What is your philosophy of education? This was the question that the professor asked us in my second year of my teacher education undergraduate program. Philosophy of education? I had no idea. In fact it wasn’t until very recently that my philosophy was anything but an inchoate slush of ideas, inclinations, and questions. Though I know that my philosophy will grow and change, almost 20 years after that question was asked, I think I have an answer. Okay, I know. I’m a little on the slow side.

I have taught grades 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and remedial classes in high school. I have worked as a mentor, a cooperating teacher, a professional development coordinator, a reading specialist, and a librarian. I have loved students in tiny Eskimo villages on the Bering Sea Coast, in inner-city Las Vegas, and in rural Wisconsin. I have sat on every possible type of committee and attended more meetings than anyone should ever have to attend. I earned National Board Certification, published in journals, and presented at conferences. Most importantly each year I have loved my profession more deeply and each year has been seminal in my growth as an educator and as an educational philosopher.

Today my philosophy boils down to a list of five things I know to be true about teaching and learning. In my experience these are among the most important truths for successful educators. If I had to distill them into a few sentences it would read something like this:  Students will learn if they work, they will only learn if they work, and they want to work.  A teacher’s job is to lend students their expertise and allow them to get busy.

Without further delay, I am happy to share my list of the 5 things I finally understand about teaching and learning. For each I will give a brief overview and link to resources when possible. All of the resources are quick and easy-to-read. Teachers are busy. I respect this.

1. The brain can be exercised and grown! EVERY single student can grow, learn, and achieve at high levels.

All children want to learn and all crave challenge. This comes from the research of the brilliant psychologist Carol Dweck. Dweck teaches us that our brains are malleable and that humans can actually get smarter. She also reminds us that failure is a part of learning and should be celebrated as part of the process.

• Carol Dweck’s Mindset site
• Carol Dweck Video on Mindset (MUST watch!)
• In Praise of Failure
• You Can Grow Your Brain
• The Perils and Promise of Praise

2. Motivation is key, but the way we think of motivation must change.

Motivation comes from success. Motivation comes from feeling good about your work. Motivation comes from “seeing” growth with hard data. Motivation is not something we give to students is something we teach to students. Daniel Pink and John Hattie have done outstanding work in this area.

• Daniel Pink’s Site
• RSA Animate Video on Drive by Daniel Pink (MUST watch video!!!)
• Profession John Hattie’s Site
• Slide Share Presentation on Visible Learning

3. Classroom management is absolutely foundational to teaching and learning.

Excellent teachers know how to run a classroom, how to manage children, how to differentiate instructional experiences, and how to proactively ward off poor choices. Differentiated instruction is a big part of classroom management.

• Cooperative Discipline by Linda Albert, the best book ever about classroom management.
• Carol Tomlinson’s Site Tomlinson is a professional leader in differentiated instruction:

4. The answers are out there.

There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Years and years of research by our professional leaders have given us some solid answers about what works. We must let go of our egos and allow ourselves to be open to the possibility that someone else might have better answers. Teachers are trained in colleges that mostly subscribe to a problem-solving approach. The thing is, you’re not in college anymore, you’re in a profession and professions are defined by shared knowledge and resources. Thinking as a professional means using the body of knowledge that is out there. Of course, each of us has something to add to the body of knowledge but we don’t have to and shouldn’t treat all of education as a do-it-yourself endeavor.

• Common Core Standards
• What Works Clearinghouse
• Florida Center for Reading Research
• Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analysis Relating to Achievement by John Hattie
• Robert Marzano’s Site (Marzano has been synthesizing research about what works in education for over a decade.)

5. The best teachers are coaches not facilitators or bosses.

Okay, despite what I said in number 4, this comes mostly from my own head but also seems to be emerging and converging from a variety of sources as we move from the teacher as facilitator model. But, if you’ve ever watched a coach work with her/his team. You know I’m right. Coaching can be defined as the art and science of helping someone achieve their goals through explicit teaching, modeling, hand-on guided practice, and lots of independent practice. That just oozes good teaching.

