The Magic 8 Ball says... you have sufficiently learned due to your completion of 8

In my book I read for class this semester I learned many things, one of them coming from the following question. "Is it possible that compelling people to do something guarantees that they will do it poorly, with a bad will, or indifferently?" (pg. 84 John Gatto, Dumbing Us Down).

I think it is more than possible, in fact it is likely that compelling people (students) to do something (blogs) guarantees that in most cases they will be done, to borrow from Gatto, "poorly, with a bad will, or indifferently" (84).

The point of blogging? People who blog get a kick out of it, they enjoy the conversations with people and get riled up about the causes! Blogging becomes interesting when the writer is passionate about the topic. The typical blogger blogs because they are fired up!

Blogging for the purpose of blogging almost defeats the purpose. Without passion and interest, a blog is nothing but the indifferent ramblings, and honestly, who wants to read that?

This is not to say that blogging has no place, I just think that having 8 or 10 or 2 blogs should be insignificant. The value is lost when it becomes how many blogs there are as opposed to the content. Are not 2 insightful blogs equal to 8 blogs written with indifference?

To close, this blog # 8, I want to question how education aims to educate students through compelling them to do things. Are we giving up valuable learning to have 4 papers and 8 blogs on the record? If intrinsic motivation and life-long learning are our goals, we are not accomplishing them through these means.

I leave this blog #8 with this question. Is it possible, if we stop compelling students to do something, it guarantees that when they are ready they will do activities greatly, with a good will, and great care and concern for their own learning?

Talking to each other

I think one of the biggest problems, and also one of the easiest to fix, is not talking to other people. In education especially, it seems that conversation is one of our biggest failings. Why?

Today, I had a conversation with my piano teacher. We talked about the studio's seminar time and how it was used. I voiced an opinion about really enjoying an activity we did one night, and that got the conversation rolling! Within 10 min. we had a whole new plan for seminar next semester. Now, is it perfect? I hardly think so, but it's a starting point! Why did it take so long to get going?

I can't help but think how our seminar would be different if I would have started this conversation by mentioning my opinion sooner. Why don't we mention our opinions?

We have these things called evaluations that are basically obsolete because... no one reads them! If we are really in the business of improving and learning, talking to each other is one of the most important aspects of this learning process!!

It was amazing to me how far we advanced in a simple 10 min. conversation. I felt like we each understood each other a little more and we got excited to try some new ideas. Now, what bout my lesson? I just missed out on 10 min. of piano instruction right? Wrong. This was part of my instruction, talking with my professor in order to come to a deeper understanding of piano and how to work as a seminar group to improve. Why isn't all teaching like this? Why can't we realize when it's necessary to stop following schedules and bells and rules just because a piece of paper or a clock tells us to? If we would just stop following the path and for a few minutes step off and talk about it, I think we would all be a lot happier.

Juicy Juice

Today I had to bring a snack to class to represent my philosophy of education in some way. I chose to bring in a bottle of juice. I'm sure the popular slogan, 100% Juice for 100% kids is just running over and over in your brain right now! And well, I guess these guys have a point.


My idea is that juice represents the teacher. There are many different kinds of juice, apple, orange, grape, kiwi, etc. There are also many different types of teachers. So, the thing about juice, is that it usually is not drunk directly from the bottle: it has to be poured. But into what? This is where the students come in. The teachers can pour(teach) their knowledge to many different students, but the students are all different. They come in different cups(or shapes or sizes). These cups affects the way the juice(the knowledge) is looked at in the future, or absorbed by the students. For instance some cups may have straws, so the juice is only absorbed a small bit at a time, while others may be huge and take in a bunch of knowledge all at once.

In essence, what I'm trying to say is that my philosophy of education involves acknowledgment of many different students. It is important to realize that every student receives and uses information differently, even if it comes from the same source.

Like the slogan says, Juice is for 100% of kids, just maybe not in equal ways or amounts.

Skype: The future of education?

Towards the end of this semester in Paideia we have had a few classes that involve skype calls. I couldn't help but think, is this the future of education?

How can this technology change our schools? We now have access to teachers literally anywhere in the world. And, not only can we communicate with them, we can SEE them! For me these two skype conversations were some of the most interesting days I had in Paideia 2.

Most recently we skyped with Luther grads who are teaching abroad in places around the world. My group discussed music and philosophy of education with a teacher in Seoul, Korea. We learned about why she decided to go abroad and how her experience has been in a different country. What this opportunity gave me though, was an insight into the real world. I was sitting in my classroom at Luther college, but hearing from people who are 'out there'. She was in the real world, Teaching!

Upon some simple follow-up research, I learned it is possible to connect with other classrooms through websites using skype. ePALS is one such organization of classrooms. Visit ePALS here to find out more. However, it is always valuable to use this tool on a local basis as well to connect with other schools in your area.

The following is a list I found on how students can use skype in the classroom.
From: http://novemberlearning.com/resources/handouts/using-skype/

Using Skype With Students

• Have foreign language students participate in Skype conversations with students from other countries.
• Allow students who are working on a collaborative project participate in a conference call from various locations.
• Use Skype to exchange documents with project partners.
• Have students present their work to an authentic audience, for example, presentations to other classrooms around the world or professionals in their community.
• Let parents listen in on their child’s presentation.
• Try setting up interviews with an author whose book your class is reading. Send an invitation to the author inviting him to join Skype and talk to your class.
• Invite a guest speaker to talk to your class via Skype.

This possibility of using skype as a learning tool still needs to be explored, but I find the idea very intriguing and I think skype will be a learning tool in most classrooms of the future!

Put on the Brakes

I had a presentation last semester at Luther about motivation. There are different kinds of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. I think most of us can guess what those mean. Intrinsic, is internal motivation, extrinsic is external motivation. Duh?! TIME magazine recently published a story about paying students to succeed in classrooms. I think this idea is preposterous! One of the problems with our schools is in fact that students are unmotivated. I am not denying that fact. However, the way to fix this problem is not through monetary, extrinsic motivation.

Think about it. What information do you remember from school as a child? Was it the useless facts drilled into your head? Or was it the time on the playground when you discovered worms with your friends so you decided to dig some up and bring them to your teacher? I'm willing to bet it was the second option, or some similar situation. By starting education so vigorously so early in life, I believe we are causing students to lose the ambition to learn.

If we could only put on the brakes for a few more years and give students the opportunity to WANT to learn, I think we could be doing a huge favor for all future students. As my class heard in a homeschooling presentation, students can learn 'basic' information very quickly if it is presented at the right time. This allows them more time to explore what they want to learn about.

If as educators we want to promote life-long learning, then learning should be on the students terms. Intrinsic motivation should be the key. If a student doesn't want to learn. Don't force them to. Once they get bored of video games and television, they may just start to seek information on their own. Then is the time to act. We need to stop forcing education, stop paying children to act like we want them to, and foster that intrinsic motivation that is sadly lacking in our country.

If we can accomplish this, students will no longer be dreading school and looking forward to summer, but will use their time to learn more. Simply because they will be intrinsically motivated to learn on their own in ways that suit them.