Curiosity

bignoseduglyguy

I am by no means a master of technology. In fact I would say I am just starting out on my journey to gain a solid understanding of how technology can transform learning. That being said, I would place myself as one of the 2 or 3 "techie" teachers in my school. I have no background in technology. I have never taken a class about computers or gone to too much professional development on the topic. So how did I go from just being interested in "technology" in the classroom to being the person at my school in charge of it? Curiosity.

Wikipedia defines curiosity as "a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning...". This idea is the key to developing a strong understanding of the possibility of technology. A fundamental underlying principle of technology is it's ability to allow a learner to guide themselves. To allow them to discover new ideas and applications. To give them the opportunity to find a niche they love and learn everything there is to know about it. 

My experience has shown me that there are two types of people in this world (with regard to technology). People that just want to be told how to do something vs. people who wish to explore and discover on their own. This later group are the people that drive innovation, take themselves to new levels of understanding and transform organizations. Teachers that only wish to be told which applications to use will only develop a basic technological literacy. They will continue to carry on with their same "tried and true" methods of teaching and only use technology when they are told to. It is the teachers that are curious about the possibilities of technology that will go seek out new tools and ideas. They will be the ones that wonder "How can I use this tool to transform my students' learning?" They are the ones that spend nights simply searching for new ideas, talking to their PLN and scrolling through Twitter. Why? To feed their curiosity.

So the next step for me is to figure out how to spread this curiosity to others. Anyone have any ideas?

Today

34 - 20 = 14 

vs.

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Two students, both in 7th grade, were working on individual math skills on Khanacademy.org. One student was working on solving systems of algebraic equations while the other student was working on 2 digit subtraction. Keep in mind that they are roughly the same age. This is a huge gap in terms of math ability, by a factor of many grade levels. But what brings this gap even further apart is that the student who was solving the systems was using codeacademy.org to solve the problems for him. His understanding of algebraic thinking, as well as his interest in coding, allowed him to automate this task. Meanwhile, the other student was using paper and pencil to solve 3rd grade math problems.

Lets throw two more variables into the equation: Both of these students are multi-lingual (Spanish natives, English and Hebrew) and resources (read "teachers") at the school are lacking, due to its relative small size.

So my questions are these?

How do we best educate these two children, while keeping them socially connected and utilizing age appropriate resources?

What resources (human, technological, old-school) would a school need to ensure each student is able to reach their potential?

What skills are these students exhibiting?

What needs are they exhibiting?

How does a school and/or teacher address the needs of both the students utilizing the multitude of  online and technological resources we have available today?

How does a teacher make sense of all these resources and needs?

The point of this blog is to reflect on all of these questions. I hope that you enjoy reading and invite you to contribute your own thoughts and input.

Bill