• Effective Coaching Site: 
• Student as Worker, Teacher as Coach, Coalition of Essential Schools: 

That’s it. A full 20 years after I was asked about my philosophy of education I finally know the answer. Too bad the brilliant old professor who asked this of my cohort of novice educators isn’t around to hear it. His only possible response would have been, “Duh. What took you so long?”

Before I close this essay I’ve got to talk about Finland. Finland public education has gotten a lot of press recently for the amazing international test scores they’ve been posting. Last week the Finns shared what they consider the reasons for their great success. In a nutshell they cited the following as foundational: universal social services (health care, extended maternity/paternity leave, free quality education), allowing students to grow in developmentally appropriate ways (kids learn when they’re ready not when a grade or age says they should be ready), and treating teachers as professionals (paying them well, respecting them, and offering them generous planning time.)

These are not things America is yet prepared to consider, much less do. While the philosophy I’ve outlined above still holds true, I believe that no systemic change can happen for our public schools until we start taking lessons from Finland.

That may sound negative, but it’s not! Think about understanding number 1 and 5. Idea number 1: Americans can grow their brains!  We will come to realize that fair is fair and equal is equal and we must do right by our most precious American resource, our students. Idea number 5: The answers are out there all we have to do is implement them! Finland found some answers and they’re willing to share.

Now, the question is, what is your philosophy of education?

For more information about the Finnish school system, link to the articles below.

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/finland-schools-success-equality-collaboration_n_1219780.html
• http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Why-Are-Finlands-Schools-Successful.html

Rita Platt is a Nationally Board Certified teacher. Her experience includes teaching learners of all levels from kindergarten to graduate students. She currently is a Library Media Specialist for the St. Croix Falls SD in Wisconsin, teaches graduate courses for the Professional Development Institute, and consults with local school districts. 

Related posts:

1. Motivation and learning: practical teaching tips for block schedules, brain-based learning, multiple intelligences, improved student motivation, increased achievement.
2. Best practice: new standards for teaching and learning in America’s schools.
3. Inspiring active learning: a handbook for teachers. Harmin, M.

“Good is great’s worst enemy.”

This was a statement that really grabbed my attention at a Professional Learning Community, or PLC, conference that I recently attended.  There are many “good” schools, but to make them great, we can’t be afraid to take some risks and try new things.

Eric Twadell, the facilitator of my conference, started as a teacher, but has worked his way to superintendent of the Adlai Stevenson School District, the school that began the PLC movement.  The school started out really weak, with poor test scores, so they knew they had to try something new.  By working together, taking risks, and learning from their mistakes, the school created a PLC, and saw incredible improvement–but what’s most important, is that that incredible improvement has lasted for over a decade.

I’ve been teaching for three years at St. Croix Falls Middle School, but have recently had to relocate to Stanley-Boyd, where they feel that they’re a good school, but are ready to make the push to be great.  They’ve got a lot of big ideas, with the PLC being the most prominent. So, as a new teacher, I was recently able to attend a PLC conference facilitated by Eric Twaddle to learn about some of the expectations of my new school.

The conference lasted two days, and I learned many facets of PLCs. However, the “Biggest Big Idea” that was given was,

“The guiding principle of a PLC is that the purpose of the school is to ensure high levels of learning for all students.”

To do this, the school’s attention and energy needs to focus on student learning.  Not on what we’re teaching, but what the students are truly learning.  The question that needs to be asked when making decisions is, “What is the impact on learning?”  How are the students benefiting from the changes, or from what is happening in the classroom?  These are big questions, and things that should really be discussed and worked on as a group. Once you have that group established, there are many different strategies or techniques that can be used to help have a positive answer to those questions.

Stop Doing Lists

One idea introduced at the conference was the “Stop Doing List.”  While all schools spend time discussing goals at the beginning of the year, Eric Twadell explained that time spent on strategic planning or goal-setting is actually negatively correlated to student achievement.  In other words, wasting time talking about the same goals of making students learn more takes away from time that could be spent on more specific and beneficial ideas.

