Learning instead of teaching

Learning is not the same as teaching. Teachers need to be aware of what their students are interested in. This in the view of one of the most interesting comments on the teacher exchange that I have been somewhat negative on. He posted two interesting videos.

 I would be interested in your comments. I will comment when I have to view them properly and collect my thoughts. Very thought provoking. Much more interesting than debating the ideological nature of literacy.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

Pay attention

Comments

[Daniel Reiter]

My school's computers even have Wikipedia blocked. Go figure that one out...

[Rollo]

Steve,

I found it painful to sit through. I seriously wouldn't know where to start picking this apart. OK, it was a nice video production with a lot of pleasant voices and soothing music.

There was a lot of criticism of the usual suspects: Standardized testing, the "factory" classroom, creativity v learning, old methods v new technology, and so on. One thing they did was throw so many sound bites at you one after the other that I would have to go back and pick them apart one by one to really demonstrate why they are full of it. The video of course wasn't meant to start someone critically thinking about the subject. It was a nicely done piece of propaganda.

For one thing, these educational reformers ignore the fact that they have had their way for decades: As long as I have been alive, at least. I am 44 and went to public schools. The traditional method of education hardly ever showed up in my classrooms. Things have only gotten worse and worse.

The whole question of technology is one that so much BS is built around. You don't need to learn how to use the new technologies in school. The kids already know and if they don't, it isn't too hard to figure. You don't need to teach computer end-user skills in school. You need to teach basic reading, writing, and math skills so that they kids have something to apply to the technology. Otherwise, you have a bunch of empty headed end-users.

As an example, I know at least three people who are high up in the tech world. None of them had a backround in tech. One was a math major who never used a computer in school, one a biology major and one was actually an English major. The had one thing in common: They were all SMART! They had brains and easily learned how to manipulate the machines to apply their ideas once out of school.

You don't teach creativity and you don't teach intelligence for that matter.

There was an article I read recently talking about the very bad effects technology was having on our reading and thinking skills. People are not able to read long, involved written works because their brains are being literally rewired from computer use. People who read online tend to skim articles or read superficially and these habits carry over.

The people on that video have carefully designed phrases to make it sound important that we embrace this new technology in the classroom. I'd say it is important to reject it in most cases. Let the kids learn to research and write by hand. Information gathered or recorded in this way sinks in on a much deeper level than when done with the aid of technology.

The whole issue of actually teaching something in school is a big one. These people would rather train robots and monkeys than educate children. Of course they make it seem just the opposite, as if they are the big humanitarians saving kids from traditional education. There is a whole political agenda behind this, carefully concealed in that video.

Anyway, I would have to go back and watch it again to rip these people further.

[Steve Kaufmann]

Rollo,

Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I still have not sat through the videos but intend to do so soon.

BTW are you the same Rollo that is a learner at LingQ?

Steve

[red ray]

Dear Steve,

Having seen the videos, I must to a large degree agree with the cynicism with which Rollo has for the digital proposals. I believe strongly that the education sector, speaking from a UK perspective, needs to be reformed and that students needs to be engaged and for material to be relevant.

However, there is a concern in the UK that not enough students are leaving school with high enough standards of basic English and numerate skills. I think that to introduce this new 'digital age' in the classrooms, allowing for cellphone interaction for research purposes for example, will only serve one purpose and that is to provide a further distraction, which will only hinder their progress.

I am from a Chinese background and have given thought to the reason as to why numerate skills in so many East Asian nations are so high. Without wanting to generalise, I do think that the high degree with which arithmetic skills are valued by schools and the compulsory time and effort needed to pass exams does provide students with valuable skills for life. Compare this to the UK's attitude that we are not all born with a 'mathematical' mind and that if we are not programmed as such, then why put the effort in. I use this as an example that a strong work ethic and discipline instilled in schools is important, and that the visions I have for the proposals in the video will make a teacher's job even more difficult and the classroom a chaotic environment.

I empathise strongly with teachers, especially in the UK. I see the teacher's role as well as being a teacher, is to inspire and engage ideas but I do not think the proposals suggested here will in any way make their job any easier.

I am an advocate of new methods and am inspired by your journey into multilingualism, but is there any substitute for good reading, writing, and arithmetic skills from a young age at school? Are these not the foundations with which all other skills are based on?

Eager to hear your thoughts :)

[Rollo]

"BTW are you the same Rollo that is a learner at LingQ?"

Yes, that's me.

[Steve Kaufmann]

Rollo and red ray,

Thanks for the thoughtful comments and I largely agree.

Now that I have had a chance to see these videos I have a better picture. The first one is just a collection of buzz words and empty clatter about creativity, genius, and other desirables, that I do not see emanating from the Twitter world. Learning requires focus and time on task.

The second video is also full of cliches but I do agree that schools should make better use of content available on the internet, and should share resources more. The amount of effort that goes into "creating" redundant text books and classroom materials is just mind-boggling. There should be some common repository of these, like Wikis, for different courses in different languages.

In any case, more freedom for the learner to pursue subjects of interest, and to find excellent teacher and helpers wherever they may be, and not necessarily be limited to his or her own classroom would be a good thing.

In summary, these videos are promotional hype. I would have preferred more practical examples of things that can be done now. I believe LingQ is one such example. But you still have to read and write. I agree Rollo about writing by hand. What do you think of the move to get rid of cursive hand writing?

[Rollo]

"What do you think of the move to get rid of cursive hand writing?"

I am not sure what is happening along those lines. I have heard some schools aren't teaching it but what are they replacing it with? I am able to print as fast as I can write cursive and it comes out much clearer. I also use Italic handwriting which I can write very fast and clear.

If they are replacing cursive handwriting with time behind a keyboard, then I am against it completely.

[only_G]

When we read a book or make a print from a wordprocessor or read webpages on the internet, we deal with non-cursive characters. As long as cursive writing be still taught, individuals will use their personal preference when actually writing with pen or pencil; but conventional noncursive writing is fundamental and essential.

I heard one personal report about a child not able to understand what a teacher was writing in a display board because the child did not yet understand cursive writing and had so far adapted to print writing.

Determining what to support and how much to do so is difficult; but conventional printed writing will never decrease in value. I myself never use cursive when using pen and pencil unless I am using a character for a numeric variable.

[only_G]

...One comment about what I wrote above...
Computers also offer many choices for fonts, including "script" and cursive forms, but most of the time we use simpler types of fonts.

[Mr Teacher]

I think that both of the clips are very interesting. As a teacher in England, I am beginning to use technology in the classroom on a more regular basis- 'phones, i-pods, interactive white boards and of course power points etc. In my opinion, it is imperative that teachers make full and proper use of every piece of technology that is available to us. There has been a massive shift in recent years in terms of how kids should - and can - be taught at school and those of us who choose to ignore this will lose the attention of the students in our classes.

[Steve Kaufmann]

Mr. Teacher,

I agree that the Internet can bring a whole world of content and resources into the classroom. I just found that these videos were heavy to jargon and slogans and light on specifics. I think that LingQ is an excellent language learning tool for the classroom.

The classroom teacher can impose the discipline that is often lacking with the independent learner.LingQ brings language resources and a world wide community into the classroom. Have you tried LingQ in the classroom?