Change “Music” to “Schools” and…
Posted by TomMarch
It’s no secret that the music industry has played hardball with users of filesharing networks. Leaders in the field worked hard to ignore the fact that those who swapped files via BitTorrent were also the greatest purchasers of music. Now it seems that Big Music may be crumbing just like the Berlin Wall. It seems Edgar Bronfman, head of Warner Music has signaled a change of heart: “We used to fool ourselves,’ he said. “We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won.”
Although I work with many creative and innovative teachers, capital E Education doesn’t seem to get that the last couple years has witnessed a transformation: schools are now islands of resource impoverishment whereas homes, Starbucks and McDonald’s - with their broadband WiFi access - can be a better place for the motivated learner to get on with what they love. A great quotation from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi points toward a better response for Education than fighting to maintain a crumbling status quo:
The claim is that if educators invested a fraction of the energy on stimulating the students' enjoyment of learning that they now spend in trying to transmit information we could achieve much better results. Literacy, numeracy, or indeed any other subject matter will be mastered more readily and more thoroughly when the student becomes able to derive intrinsic rewards from learning. At present, however, lamentably few students would recognize the idea that learning can be enjoyable.Thus, the abiding truth: although not everyone loves school, the joy of learning is universal. Now is a good time to lead with this strength.
Labels: aNew3Rs, FlatClassroom, TomMarch
6 Comments:
Great timing with this post, Tom. Parallels the current dialogue on Will Richardson's blog about making changes from within the system or by working outside the system.
http://weblogg-ed.com/2007/some-new-years-dreaming/
So the question is, how do we get studnets to enjoy learning the subjects that we must teach them?
Great post Tom, and I love the "Education for Dummies" image! Classic.
I too believe that engagement is the key to learning - and it maps well to Bernie Dodge's equation for powerful learning.
To respond to Jethro above...
Motivating kids is actually not rocket-science. Great teachers have been doing it for thousands of years - you just need to find ways to connect learning to a meaningful context. If technology helps - great - but it's not needed. Kids (and adults too!) are naturally curious about all sorts of things. By giving them more choice about what and how they learn, kids will jump into learning with enthusiasm. Of course, that doesn't mean you have to ignore the curriculum. You just need to find the right "hook" for every required topic.
Also, we need to give students plenty of opportunities to "actively produce knowledge". No one loves to do worksheets or end-of-chapter questions - it's boring. As much as possible, get kids creating products. This is not only more motivating, but it also cements their knowledge.
With today's emphasis on standards and high-stakes testing, a lot of teachers feel like there is no time for these things, but I know teachers all over the country who are still doing project-based, problem-based, inquiry learning - they just map it to the standards and find creative ways to assess the same skills.
Lastly - I'd remind everyone that the research continues to show that kids are more likely to be engaged (and more likely to succeed) when their teacher is engaged as well. If you love what you teach and continue to learn along with your students, your students will catch your enthusiasm every time.
Hi All,
Thanks for the comments and links. Part of our challenge is to see beyond the confines of the current system and one thing Jethro said stuck a chord for me: "subjects that we must teach them". If you combine a few things like the "Forgetting Curve" (80% new info lost in 2 weeks) and the explosion in what's out there to "know," plus the uncertainty of what's needed to prepare students for a change-filled future, I like trusting student interest (motivated by good teaching like Chris suggests included) against a backdrop of some minimal core literacies and skills.
Don't we value people for their expertise, not the basic stuff everyone knows? I think the time is right to start leading with "trust," not fear or protecting against what a disaffected minority might do. Who knows, connect the learning to personal meaning and maybe they won't be disaffected?
Cheers,
Tom --
Tom, since reading your article, I've suddenly looking at music stories and education with a whole new perspective -
http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/12/top-music-stori.html
We have a lot to learn.
A wise person once said "Education is not filling a pail, it is the lighting of a fire."
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