Because of this, Twadell spoke about the “stop doing list,” and how companies that create these lists are 90 times more likely to succeed.  Instead of thinking about the things we want to accomplish, it’s important to take time to think about the things that are currently happening that are taking away from our students’ education.  For example, students that miss a test day are usually sent out in the hall the next day to take the test.  However, when a student is removed from the class to take a test, that student is losing the learning time that the other students are receiving.  Another example was interruptions via loud speakers.  By interrupting a class to send a student to the office, all students are distracted.  It takes 10-year-olds 10 minutes to get back on-task when their learning is interrupted.  Placing these sorts of things on the “stop doing” list, helps teachers keep students in the classroom, and focused on learning.

Descriptive Review

Clearly, it’s important to do more than just “stop doing” things – we obviously need to start doing things in order to help our students!  One initiative that Stanley-Boyd is planning on during PLC time is Descriptive Review, which is basically a way of “fine-tuning” a lesson.

The purpose of this activity is not to critique the teacher, but to think about someone’s lesson, and develop ideas about how to make the lesson better.  This is a positive activity, not just because the tunee will get new ideas for the lesson, but also for the tuners, who were able to have strong dialogue on different techniques, tools, and ideas that could be used in anyone’s curriculum.

Collaboration

The key to all of the parts of successful PLCs is not just cooperation, not just coordination, but collaboration.  While many schools talk about collaborating, few truly collaborate by definition.  Most schools cooperate.  People simply work together and get along.  Many schools and teachers participate in coordination, where there’s a common goal, but everyone works on their own task to achieve the goal.  With collaboration, however, everyone works together – each person may start with a different task, but the information is shared; people review each other’s lessons, observe what’s happening, and communicate freely throughout the process.  There is trust that all people will do their part and help where necessary.  When a team is able to collaborate, teaching can make it to the next level; when we learn from each other, we can truly grow as teachers.

I truly hope collaboration happens, but I think it can be difficult, and can take a long period of time.  Regardless of the school, when you think about the typical group of teachers, it often consists of young, new teachers, and older, more experienced teachers.  There are those that try new things all of the time, and those that stick with what’s worked for years and years.  There are those that want to work as a group, and those that are fine staying in their classroom doing what they think is best.

I feel I’m one of the more open, willing-to-try-new-things kind of teachers, but I also feel that it’s hard to truly collaborate with those that prefer to do things as they’ve always done.  Some people aren’t as open to trusting those people that they don’t know well, or that seem so different from themselves.  I’m very hopeful that collaboration is an easy process for those teachers that I’m working with, and again, since I haven’t yet been there, I don’t know how this process will work.  I will do all that I can to collaborate, by sharing, working hard, and taking on my share of the work.

After attending the conference, I’m confident that PLCs do truly enhance the education of students.  We always encourage teamwork at the student level because we know it benefits students.  It’s about time we encourage teamwork at the teacher level, because it will benefit both the teachers and the students.  I can see that it’s a lot of change, but I think it’s change that needs to happen, and I’m hopeful that more teachers start to realize we need to become more student-focused and collaboration-focused.  We can become great, and we can get all students to learn at a high level!

Home page image credit

Related posts:

1. Boredom and its opposite. Strong, R., Silver, H., Perini, M. & Tuculescu, G
2. The Edge of Education Carnival. Issue 1

Building Your Own Personal Learning Network from Carl Anderson on Vimeo.

Related posts:

1. Show of Hands: Why visual literacy matters
2. Myths, History, Technology, Control, Critical Thinking, Lobsters
3. Things to Learn

Collaborative and cooperative learning are labeled as “co-lts” in this chapter.  They are both learning techniques that incorporate students working in groups, yet they consist of different strategies within these groups.

• Cooperative learning is led primarily by the teacher with given directions and providing the students with a set goal.
• Collaborative learning is where the teacher becomes a member of the group and is used primarily as a facilitator trying to keep students on track but allowing them to take their own path.

The article goes more in depth explaining more similarities and differences between these two learning techniques.

