Monday, February 9, 2009

Learning!

Remember the Seinfeld episode when George convinces Jerry they should write a show about nothing? It made sense but failed to pinpoint or explain what it was about. Through alot of reading and discussions I am taking a similar approach about learning. Students learn from EVERYTHING! We can't possibly measure everything that students learn or how exactly they learn. I learned from my parents, brother, sisters, aunts, uncles, teachers, friends, cousins, grandparents, opposition, people I didn't know, etc. We learn when reading, watching, daydreaming, doing, etc.

My point is that I believe our role as educators is to continue to learn ourselves and be open to many opportunities for students to learn. We need to look at ways we most enjoy to learn. We need to take a look at EVERYTHING and sift through what we want to use and what is most useful to us. In terms of technology, not all advances are wonderful for us to use. For example, while driving home on the weekend I listened to a program regarding Google Latitude. You can locate people through their cell phones and know exactly where they are. At first I thought Cool, this would lead to social interaction in person, but now I am skeptical about the misuse of this program. Even though I may not use this technology, I learned something new. We are constantly learning.

2 comments:

darcyhelmink said...

Just thought that I'd let you know that Life long learning is one of the 21st century skills that I have seen in the literature quite a bit. tim talked a little bit about life long learing skills at the start of his blog and I just thought of him too when i read your blog. I have to say that I also agree how many influences there are on learning. I just never thought about them before these classes. Dewey in the 1900's saw the importance of societal influences on learning. Some things change and others may don't?? darcy

darcyhelmink said...

Duane, I agree and see that connection between technology opening up possiblities and the need for us to be able to evaluate the information that we get through technology. there's always bumps in the road, but at least it's a start?? Sometimes I just feel that my own starts are just SO ****ing small, but I guess that's life. darcy