Tuesday, April 30, 2019

The Why


Have you ever heard someone say, "Why do kids need computers at school? I didn't have a computer when I went to school and I did just fine." Or maybe you've heard comments like this: "Why do kids need to learn coding? They're just playing games. They're not really learning anything useful." Or even a statement like this: "What's the point of the kids making videos? That's not teaching them anything that's on the tests they take."

I can answer that question in one Tweet.

The learning that kids do today -- from what they learn to how they learn -- is not the same as it was for most adults. It's not even the same as when my own daughter was in high school less than 10 years ago. That Tweet I shared is a prime example why kids need access to computers, the internet, and tools that allow them to create, communicate, and collaborate. Because that's how kids learn.

Sometimes teachers feel like kids don't want to learn. But that's not really true. They DO want to learn. They just might not want to learn things the way we are presenting them (or even the things we are asking them to learn). Obviously, there are some skills that are just necessary to learn, but if we can give kids the right tools to learn with -- meaning the tools they are accustomed to use for learning -- and if we can give them some autonomy in their learning, then we as teachers just might be able to hook them into the things we want them to learn, like photosynthesis, geometry, the Constitution, or Shakepseare's sonnets.

When kids have the right tools and when they have some voice in their own education, they do indeed learn. But when we try to force a square peg (learning today) into a round hole (learning the way we used to), it sure looks like kids don't want to learn. But look at that Tweet again. There she is. Learning, Creating. Collaborating. For FUN!

What a profound lesson Miss P taught us.



This post also appears on my work blog for staff in my school district.