Barkley, Cross and Major. (2005).  The Case for Collaborative Learning.  Collaborative Learning Techniques. (pp. 3-7).  Jossey-Bass.

Related posts:

1. Cooperative learning: building a democratic community
2. The structural approach to cooperative learning
3. Motivation and learning: practical teaching tips for block schedules, brain-based learning, multiple intelligences, improved student motivation, increased achievement.

An Annotation by Jeff Ayer

Fryer, in a blog posting, asks this important question:  “Which Web 2.0 tool is appropriate for which educational task?”  From there, the author breaks down the advantages and disadvantages of wikis, blogs, and Moodle, particularly pointing out that while blogs can keep a running tally of contributions, wikis can more easily be accessed to do more complex things, and collaboratively, whereas blogs are more individuated.  Moodle poses as the best of both worlds, as it “offers the ability to host threaded discussions too…which can be comparatively more organized than a series of blog posts (especially on different blog sites) and reflect the contributions of different people more directly than a wiki can.”  Essentially, “By using the latest release of Moodle, a teacher doesn’t have to decide between ‘blog or wiki.’”  In any case, this article nicely places the three Web. 2.0 technologies beside one another for educators to consider.  In a nutshell, blogs are great for individual work, wikis for group work and collaborative efforts, and Moodle for a little bit of both.

Related posts:

1. Wikis and literacy development.
2. Blog on: building communication and collaboration among staff and students.
3. Educational uses of blogs and wikis. Flierl, R. and H. Fowler.

An Annotation by Jeffery Ayer

Funds are difficult to acquire in districts these days, with budget cutting, economic downturn, and political strife all part of the equation. In this article, Fontaine argues that using new technologies like wikis and blogs can significantly save school districts money, if and when they begin to take advantage of what they have to offer. “Training teachers in differentiated learning – also called differentiated instruction – has helped alleviate some of the issues, but the educational community then found another major obstacle to instruction. The lessons in schools had changed, but the textbooks they used had not,” claims Fontaine. For one, Web 2.0 can become a new resource (and free at that), and it can easily fit into the confines of any district’s differentiated instruction initiatives. Fontaine later writes, “By embedding audio, video, interactive tutorials, simulations, and edu-games, the students will have almost limitless depth on curriculum topics. If you add screencasts, podcasts, and text-to-speech widgets, you’ll have the potential to differentiate instruction to reach every student across the entire intellectual spectrum.”

Fontaine later cites Will Richardson, who wrote Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, who said, “Teaching is a collective effort, not an individual accomplishment.” There are budgetary arguments to be made, but as Fontaine says, “If we are to prepare young minds for the creative thinking of their futures will certainly require, then it is our obligation to use every tool in our toolbox to effectively impart that knowledge.”

He also points out that Web 2.0 shows that the role of teachers is no longer just to share information; rather, teachers need to “given [students] the skills to evaluate, organize, and apply” the information they gather from the internet and various online resources, including collaborative sites like Wikipedia. Most importantly, perhaps, Fontaine says that by nature, this process is student-centered and information literacy!

And as if his arguments weren’t thorough enough, he also points out the strength of constructivist/inquiry-based learning, where questions students pose drive the curriculum. By using wikis in particular, this is exactly what is happening in and outside of the classroom.

The big caveat, however, is the digital divide (access for all students). “As long as the digital divide separates students from accessing the internet at home, a wikitext will probably remain a supplement rather than the primary text.” Still, Fontaine recognizes the power (and weightlessness) of a potential online textbook, and a significant way, if districts truly invest, in saving a lot of money (the investment comes in the form of staff development using the aforementioned technologies).

In closing, Fontaine lists four online samples of what he calls wikitexts, and he outlines the three educational areas a collaboratively built wikitext would address, including “multiple means of representation (by giving learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge); multiple means of expression (by providing learners with alternatives for demonstrating what they know); and multiple means of engagement (by tapping into learners’ interests, offering appropriate challenges, and increasing motivation).”

