There is a great deal of wisdom in the old sayings. In our history, we have learned to save a great deal of time by proper sewing techniques. We know that saving our pennies will certainly make us richer. It is very nearly a fact, if you eat apples every day, then you do not have to go through the hassle of filing insurance forms for each doctor's visit. But the old sayings have one thing in common....they are old. The question is whether they can be relevant in the technological world we live in today. I'm saying yes. I don't want to be the educator who claimed that Ben Franklin, William Shakespeare or Confucius has no place in the 21st century. So let's examine a few.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. There is no place where this old chestnut is more true than in the classroom. Having a curriculum in no way guarantees an education. I have often claimed that if i could solve the problem of the uninspired student for once and for all, I would write my book, go on Oprah and retire to the lucrative world of educational consulting. But since Oprah beat me to retirement i will need to find a different solution. You cannot MAKE a student learn. You can inspire, cajole, and sometimes trick the student into learning but you cannot make it happen. Learning will not be forced. But into this quandary strolls technology. Technology can do all of the above. The 21st century learner will be inspired by the power of technology. The 21st century learner will embrace the new (to us at least) way of taking in information. The 21st century learner will often not realize he is even learning. When the curriculum is presented to the learner in a way that does feel like "old school" learning, the student may not even see it coming.
Idle hands are the devil's workshop. There is not a middle school principal on Earth that doesn't believe this to be anything but the truth. Pushing a pencil has always been a tried and true method of class management. Today's student has become use to listening to an IPOD while chatting on a computer and texting to a friend. This occurs during homework time while watching a TV program that features a running scroll on the bottom. With this amount of sensory input, your standard lecture on Hester Prynne's virtue doesn't even rate a raised eyebrow. the 21st century learner has to feed the info monster. The 21st century learner has to keep all those synapses firing or shutdown. And when they shutdown, they often take down everybody around them. Engagement has always been the key to good classroom management and academic success. Today's students must be engaged on their terms.
These are but a few of the many old sayings. But the old sayings can have new meanings in the world of the 21st century learner.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. There is no place where this old chestnut is more true than in the classroom. Having a curriculum in no way guarantees an education. I have often claimed that if i could solve the problem of the uninspired student for once and for all, I would write my book, go on Oprah and retire to the lucrative world of educational consulting. But since Oprah beat me to retirement i will need to find a different solution. You cannot MAKE a student learn. You can inspire, cajole, and sometimes trick the student into learning but you cannot make it happen. Learning will not be forced. But into this quandary strolls technology. Technology can do all of the above. The 21st century learner will be inspired by the power of technology. The 21st century learner will embrace the new (to us at least) way of taking in information. The 21st century learner will often not realize he is even learning. When the curriculum is presented to the learner in a way that does feel like "old school" learning, the student may not even see it coming.
Idle hands are the devil's workshop. There is not a middle school principal on Earth that doesn't believe this to be anything but the truth. Pushing a pencil has always been a tried and true method of class management. Today's student has become use to listening to an IPOD while chatting on a computer and texting to a friend. This occurs during homework time while watching a TV program that features a running scroll on the bottom. With this amount of sensory input, your standard lecture on Hester Prynne's virtue doesn't even rate a raised eyebrow. the 21st century learner has to feed the info monster. The 21st century learner has to keep all those synapses firing or shutdown. And when they shutdown, they often take down everybody around them. Engagement has always been the key to good classroom management and academic success. Today's students must be engaged on their terms.
These are but a few of the many old sayings. But the old sayings can have new meanings in the world of the 21st century learner.
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