Mini - Manifesto for Classrooms 2.0

It is no secret that I am a huge fan of Gaping Void. While focused on marketing, this blog manages to put words to a lot of what I believe is true about the globalised society that we exist in. Lately Hugh has been calling for mini - manifestos. 500 words or less. What you can say in a 50 000 word book you need to be able to say in 500. People from across the globe have responded with manifestos of marketing, of living as an ex - pat, of making a living as a musician.

I caught up with this idea last Friday morning on an early morning blog run and it stuck with me all day. I want my classroom to change, to evolve into something new. But I often struggle with the language of what that other thing is. What do I actually believe about education? I fought with my manifesto and now share it here.

Got one? Need one? Write it and I'll post it.

Classroom 2.0 Mini – Manifesto

Teaching and Learning are about Forming Networks
To be a  teacher means to be a learner as well. One of the key roles of teachers is to be a connector, a networker, helping students connect with content, with information, and with other learners who have new perspectives no matter where they are located on the globe. Understanding the dynamics of networks as living organisms is vital for both teachers and learners.

New Tools Give us New Channels
 No two learners are alike. We all have channels we prefer. Essays, blogging, podcasting, wikis, email, instant messenger conversations, and videos are all legitimate and equal channels for communication. They open up learning in time and space. They give learners the opportunity to have an audience and become a community. Being literate in today’s society requires us to interact with others around the globe in ways that are meaningful, authentic, culturally aware, and globally appropriate.

Ideas are Viral
Ideas spread from learner to learner. The more channels that learners are empowered to use, the more opportunities we have for change and for seeing information from different perspectives. Ideas need to be evaluated, remixed, rethought, and reconsidered. Ideas should need the opportunity to grow and spread, levelling power structures and enabling conversations.

Pursuing Your Own Goals
There are few thing more empowering then working on something you are authentically interested in. Hours of research, the relentless pursuit of information and excellence, and the absolute need to share what you know with others and learn from them are a few of the benefits. Yet in classrooms, we continue to pile information onto kids “just in case” they may, at some point in their life need to know things. Instead, we need to move towards “just in time” learning.

The Gatekeepers are Gone
Giving kids textbooks that are ten years out of date is not only wrong, but it is bordering on negligent. Students can access information online that is racist, hurtful, or perfectly false. They also have the opportunity to post information online and gain an international audience. As one of the grade seven girls in my class told me last year, “you don’t have to be a rich old guy from New York anymore.”

technorati tags:classroom, manifesto

Comments

[eraser]

Ideas are Viral!!! Good post!!!.
Sobre la "doble viralidad" de la blogosfera

[Barbara]

Well said... This post is worthy of discussion with students and teachers alike. I am not at work today but I just sent a copy to my VP for discussion at todays Faculty Meeting. I feel most strongly about your statements on pursuing your own goals...choice is essential to effective education. Even at a K-8 level choice can be an intregral part of the curriculum and a wise teacher will be able to guide those choices within the framework of essential skills and knowledge. My VP shared with me the insight of her daughter who is a high school teacher. She was talking to her Mom about the essence of teaching that overrides all standards and curriculum content. She said " When you signed on as a teacher you took on the task of assuring that those students in your classes would become thoughtful articulate communicators. The subject you teach is simply a vehicle in which you strive to accomplish this goal. The content will be forgotten but you are successful if you have taught them to be thoughtful effective communicators." And so the light bulb goes on and we begin to understand why what we are doing is critical....

[Paul]

Great stuff.

I wonder how many other educators & trainers could so clearly articulate their core values.

[Gwen]

I found your manifesto quite thought provoking. A friend of mine asked how your manifesto would be different for homeschooling parents. I'm still mulling that one over. Any thoughts?

[Clarence Fisher]

I hope this manifesto would not be different for homeschoolers (for the little that I know about homeschooling...) because I think it tries to focus on learning, not on schools and classrooms. A funny thing for a teacher to say, but schools and classrooms often have many agendas, and learning is just one of them.

[Doug Belshaw]

There's a good deal of ideas in there which could indeed be unpacked in a 50,000 word book! I like the way you've captured the way in which classrooms need to become more like networks of co-learners. Very good. I'm going to include this post in my Yearly Roundup of 2006 (forthcoming on my blog...)