Related posts:

1. Brown, N.E. and K. Bussert. Information literacy 2.0: empowering students through personal engagement.
2. Wiki, blog, or moodle? Fryer, W.
3. Wikis and literacy development.

Web 2.0 includes many forums and technologies, but in this article, Fernando looks at what colleges and universities are doing with these technologies, and the potential that the business world will catch on soon as well.  In addition, he emphasizes the importance of easy technologies.  “These tools have low barriers to entry – they’re often free – are highly collaborative and not too ‘tech-y,’ and they seem to get students all fired up” (8).

Fernando focuses on professors’ use of Twitter, wikis, podcasts, Innertoob, and the clichéd (but educationally useful) You Tube, and how they use them in and outside of the classroom setting.  In one case, Gardner Campbell uses collaboration online at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia.  “Campbell, who teaches literature, new-media studies and writing, talks of a blogging initiative tapping into ‘digital imagination’ to take a fresh approach to knowledge sharing.  Knowledge in a digital realm becomes a ‘persistent resource’ once it is created in, and made accessible through, social media” (9).  Another cited example comes fro Middlebury College in Vermont, where Barbara Ganley, a lecturer in English and the writing program there, “decided to give her students ‘a chance to explore hypertext creative nonfiction, integrating image and sound in their writing, and to play around with blogging and digital storytelling.’  What did she use?  Twitter, the micro-blogging platform used on mobile phones.  She believes Twitter creates an ‘asynchronous, forced concision’ in collaborative writing” (9).
Clearly, if colleges are using these technologies,  high school teachers would be wise to begin exposing students to them in preparation.  In addition, the future use of such technologies in the workforce appears imminent.  Fernando states, “There are great examples in organizations of how a decentralized workforce has become more inspired, collaborative and engaged” (9).  Fernando justifiably fuels a teacher’s desire to increase the use of Web. 2.0 technologies in middle and high school classrooms.

Related posts:

1. Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms.
2. Blog on: building communication and collaboration among staff and students.
3. Web 2.0 technologies and online writing tools

But I couldn’t do that. There is so much more to say!! I am so excited about Voice Thread and its possibilities for teaching and learning! As a result of this over exuberance, I’ve decided to forgo all the quality checks and balances we have here at We Teach We Learn, and just toss this out there. I’ve got a devil may care attitude tonight.

So, if you haven’t already done so, check out the video above for a brief 3 minute example/introduction.

Okay. Back with me? Great. If that’s your first exposure to Voice Thread, let me show you something else. See, I don’t want to spend a lot of time telling you about this. As a teacher, you really need to see it and experience it and then let your imagination run with the possibilities.

What you’re looking at just below, is an actual Voice Thread I’ve embedded here explaining what a Voice Thread is. So go ahead. Click play. You know you want to:

Alright, so maybe you watched the whole thing, or maybe you didn’t. Regardless, can you start to see the potential here? I’ve been playing around with this application for about a week now and have made a few Voice Threads of my own. One of my first was actually for this blog as I shared some information about gender differentiation. You can see that post here.

So there I am stumbling around. You liked it, you didn’t like it–whatever. That’s not the point here. Stay with me.

At the time of this writing, I hadn’t yet found anyone else to play with me. I mean, nobody has participated on the voice thread. I hope that will change soon. But it may not. Still, the point is it opens up all kinds of possibilities for presentations. The slides I used were taken directly from a handout I gave to people that attended my session at a conference. I also prepared a powerpoint that I used during my talk to inform and help stimulate discussion among the participants.

I was a bit rushed for time. Still, I thought it went reasonably well. But here’s the thing: When we all left the room that day–it was over. I haven’t heard from a single one since to further the discussion.

Not that this would be ideal, but with a Voice Thread, I could have prepared and presented everything on-line. People could have been able to access it as many times as they liked, whenever they liked. And not only that, but we could have also continued the discussion–OUTSIDE OF THE ROOM!

