Ruth Howard

These young learners are earnestly asking educators and school administrators to unblock currently fire walled learning tools, social networks wikis, blogs and virtual worlds:

• “I know how to memorise.” “Teach me to think.”

• “I know how to recite. “ “Teach me to create.“

• ” We want to talk to the world.”

• “We want to make mistakes and try again.“

• “You dont trust me.” “We are not cheating.” ” We are collaborating.”
  

• “We are not lazy.” “We are bored.“

• “Can you help us?” “Can you unblock it?” “We know you’re afraid.”
  

• “We are different.” “We want you to help us.” ““We want you to understand us.” “We need your guidance.”

• “Step out of the textbook.“  “Out of the testing.“ “Let me show you what I can really do.”

• “Prepare me for my future.” “It said you can come too.” “The future is happening.”

• “Outside of school we are there already.” “We want you to be brave and come with us.”

No Future Left Behind by Peggy Sheehy’s Suffern Middle School (NY) technology students jointly won the Net Generation Education Project competition. Both winners brilliantly demonstrate why banning social media tools is paramount to banning learning engagement.

It’s not the technology that is fire walled but human potential!

Image via Wikipedia

Will Richardson’s post points out how social media tools exclude particular learning styles. The point Will makes about Blogs requiring good reading/writing skills is certainly true of how many people practice and teach blogging. But I think that’s an outcome of the current education system – we approach blogging like writing pads/books.

Blogs will become Vlogs and there’s so much that a human body can do in front of a video camera. (Did I say that?-having said that I’m not there yet!). YouTube is the second most popular search engine.

Surely Wii opens up huge possibilities for visual/aural/kinesthetic learners…Im in love with the possibilities/realities that new digital technologies are providing.

I’m also reflecting on the technical debate about Waldorf education that Will Richardson discussed. The ‘virtual reality‘ reality makes me want Harry’s (3 years old) world grounded so he can transit between worlds more consciously. Which is partially why I’m thinking about Waldorf education. I’m off to the Tarremah Steiner School on wednesday.

I figure that I myself expose Harry to technology (we dont have a tv) and it will be widely available to him elsewhere. So too  I’m exposing him to phonics, he naturally inquires about letters and words. I let him guide me there.

I get that my ideas may not fulfill the Steiner philosophy however every Steiner School openly interprets the original Steiner pedagogy, just as in Christianity and Buddhism each vision is so different! So I can give Harry things that Steiner education wont and that’s the beauty.

The underlying community/earth centred spirituality, the emphasis on imagination, sensory play, beauty these are child (human) essentials. Harry will be more than what he can do for a living. It’s the why he’s doing it, how he creates it and who (how many?) is he serving that will be significant. And how he feels about it of course!