Innovative Educator by Lisa Neilsen
Is boredom the real epidemic in our school?
Lisa attended a conference of about 1000 people. When asked what came to mind when thinking of high school, they answered in unison boredom.
She claims to have been bored herself thought her school years. She showed little interest and was labeled retarded. Luckily her parents knew different in the tests she proved to be the opposite. It turned out she was bored. The school system doesn't offer non passive students a stimulating enough environment.
Lisa gives the example of Aaron Iba who, as the school claimed, would have difficulty achieving academic progress. The school reached this conclusion when he was nine. Several years later he invented EtherPad which he later sold to google. Maybe his school was wrong and he was just bored. Luckily his parents continued on and supported him.
Lisa develops the notion of boredom in the schools and raises issue of ADD diagnosis and over medication or medication in general. She of course is against .
Her conclusion is that we need to rethink our children's learning environments. We should make our school more exploratory, exciting and challenging. Be more in tuned to our students needs and less busy labelling them.
I strongly agree.
Think like a teacher by Candace Hackett Shively
Candace talks about the media and humor furthering and stimulating students to learn. She raises the idea of using humor to grab their attention.
Once educators and parents worried about the effects of TV and now they worry about the Internet. The Internet has brought multitasking to a whole new level. She thinks that teachers have became multitaskers themselves therefore resulting in poorly attentive adults. Will these adults be able to teach students, maintain their attention and concentration, if they themselves are jumping from one thing to another?
Purely Paperless
Kate has gone on Sabbatical therefor I have decided to mention a blog cited on Janice Mizrahi's blog; Homeroom.
This blog cautions against the trappings of the Internet. It deals with the exposure and permanency of the information posted. I think it is important to remind students that the exposure of the Internet is vast and almost uncontrollable. Although exciting it is also scary and dangerous.
