Books and Wells by
Ken Willers
Once Upon A Time, there was
a man who said he wanted to search for deep Wells. Before he set out to seek
his desire he thought it would first be wise to consult all the great books
that had been written on the subject of deep Wells. The man read many books on
where to find Wells and the differences in depth that they possessed. One day
while he was strolling casually along engrossed in his reading of Wells he
failed to notice a large deep Well right in front of him. When he bumped into
the deep Well his book flew from his hands and fell quite far into the deep
recesses of the Well. The man quite upset at the loss frantically lowered a
near by bucket to retrieve his book but his attempt was in vain. The man went
away very sad that he lost his book for he thought, without his book, how could
he ever hope to find a deep Well.
Is
this the type of learner today’s schools are manufacturing? Textbook dependent
learners who need their ‘book’ to feel secure about what they know or even
worse, to pass the test?
Has
learning for our students become so far removed from the ‘real world’ that the
application of knowledge seems to have descended into the deep recesses of the
impossible? Apparently, yes. More than half the employers surveyed in Britain,
replied that none or very few of their new hires, (recent graduates) were ready
for work and were not equipped ‘with life skills.’ (Daily Mail Online, UK,
September 12, 2013.)
How
is it that today’s classroom, with all our technological advances, is so far
removed from the real world? Staying
true to the story’s metaphor, it’s because, students are seldom given the
opportunity to experience the ‘well’ directly in the learning process. Instead,
students are repeatedly reminded to only ‘know’ what the ‘book’ says or what
the ‘test’ will require.
This
is certainly what I attributed to Albert Einstein when I referred to his quote
in my previous
blog, Forget Everything You Learned in School, “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one
has learned in school.”
In the article cited
earlier, it is interesting to note that the life skills our graduates were not
prepared for, as identified by the employers, had little to do with their
‘knowledge’ but everything to do with their lack of ‘skills’ to apply what they
knew. The findings fueled fears that schools were “failing to equip students
with life skills, such as the ability to work in teams, communicate, and be
punctual and determined.” (Daily Mail Online, UK, September 12, 2013.)
Now,
let’s imagine a classroom where the ‘well’ is the source of learning. Imagine a
learning process where the ‘reality’ informs the ‘theoretical’ and the
‘lived-experience’ affirms the acquired-knowledge.
Imagine
a classroom where the curiosity of the student directs the content and skills
that need to be acquired. Imagine a teacher who is interested in what motivates
a student’s desire to learn and is able to develop that student’s talent. Imagine
an environment that encourages ideas, enables abilities and empowers outcomes
to be shared. Imagine an assignment where what is produced actually has value
to the student and is immediately applicable to real life.
Can
you imagine it? Well, what you are imagining is 21st Century
Learning: where the student is self-directed, the teacher is learning-coach,
the lessons have life-relevance and the environment is transformed into a
center for collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity.
A great source to explore
these ‘wells’ of learning possibilities is Twitter. A simple search of
project-based learning or PLB will direct you to some awesome tweets. No need
to use the ‘book’ (Internet) to find what you need to know—go right to ‘well’
(Twitter-where people actually are sharing their learning in real-time every
day).
You will find that there
are some amazing students, attending some amazing schools with lots of amazing
teachers, generating amazing projects.
If more of our students
were given the opportunity to encounter ‘wells’ in their learning—then perhaps
more of our graduates would ‘commence’ into the real world with the skills that
21st Century ‘life’ is demanding. ‘Wells’ -- such as projects that
engage a student’s creativity while deepening his/her understanding of core
curriculum. ‘Wells’ – such as projects that require critical thinking, while
supporting a student’s discovery and application of content knowledge.
Now, if you’ll excuse, I’m
meeting with a group of students—they are going to lead me through the
process of how they are going to create some amazing project-books using
collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity as they
guidelines. They are members of the school’s PYBclub…
What’s the PYBclub? I’ll
talk more about that in my next edition.
To read other stories go
to my blog at: http://21stcencathedleadership.blogspot.com
And follow me on Twitter
@21stCenPrinKW
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