Jukes (committed sardine) says that we need a 25 week "digital diet" where we are trying something new once a week for 25 weeks. What could this look like for teachers at Clayton that teachers would actually agree to? We need a list of things that we should be doing or could be doing or should be exposed to with technology to match up to the 25 weeks with the goal of exposing those teachers to what kids know about and that (some of the kids) can do.
1. We need to catch up (through that 25 week digital diet)
2. Teach to the whole new mind (A Whole New Mind-check out the book)
we've changed from an industrial society to an information society - we need to stop the "left brained teaching" and understand the right side of the brain. Who's job is it to develop constructive thinking skills? What are the skills that kids need today? What do they need for a modern working world? There's more emphasis on creativity, problem solving, and higher level thinking.
3. Literacy isn't enough: we need to move beyond reading and writing and numeracy and move toward fluency. Reading has changed. Multimedia, blogs, wiki's have changed things and will continue to do that. We need to teach kids to be good and responsible producers of content as they are also a good con unconscience sumer of content. And that content comes in multiple forms in both cases, not just text. Fluency are skills where you unconsciencly know what you need to do next. Ex. Riding a bicycle is a fluency. What do our kids need to be fluent at? Technological fluency: with a pen, you are directly engaged with your brain and a piece of paper. You are not thinking about the pen. This helps kids be better communicators. The teaching of the tool is a byproduct to get to that level of communication. You don't say that you need a digital camera. You say that you need a photograph. Using the camera is a byproduct. Media Fluency: this is about being able to look critically at the content of a website a movie, a wiki, any other content, and understanding why this media is being used to communicate the message and understand how its being used to shape the thinking and evaluate how well it's being used. What is the most appropriate media to communicate the media that you need to effectively. Information Fluency: the ability to interpret information in all forms to extract the essential knowledge and determine its significance. a. Kids need to be able to ask good questions. b. kids need to have access the information form the most appropriate source. c. kids need to be able to analyze, authenticate the raw materials (we wouldn't give a kid the keys to a car before we taught them how to drive-can't do it with the internet. d. Kids need to be able to apply the data to a real world task or a simulation of that task and move it from vision into practice (reteach the content and apply that concept to a real life task or simulation of that task-allows kids to retain 90% of information) e. Kids need to be able to assess the product and the process.
4. Shift the instructional approach from lecture (more of the time) to become the facilitators of learning. Stop giving the students the end product of our thinking and let them come up with the end product of their thinking. We need to learn to "teach lazy" and progressively withdraw from students lives. ??How much do we withdraw by the end of fifth grade and what does that look like progressively?? When someone is learning to walk, we watch kids fall, help them up and encourage them to try again. ??Do we do that in schools??
Teaching for Tomorrow - Another book to check out
Follow his web at committedsardine.com and go to ianjukes.com
discount code ug8ju6mz www.understandingthedigitalgeneration.com I think the discount is taken at amazon?!?
