The parents have the normal wishes for their child: to eventually graduate at the top of their class and go to the best college. Their goals for their daughter may be rooted in good intentions, they do not reflect a goal of lifelong learning for her and while I have the power to increase her exposure to thinking about her thinking, I don't have the power to help their parents learn about her learning.
Luckily, I was scheduled to tutor her on a day she had little homework. By the third level, my student was struggling to find problems in code to get the main character to perform the task she wanted him to execute. However, she was quick to understand how to think about thinking. The application greatly increased my understanding of how this student likes to learn. She likes to learn with goals in mind, just like I learn. I plan to work closely with her to see what problems she has and what supplemental teaching I must do for her. Surprisingly, she has not needed me for much of the learning. She takes the lead in the mini lessons and usually beats me to finding the solutions to the given problems. This means I can utilize this type of goal-oriented learning technology to support learning at the individual level by creating internalized incentives to progress through the materials.
Unlike thinking about thinking, learning about learning is not taught through fun iPad applications. It's also not something parents would like to be lectured about, especially when it comes to their kids. The discussions we have regarding their daughter usually bring up the idea of non-competitive education, but the idea of opportunity tied to the best education is too engraved in their hearts for her. While there may be truth to the opportunities that open for her with the better college she goes to, we have to keep in mind her limitations and desires for her life. The idea that education is a competition and there are winners just does not make sense and I completely agree with Negroponte's assertion. Competition should not have the importance parents and schools give it in education. This relates back to how I plan to teach. I plan to maintain the competitive levels in the classroom that some students need to succeed, though allowing the students that don't enjoy this type of educational competition to still thrive and be successful.
Negroponte, N. "Nicholas Negroponte - Being Educated." Online video clip. YouTube. April 4, 2015. Web. Accessed on October 5, 2016.
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Teaching Teachers TechnologyContentThere is a disparity between what students need to know technologically and what teachers can provide. The goal of this blog is to bridge that gap by providing short tutorials on useful technology for teachers! AuthorDonald Buckley Archives
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