Pushing Educators and Students to be Better Humans

Connectivism - I really liked the idea that all learning is connected. The idea of "The World's Largest Lesson" has really stuck with me and I think that it is a good way to connect learning. There are so many different applications and ways to reach different types of standards with the ideas presented. With connectivism we have teach our students how to build webs and maps of ideas and help guide them into understanding how everything fits together in the greater context of the world. If we can make all learning applicable to their lives and the world we are teaching them to be "we-centered" instead of "me-centered" and allowing their focus to change from what is school doing for me into how can school empower me to be a better person and what can I do for the world.



ISTE for Educators - I love the standards for educators. I feel like they really push what teachers need to be and ask teachers to do so much more than stand at the front of the class and lecture. They ask educators to be creative, to collaborate with others, to continue in their learning, to raise up good citizens, to consider other perspectives. It is a little daunting to think of all the positive attributes I'll need to have to be a successful teacher but I like a challenge. I'm a bit concerned about asking my students to be global collaborators when I am afraid to put my voice out there. I don't want to ask my students something I'm not willing to do myself, so I'll push myself to put my voice out there as I ask them to put theirs out there as well and it will be a learning experience for all of us.



ISTE for Students - One of the things we talked about today was how the student goals sound extremely lofty. The cool thing is though, students are already wanting to do these. I think of those self-made young Youtubers who are meeting so many of these standards already. It feels as though a lot of educators are along the thinking of "this is what I have to teach my students" instead of thinking, "what do my students already know and how can I fill in the gaps and allow them to explore their own thinking and learning so they can rely on their own understanding." Students are already meeting many of these goals. Kids want to be famous Youtubers. Why not leverage that and teach them how to be creative communicators by allowing them access to recording and editing of videos they make that supports common core and learning targets. We should be using their desire to be global collaborators to support our standards and their learning.