These are quotes and thoughts from David’s opening keynote address that really struck me.
“I am here and I am now, but that doesn’t matter because you are there and you are then.”
Time and location are becoming less relevant in the world today. The opportunity to access information from anywhere in the world at a time that is convenient for you is amazing to me. Location in no longer an advantage or a disadvantage. I would not have an opportunity to travel and attend a conference like this. I would be at a disadvantage. But because of the way communication is changing, I now have the advantage. I CAN attend this conference. I CAN particiapte. I CAN learn. I CAN grow. I CAN share what I’ve learned with my fellow teachers. I CAN improve the way I do things in my classroom. I CAN do a better job of preparing the students in my classroom for their not-so-distant lives in college, military service, careers, and families. I CAN contribute to the world.
“Information does not travel in a straight row anymore.”
That’s good for me because I like to be able to step back and look at things again. My mind seems to be less linear all the time–moving from idea to idea, finding different connections, (Alzheimer’s? Adult ADD? Or is my mind possibly advancing into Brain 2.0?)
“We can have some control over how information works.”
I like that–I’m a bit of a control freak. Sometimes is seems that I have control over less and less. The idea that I can make information work in a particular way, that I can customize things for myself or for my classes, excites me. I want to learn more about how to do these things.
Railroad analogy–traditional education and conferences are like the railroad–all going in the same direction at the same time. The rail represents the common knowledge base that we must all have. It is the standards. David explained, “This is important for us to live together as part of a culture.” I agree. Then David explains the importance and the value of the side trips–those diversions where we leave the rail behind and strike out on a different course. We may be following a charted path or blazing our own trail. It is important to have the knowledge base, the skills, and the confidence to break away from the rail and find our own way.
David says that we need to teach kids to teach themselves, how to make themselves experts. YES! How else can they be truly independent? How else can they be truly successful? Do I want my children to be stuck with just the knowledge they happen to pick up in school? Think about school for a minute. If your school is anything like our high school (and it’s a very good high school, BTW) most of the kids are focused on lots of things that aren’t in the curriculum. They’re minds are so busy with thoughts of their friends, their boy/girlfriends, sports, jobs, etc., and academics isn’t at the top of their list. If they are limited to that knowledge pool when the leave and they don’t know HOW to teach themselves, how to be life-long learners, they’re doomed to a much-diminished life ahead.
David mentions 4 types of people who will prosper, according to Friedman’s book. (I’m listening to that book on my iPod, but haven’t gotten to this part yet.)
*Special (like Michael Jordan–these people will make it no matter what)
*Specialized
*Adaptable
*Anchored (like your barber or chef–they have to be there to do the job)
It’s the Specialized and Adaptable people who can learn, un-learn, re-learn, and change who will thrive. Do my children have those skills? What can I do, what can their teachers do, to help them become the type of people who are self-teaching?
“The balance between geography and talent is now shifting toward talent.”
How awesome is that? The only word I can think of is OPPORTUNITY. The idea that certain people are advantated based solely on where they live is going away. Now people in all areas of the country, all areas of the WORLD will have OPPORTUNITY based on what they as individuals have to offer to the world. Location (and in some situations–TIME) are no longer determining factors for an individual’s success.
“Learning is more than sitting and learning. It means being engaged in conversation, sharing, observing, reflecting, discussing.”
The mind is not a passive thing. We’ve known for a LONG time that the more a person is involved with the information, the better they will understand and remember it. Passive learning is about the WORST method (IMHO). I think that the old style of classrooms (which most classrooms still reflect) is the one-directional, teacher-in-front, students in desks lined up, teacher speaks, students listen format. It may have worked many years ago, but I don’t really want to be teaching my kids to be successful factory workers for the 1940’s. Learning is hard work–anything worth having is worth working for, right? Doesn’t matter if that’s a new car or new knowledge.
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