Mr. Mills Blog

Once in a while, I read a blog by Wil Richardson. Recently, he had a great post that got me thinking. The post was about his frustration with how the speedy evolution of the Internet has not led to much change in pedagogy for teachers. A stubbornness amongst teachers has led to this great informational tool being underutilized. We have the opportunity as educators to show our students how to use this tool, and we are not taking advantage of it. This is mostly happening because we as teachers are not taking the time to LEARN about this “new” technology and model for our students how to use responsibly. It is still seen as something extra to do and not an integrated part of the curriculum. Richardson goes on to say:

Many of our kids are already doing this without us. Many of them have much more of a clue of what it means to learn using these tools than we do. Imagine if we could teach them to leverage their connections even more powerfully, if we could show them how powerful they are in our own learning. That we are not just engaged teachers but engaged learners. That we’re not afraid of what’s ahead because we know how to learn.

I think that is just plain common sense, but in these days of high stakes testing, it is almost like we don’t have the time to show them. When will we have the time? When will we all learn how to use the Internet for more than the occasional email or buying something off Amazon? When will it get used? In some ways, it seems like teaching has gotten in the way of learning. Things are moving very fast these days, and our teachers are not keeping up with the times. Does teaching really have to die in order for learning to take place?