Okay. So to me, that’s pretty cool. But the other thing is, this application is so ridiculously easy to use! I’ve explored podcasting, and uploading slide shows using slideshare and trying to add voice and video into powerpoints–but it’s all so cumbersome for me. Sure, I suppose I could figure it out. But like I said when I started this post–I’m busy!

I promise you, Voice Thread took less than 5 minutes to figure out. It really is as easy to use as it looks.

So, naturally, I wanted to start using it in my classroom.

Now let me say right off the bat that, while my ideal is to get the kids involved in discussion by using the Voice Thread as a launch point, I have to temper my enthusiasm because I don’t have a solid, secure way to manage their accounts. You need an email to get your own free account. Not all my kids have that. I wish we could get them all secure accounts here at school, but we’re just not quite there yet as a district. So, I’m willing to start small.

Here’s what I did. This is a link to a wiki I’m developing to manage my–you know–class, curriculum, units. It’s a place kids can go to get what they need for 8th grade language arts. Please don’t be critical–I’m just getting it started. I don’t have any interaction built in yet–or even many units.

Anyway, we just started a Treasure Island novel unit. The way I run it is, typically, students are responsible for two chapters a day, one of which I read to them in class. The other, they’re on their own–which is fine for most. But, you know, there are always those that are going to struggle mightily with the text. I mean, after all, Treasure Island was originally published in 1883. The language has changed a bit. Plus there’s dialect and weird vocabulary and spellings and all kinds of other complexities.

So, if you check out this wiki page, you’ll see that I’m slowly but surely recording the even numbered chapters (those I typically don’t read in class), along with slides that support the text. Now these struggling readers can read along as they listen. We don’t have to have a library of audio tapes or CD’s to keep track of. They can just hop on a computer with internet access– either here at school, or home, or the library, or where ever–and away they go!

But this is just one (very limited I might add) application of how Voice Thread can be used. Soon, I’d like to secure a few email addresses for some of my struggling writers so that they can leave voice comments in response to slides I develop prompting them to–you know, all that language arts stuff–summarize, predict, analyze, interpret and extend the text of the story by responding ORALLY!!!

Who knows where we can go from there. Maybe even responding to each other, offering opinions (on our opinions), capturing discussions and learning on line. Maybe kids who are low energy during class will be able to engage at a later time of day. I don’t mean to imply that voice Thread can totally replace a good quality classroom discussion. But I think it can certainly be a tool we can use to enhance teaching and learning.

Lots of possibilities.

And the cool thing is–there seems to be no limit. It’s totally up to you. Now imagine how it might fit into your curriculum. Let your creative juices flow.

Next, invite your students.

For a list of examples of how other teachers have used Voice Thread, check out this page of educational Voice Thread examples to get ideas for your own classes. This page contains examples created by real teachers, for real K-12 students in all curricular areas.

Check out this link to explore Voice Thread logistics related to education. Complete with a discussion about privacy.

So there you have it. The bottom line: Voice Thread takes presentations and collaborations and discussions and media to the next level. Add it to your arsinal.

Related posts:

1. Gender Differentiation: Should we really be treating boys and girls differently?
2. Literature circles: voice and choice in the student-centered classroom. Daniels, H.
3. Making PowerPoint Possible: Slideshare Works

It’s about the risks we take, and the new stuff we try, and the stories we bring back from the adventures of blazing new trails.

Knowing this, it makes sense that stories of personal experiences will always get top billing at the Edge of Education Carnival. Maybe it’s the story of a new strategy, technique or tip. Maybe it’s your system for dealing with parents. Maybe it’s your application of a particular learning theory that made all the difference. Maybe it’s how you differentiated that last lesson.

Understand that not all original posts are accepted. We’re setting the bar pretty high. In order to be accepted, posts must be valuable, interesting and honest. Action research is held in the highest regard, but interesting best practices and insightful reflections on educational literature and/or personal experience also qualifies as “Edgy.”

Our guiding intent at We Teach We Learn is to empower teachers.  One of the ways we do this is to maintain the highest levels of quality, value and integrity.

