Blog Post 10

An Open Letter to Educators


I am beginning to think that this is the most thought-provoking post I have read in this class. The video by Dan Brown is in essence a summary of what we have been learning this far in EDM310. Both the video and the post begs the question, Why are we in a University? Are we here to sit in
a classroom to learn facts alone and never really engage in what we are learning, only to regurgitate those facts on a test to receive our A? Will our diploma be based on how well we memorized facts (that will probably be forgotten by graduation) rather than skills that are applicable to everyday life and will equip us for the future. One thing that really stuck out to me in the video was when Dan Brown says that his schooling was getting in the way of his education. That is probably the first time that I have ever heard that from anyone. I can definitely see his point, very clearly. Institutionalized learning can limit and hinder a students chance to learn  because it's become almost of a ritualistic idea rather than one that serves a greater purpose. I believe that the most beneficial way of learning to get the best education is to become a networked student like we learned about earlier. This theory, when applied, leaves a student completely uninhibited to learn.

Adaptation. What a fantastic thing to point out! It's imperative that education adapts to the world around it or else it will eliminate it's old ways of working. This process of elimination is not a new one, but as in fact been around since the dawn of time. I do agree that education should adapt to the changes in the world around them. It's abnormal for everything to function one way in the world when the very place that should expand your intellect functions on a lower level than it's surroundings. There's something wrong with that picture and for some people like Dan Brown settling will not work.

Problem. The only problem that I run in to with all of this is what about motivated learners. Incorporating technology to a greater degree (especially in elementary and high schools) will require more responsibility on the students part as we learned about in the PLN video. We see that Dan Brown is very self motivated and has a great desire to learn; therefore, he has enough responsibility to explore freedom of learning outside of the boundaries set up by an institutionalized university. Then on the other hand you have students who aren't responsible and motivated enough to learn outside the bounds. They are not motivated enough to explore outside of the regulations set up by a professor, which could also hurt their education. So in this case would institutionalized learning be accepted? Some people work better within regimented schedules and strict guidelines. It could possibly give them a sense of safety and stability and in college you gain a sense of freedom.  So I think that it really depends on the person, some work well with total freedom and learn anyway, some work best within strict boundaries.

Don't Let them Take the Pencil Home

It is so easy to sit at your desk and find all the problems in the world then talk about them, but it is much harder to find one problem and work at solving that. In this post we see a teacher who takes initiative to solve the problem. He began taking steps, talking to parents and creating projects to engage students to better test scores and use pencils effectively. This may not be the all time crisis in education, but this man made a difference because he took action which effected change.

Two Questions that Can Change Your Life

1. What is your sentence?
2. Was I better today than I was yesterday?

Clara Booth Luce coined the phrase "A great man is a sentence." In the video we watched we so several men who changed history. Their life and their accomplishments were summarized into one sentence. In the video we were encouraged to live life in such a way that when summed up we have such an astounding sentence. How can we do that? Drive and motivation is what the video said, and making sure that we aim to be better today than yesterday which comes from being motivated. 

So a sentence for myself would have to be:

I want to strive daily to devote myself to a cause bigger than myself, in which I will blaze a trail of faith into the unknown and deposit belief into those who will follow behind me in generations to come.