Monday, February 16, 2009

Re: 21st Century Computer Skills

On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 12:54 PM, Renee Ramig
<rramig@sevenhillsschool.org>wrote:

> I think your final question is the most important - How do we move from
> the Teacher 1 model to the Teacher 2 model? Even in this forum, where I
> am guessing we are all strong technology users, we have users that seem
> to feel the Teacher 1 model is what still needs to be happening. I am
> afraid that 10 years from now, we will still be asking this same
> question.


If the Teacher 1 model is still happening in 10 years, it will be because we
still find some value in that model - *in addition to* the Teacher 2 model.

I may have mentioned previously that as a senior in high school, I wrote an
opera on the "Witch's Scene" for my English project on "Macbeth." One girl
made period doll clothes, another made a model of the Globe Theater, and
most of the rest wrote papers. My project and the two others noted were
totally appropriate for the subject matter, but I don't think that I could
have gotten away with writing an opera on Marbury vs Madison or DNA. Making
a Lego model of DNA would simply require enough Lego pieces and a good
picture of the molecule to base your model on. A display of the changing
clothing styles of all the presidents from Washington to Richard Nixon would
show off the student's sewing skills, but not demonstrate that she
understood anything about the ways that the American Presidency changed over
184 years. Sometimes you just need to use the written word.

Ah...but what about the 1970s version of the podcast - a documentary on
cassette? That would work, but - there would still be a script in the
background, tying everything all together wouldn't there? And again, that's
based on the *written word*. No matter how you try, you just can't get away
from the idea of a well-written document.

I can imagine that for as much as he's known for being a great orator, and
as many of his speeches that people have downloaded to listen to, Barack
Obama had plenty of practice learning how to create a well-written document.
It is those well-written documents that have become the speeches that
everyone is clamoring to hear.

And with that in mind, you still need Teacher 1 giving the skills that
Teacher 2 can build on. Otherwise, the students of Teacher 2 are going to
end up with some very sloppy and pathetic projects.

I've said it before, and I'll say it until I'm blue in the face: It's not
about either or, you need both. And you can't do the second well unless you
know what you're doing in the first.
--

keg

========================================
Keith E Gatling
mailto:keith@gatling.us
http://www.gatling.us/keith
The fact that I'm open-minded doesn't mean that I have to agree with you.
========================================

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