We Run Our Schools Like We Coach Soccer

As a former coach, I was intrigued by the headline Hog the ball, kid referencing an article written by Sasha Issenberg on Boston.com about the way we coach youth soccer in our country. Reading through the article, a number of things seemed closely connected to how we educate students as well.

“We take the creativity and imagination out of players at a young age,” said Thomas Rongen, coach of the United States under-20 men’s national team. This reminded me of a scenario Will Richardson described at a conference last spring. He asked how many students we thought would raise their hands if we went into a kindergarten or first grade class an asked how many of them were good at art. We all agreed that all of the students would raise their hands enthusiastically. Then the bigger question was asked - At what age do kids start thinking they are not good at art? More importantly, why?

It is of course not just about art class, but when is that students start to lose their excitement for school in general? Again, why does this happen?

A Possible Solution (From The Soccer Field)

As the article continued it described the difference between soccer instruction in the Unites States and soccer instruction in countries with more talented soccer teams.

"In those cultures, children hone their skills naturally through relentless informal play...They suggest ways to reduce the amount of instruction entirely, instead creating loose situations where kids get a lot of access to the ball and are able to experiment with it... No adult with a whistle will stop a cocky player from making a daring run at goal, or scold her for insouciantly challenging a defender..."

For me, I think we tend to be to narrow-minded in how we allow students to access information and make it their own. The description above to me is a perfect description of the inquiry-based model. While I could go on and write a few more paragraphs on the passage above, I think the connection is clear.

The Conclusion

The final sentence of the article also could be a concluding statement on our traditional approach to education. "What’s best for children over the long term, in this case, may be exactly the thing that brings them the most gratification now."

My thoughts on this concluding sentence started me back on inquiry-based learning as well as the importance of integrating technology into all curriculum areas. As Chris Lehmann brilliantly described in his article Shifting Ground, "For most students, the tools and talents they employ outside of school have little place in their academic classes." We need to stop taking the technological tools that students find gratifying and engaging out of their hands when they enter our doors.

As Lehmann concludes in his article, "Schools can and must be transformative—when they encourage kids to harness the new tools at their disposal to create real work of meaning, students can be authentic voices in the world!" Real work of meaning? Authentic voices? That sounds like fun!

We better not try it.

Another Video Message About The Need For Greater Technology Integration

I know there have been a number of these videos regarding the importance of schools doing a better job with the integration of technology. That being said, I still am drawn in by the message of these videos and they make me reflect on whether we are doing enough so that, as the video states, "students are not powering down" when they enter our schools.

An Interesting Conversation (On Twitter) About What Makes A "21st Century Educator"

Every Tuesday night on Twitter there is a discussion called EdChat. During last night's discussion those Twitterers who participated tried to determine what skills, traits, or characteristics were necessary for "21st Century Educators."

Here is a bit from one of the moderators, Steven Anderson, an Instructional Technology teacher from North Carolina:

If I ever become an administrator, in the position to hire teachers or other school faculty my first question to a potential new hire will be for them to demonstrate to me how they collaborate. I want to know how they work with others. Do they have a PLN that they have created? Do they even know what a PLN is? Who will they turn to when they have a question about teaching or subject-matter? Going even further, how will they foster collaboration in their classroom. When I walk by will I see drones in the seats or kids, excitedly learning, talking, working together?

If you wanna move from being a good teacher to a great teacher, its all about collaboration. We need teachers who look beyond themselves and want to work with others, who want to reach out to others. But we also want teachers who are willing to create an environment in their classroom where kids can work together, problem solve, put their heads together, collaborate.

Mr. Anderson's blog is one of the best places to learn about Web 2.0 resources. I encourage you to read more from his post What Is A Great Teacher? Then add your own comments!

Where Are We Going With Technology In Our Schools?

Today I read a post from Will Richardson's Weblogg-ed which I feel is a must read for anyone involved in education. The following are a few of the important questions that Will asks in his post - I Don’t Need Your Network (or Your Computer, or Your Tech Plan, or Your…). :

• If at some point in the fairly near future just about every high school kid is going to have a device that connects to the Internet, how much longer can we ask them to stuff it in their lockers at the beginning of the day?
• How are we going to have to rethink the idea that we have to provide our kids a connection? Can we even somewhat get our brains around the idea of letting them use their own?
• At what point do we get out of the business of troubleshooting and fixing technology? Isn’t “fixing your own stuff” a 21st Century skill?
• How are we helping our teachers understand the potentials of phones and all of these shifts in general?

I encourage you to read the entire post and comment!