Friday, January 21, 2011
The past week of productivity
Something that really stuck with me this week was a video we watched of Sir Ken Robinson. I think a lot of what he said about education is totally true. He basically says that school is great for a portion of the population that will be professors as adults. For the rest of us, it limits our true potential. He focuses on teaching not only the academic things we normally think of (science, math, etc) but also teaching things such as art and dance with just as much rigor. He feels that schooling is set up to kill creativity and ends up making students scared of failure. I think a lot of that is true, but hard to change. It think it would be very hard to change the system as it is. Too many people feel school is supposed to be mainly for learning the core subjects. If you want to watch the video I am talking about, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY&feature=player_embedded . Another thing that I learned about this week was using tools that evaluate software. I have never really thought about evaluating software that I many use in the classroom, but now I have the know how to do so if I am in the position to get new software for my class. It's nice to know there are products out there that can help you focus on the benefits and down sides of software you may use in your class.
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Bill---
ReplyDeleteI liked the video a lot. I also liked your point about how the ideas were sound, but it didn't seem like any solutions were reached. This is not meant to indicate I think Sir Ken did a bad job, but some ideas for how to change would have been nice. How do you think we as an educational society could put Sir Ken's ideology in place?
I too really liked his video. I think it's a video that every educator, administrator, school board member, and community member should see. I thought he made a lot of valid points. One thing I really liked was that he compared education around the world, not just here in the U.S. This is something I too feel really strong about, but just like others in our field it falls on deaf ears. I often think of special needs students. So many special needs students feel unsuccessful in core classes, but do so well in the arts. The arts are being driven out of our education system due to academic scores and funding. Perhaps we would see our scores increase if we promoted the arts in our educational settings. Even in business - creativity is highly valued. Business leaders want people that think outside of the box - which equates to new, fresh, and creative ideas. The question is how do we get this message across to the very people who dictate, via laws and regulations, our educational system?
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed this video, it was very eye-onening. I would like to think I teach creativity on a regular basis, but there is always more to work on. Ken Robinson presented his take on creativity in a very real manner that made me think while giving me oodles of information. I wish he would have given me more ideas on how to incorporate creativity into my classroom. Teaching science doesn't always lend itself to creativity, so how would I teach my students to be creative, in science, on a more regular basis?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed that video as well, Bill. I had seen it before, but I'm glad I saw it again. It sure is a powerful statement about what the education system is doing, (or not doing) to our children, not just in the U.S., but at least in the U.K. as well. Until I saw that video it never occurred to me that the way we are teaching students actually hinders creativity to that extent. It will certainly be interesting to see the trends in the future, and to be a part in trying to alleviate that problem.
ReplyDeleteThat video really stuck with me the first, second, third, and now fourth time I've watched it for a class. I agree that for most schools it is virtually impossible to change the system as it is set up today. So many people, especially the people that decide how much money schools get, think that schools needs to be all about doing better than other countries at science and math. School shouldn't be about that; it should be about teaching our children to be creative thinkers. But, to that end, I have heard a story, I can't remember from where, but it was about some Japanese education people that observed our educational system for some time. They noted that in Japan, they have great science and math scores, but they were befuddled as to how to get their children to think and question things the way American children do. I think one way to change the system is to change it in the big public school systems where they have the resources to be able to open different schools with different objectives for different students.
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