Tony Wagner’s New Book

The title: The Global Achievement Gap doesn’t necessarily catch my attention as a good read, but I am finding it to be an enlightening vision of what high school could be- schools where students are taught to think and be curious. He has observed that the longer our children are in school, the less curious they become. I would contend that they also tend to be less engaged.

One quote from the book from the CEO of Siemens Hearing Instruments:

“If you want young people to be scientists, it’s not how much they can retain but how much they can explore. It’s how you ask the next question. I can look up anything, but I can’t take it to the next level without pushing and exploring. And that’s what I want young people to learn to do. I want them to never stop asking questions.”

The thesis of his book is focused around teaching Seven Survival Skills:

Critical thinking and problem-solving
Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
Agility and adaptability
Initiative and entrepreneurialism
Effective oral and written communication
Accessing and analyzing information
Curiosity and imagination

I’ll conclude with one more quote; “but even in the best districts the focus is always on test scores, not student learning. They don’t seem to understand that the two aren’t necessarily the same thing.” Hmmm…..

Few more snippets from Marc Prensky.

Technology should be used to support the students learning on their own. Technology makes it possible to embrace constructivist learning which assumes that children are naturally motivated to learn, read, and write. The role of education is to provide them with the tools and guidance to acquire skills in a developmentally appropriate way in a student driven approach.

Do we help each student find their passion? We can’t just do the same stuff better; we must do different stuff.

How can we get students to pass the tests doing something that they (or we) all enjoy?

Our kids’ education is splitting into “school” and “after school” outside of school students have found a better way to learn. We must engage with students about their learning.

The anology of nouns and verbs. The nouns (tools for education) change, but the verbs (thinking processes) are more constant.

“Video is the new text.” Have you learned from youtube or teachertube yet?

“Phones are the new textbook.” Evaluating students with their own tools.
Open phone tests.

1. Know the right thing to do. 2. Get it done- goal setting. 3. Do it with others. 4. Do it creatively. 5. Constantly seek to do it better.

The world is “birthing” a new person who requires digital tools. Remember it is only technology if it was invented after you were born. Do you still see your TV as technology?

Power Teaching

I listened to Marc Prensky speak twice yesterday about teaching and learning in the 21st Century. One thing that he briefly alluded to was “Power Teaching”. You can find it on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTwjFHorQhk

Suffice to say that it is an interesting piece on student engagement. The piece emphasizes the ability to compare and contrast and the high level of learning that comes from developing the skill.

Marzano (Classroom Instruction that Works from McRel) advocated Comparison/Contrast skill development as one of the classroom instruction strategies with the highest impact on student learning. What do you think?