolved to the point it has today if it weren't for those who said yes when others said no.
Schools don't need a home learning policy. If what the students are experiencing in the classroom is engaging, empowering and driven through creation, home learning happens naturally.
Trickle-up education is more effective than trickle-down education.
|
Letting go might be the most powerful 21st century skill that can be taught in schools. And we're not talking about the students.
The biggest barrier to revolutionizing education is the insecure repression of new thought.
Instead of being uncomfortable when we feel like we should have the answer, we should strive to be comfortable exemplifying the question itself.
Every year, trees drop their leaves, expose themselves bare and grow new ones. Teachers should do the same.
What if tech coaches were replaced by life coaches, or therapists?
What if humans shed their thoughts as easily as mammals shed their fur?
"Why are we deciding to do this?" should be the effective filter that is asked before any team decision is made.
Teaching students why to disconnect might be equally important as teaching them how to.
Educational evolution happens naturally when there is no resistance to change. Educational revolution is necessary when elements stand in the way of natural laws.
We can't allow a new concept to grow until an old concept has died. This death shouldn't be a passive and natural death--it should be active and intentional. For it is only through this death that a new conceptual rebirth can emerge.
|
External transformation cannot happen until there is internal transformation. Rather than starting with the tool, we should start with the self.
The only way to get around your fear is to walk right through it.
Sometimes, the most secure feeling can come from being insecure with others.
The death of a concept is not the same as the death of one's self, but sometimes it can feel that way.
Students to technology are like bugs to light. It's time for teachers to stop being the bug zappers.
Sometimes, you don't need to convince and change your whole school. You just need to reach 51%. After that, your barriers can quickly turn to bridges.
Currently, teachers are the polyps, education is the coral and students are the fish. What would happen if students were the polyps?
"What if" might be the two most important words in education.
"I don't know," can do wonders to break the wall of collaborative insecurity.
I am not a teacher--I am a seed planter. My job is to make sure I till the soil and plant seeds I may never get the chance to see bear fruit.
It's not about the concepts you understand. It's about the concepts that don't even exist yet.
|