We’re teacher’s. We expect nothing less.  We deserve nothing less.

Related posts:

1. The Edge of Education Carnival. Issue 1
2. The Edge of Education Carnival. Issue 2
3. The Edge of Education Carnival. Issue 4

“Students today depend on paper too much. They don’t know how to write on a slate without getting chalk dust all over themselves. They can’t clean a slate properly. What will they do when they run out of paper?” –Principal’s Association, 1815 1, 2

“Students today depend upon store bought ink. They don’t know how to make their own. When they run out of ink they will be unable to write words or ciphers until their next trip to the settlement. This is a sad commentary on modern education.” –The Rural American Teacher 1928 1,2

by Chris Wondra, WTWL Editor

The problem with blind spots is that you don’t know you’ve got them. I mean, it’s obvious to us today that students weren’t going to need a slate or homemade ink in order to be successful.

But imagine living in that time. There was no way those people could have foreseen the changes that make us snicker at those statements today.  Might we also be clinging to faulty beliefs about what will make our students successful? If so, how do we identify them? How do we differentiate between the beliefs that are no longer relevant and need to go, and the ones that are and we need to keep? What skills and content are we teaching that will be irrelevant in five years? What tools are we still using that are already outdated?

And how can we possibly determine that?

Out with the old, in with the new

As a quick exercise, take a part of your curriculum, any part, and imagine for a moment that it’s totally irrelevant to our students’ realities in the 21st century. Then make a bold and crazy statement–or two.  I’m an English teacher. Let me start.

1. The traditional research paper in English classrooms is dead.
2. So is the traditional works cited or bibliography–you know, that MLA or APA formatted way of documenting your sources.

In some districts, those two statements would probably be grounds for my dismissal. But we’re all friends here. So let’s just play around with this for a while.

The research paper: A closer look

Why do we have students write research papers in the first place? Why include a works cited? Well, we assign the paper to instruct and assess skills and knowledge related to researching, organizing, analyzing, and synthesizing information. We have students include a works cited to show that they’re not just making stuff up as they go along. But works cited and bibliographies also serve two other important purposes:

• They give credit for ideas, and
• they point us in the direction of those ideas–so that interested readers can follow up and learn more.

Organizing, analyzing, synthesizing, writing, and attributing ideas are valuable skills. So what could possibly be wrong with the research paper?

The problem is two fold:

1. If we want to read some of the sources, we have to do more work.  We have to order a book, go to a library, find a specific journal, magazine, or article. This takes effort.  But perhaps, more importantly . . .
2. This takes time.

What would happen instead, if we assigned students a research blog or asked them to collaborate on a research wiki?  Like this.

Couldn’t they then simply link to the actual source that they used, and/or help the reader along by linking to a definition for potentially confusing terms or concepts (as I did above)? Doing so simplifies the whole process by attributing, defining, and also actually supplying the source of the ideas referenced.

Yes, I know. Sometimes that’s not entirely possible. One can’t always link to an entire book or periodical. Alas, not everything is on-line and free. But we can still link to a listing of the book on Amazon.com, an author page, or biography. So we can get pretty close–much closer than a properly formatted APA citation.

So, in comparing this approach to the traditional research paper:  What skills are we missing?  Nothing. We’ve enhanced it. We’ve taken the research paper and made it better, faster and stronger.

But that’s not all . . .

Perhaps the most glaring weakness with the traditional research paper is who has access to it. If the topic and writing is truly relevant, aren’t they also potentially valuable to greater audiences?  And isn’t that audience’s feedback also valuable?

Today’s tools make all this possible in ways we couldn’t imagine as recently as five years ago.

So is the traditional research paper, in fact, going the way of the slate and homemade ink? I’m pretty sure it is.

And if that’s the case, and we’re still attached to the research paper (and we are), to what else might we teachers be clinging?

And how can we possibly know?

We can’t. But I think we can shine a little light in this darkness by asking ourselves two basic questions:

1. What will the future look like? and,
2. How do I prepare my students for that?

The engine of change revs to exponential speeds

If Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod are right:

• there are five times as many words in the English language than when Shakespeare lived, and
• the amount of technical information we have available to us is now doubling every 72 hours.

