Today, Heide and I made the trek to Cranberry and are currently at the Regional Learning Alliance, perusing the tables and talks at the Three Rivers Educational Technology Conference, hearing from Hear Me partners like Dr. Linda Hippert of the AIU and Greg Behr of Grable. We also heard from Hunter, a high school student, making the case for integrating greater uses of technology in classrooms. Thinking about how classrooms still use textbooks from 25 years ago, the iPad seems like an oasis, yet kids use technology in their lives, all the time.
Right now, Heide and I are sitting on the floor in a wonderfully interactive “classroom” where teachers are responding to Discovery Education's soundscape of the jungle - two teachers are acting our a skit they created based on this soundscape. A teacher name Brady is laying on the floor, acting like a sleeping farmer, while a woman named Sally narrating the story of the animals asking the farmer to stop cutting down the tree, stop destroying the rainforest. Brady “wakes up” and realizes he can stop destroying the environment. Next, I am laughing at video parody by a kid named Joe, a high school kid who is mocking his textbook because he can’t double click the picture of Frederick Douglass to enlarge the image. There’s also a blues song about homophones to reach auditory learners - I’m a homophone baby/there’s another word or two that has my sound/I have my own meaning and spelling/but my sound is passed around. Or what about the kids from Bucks County who made a hip hop video about GDP and macroeconomics. Hello, School House Rock?
I am sure Hunter can relate – can us teachers?
Creativity and innovation are such wonderfully rich contexts for learning, but how can we promote contextual learning in educational environments that promote teach-to-the-test?What does a standard for collaboration and creativity really look like, and according to whom? Later today at the CREATE Lab, we’ll meet up with Devontay and Michael, our high school student interns who dismantle computers and work cameras for major public events, among other things – can’t wait to talk with them about all of this.
- Jen