We think we’re supposed to know what our students need to thrive in the 21st century? C’mon. Let’s get real.

These kids are going to have fourteen jobs, many of which don’t even exist today, before they turn thirty-four. How do you prepare students for jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies that haven’t been invented, to solve problems that we don’t even know are problems yet? How can we–how can they–possibly plan for that?

We can’t. They can’t.

The bottom line (and perhaps most important reality to consider) is that the rate of change is accelerating exponentially. We can’t possibly keep up. Ergo we can’t plan. Apple or PC? Explorer or Firefox? Google or Yahoo? Photoshop or Fireworks? A blog or a wiki? Ford or Chevy? It doesn’t matter. Today’s standards will not survive the night. Tomorrow will be completely different. By the time these kids hit the job market, we’ll be snickering at questions like these.

In fact, somebody somewhere is probably snickering already. The cost to communicate has fallen through the floor and the speed to do so has gone through the roof. This creates a whole new world. A flat one. Ideas, collaboration and creativity no longer have borders. Technology is removing the traditional constraints that used to slow progress. Today, our students can collaborate in real time, with information and people half way around the world, to solve problems, create solutions and to change everything.

We don’t know what, and we don’t know when. All we can be assured of is that, eventually, everything will change—again. And again. And again. It’s time to face the music. We can’t possibly plan for that. That’s the bad news. Welcome to the 21st century.

The Good News

The good news is that we can coordinate like never before.

Let me explain.

Remember what it was like a few years ago, before we all had cell phones, when you had to pick someone up at the airport? Remember what had to take place in order for that to happen? Lots of planning. You had to consider where the baggage was. You had to get there early to park the car. You had to meet at a prearranged time and place. And hope the plane was on time.

You don’t have to do any of that now. Just check the flight schedules on-line, and have your party call you when they land. If the flight’s late, run a few errands. If it’s early, just pick them up outside. Figure it out on the fly. No planning. Just coordination.

Now, with cell phones, it makes more sense to just wing it. Flight schedules change, baggage takes time to pickup, stuff happens. But now we can adjust on the fly. It’s easy to just roll with it.

Preparing our students for their futures is a bit like using our cell phones to coordinate an airport pick-up.

Successfully navigating the chaos of the pace of 21st century change will not require our students to know how to use today’s technology. It will not require them to plan very far ahead. It will, however, require them to connect to people and information and be able to create and collaborate in real time–on the fly.

It will require that they be able to “roll with it.”  To “wing it.”  To improvise.

Think of life in the 21st century as improvising in a jazz quartet. You never know exactly what’s coming, so you can’t plan too far ahead. Still, it’s not chaos.  You are connected to the other players through the structure of the music. The notes of the piece flow from a combination of that structure and the harmony of your collaboration and creativity.

Our job as teachers is to show students what is possible within the structure of our time and space, an how to coordinate information and people in ways that create music with our lives . . .

. . .and then to dance.

Your Turn

Reflect on your beliefs and add your thoughts in the comment section below:

• What skills and concepts are you teaching that will help students be successful in the fast paced changes of the 21st century?

• If the “Research Paper” is going the way of the Cuckoo, what are some other instructional techniques/strategies/tools that might soon be outdated, or look very different in the near future?

• Sometimes the more things change, the more things stay the same. So what essential understanding are you teaching today that won’t change in the 21st century. What do you believe will stay the same?

Source of quotes:

1. Thornburg, David. Edutrends 2010: Restructuring, Technology, and the Future of Education. Starsong Publications, 1992. (link)

2. To see additional statements read and scroll to the bottom of this article .

Related posts:

1. Perspective-taking as transformative practice in teaching multicultural literature to white students. Haertling Thein, A., Beach, R., & Parks, D.
2. The Library of Congress is Using Flickr: Shouldn’t Teachers?
3. Best practice: new standards for teaching and learning in America’s schools.