Or square wheels on a wagon as the case may be...http://www.squarewheels.com/mainpage/swsmain.html
Right before NECC, I attended a 21st Century Learning Workshop in Harrisburg when I first saw this image, and I have been thinking about it ever since...
And when Steve Dembo in twitter wondered if "After reading a ton of blog posts from NECC and EduBloggerCon, I'm starting to wonder if We (Edubloggers) are getting a little egotistical" Marcie Hull asks a similar question "are we REALLY congratulating ourselves too much & too early?" I must admit, I have been challenged by administrators who when forced to see the big picture....from a district/system perspective ask...do edubloggers REALLY see the big picture? hmmm good question...
The picture I think is the one above...the one where the men keep the square wheels on the wagon when there are round wheels inside. Where there are LOTS of resources that people don't know how to use appropriately. The one where there is there only 1 person pulling and little effort from behind. There are not enough folks to move a really big wagon. The one where there is a REALLY sturdy LOOKING wagon, that is going nowhere.
I think David Warlick hit the nail on the head when he said It Isn't Easy, and Julie Lindsay reminds us there is NECC and there is the Real World.
The thing is Edubloggers can't keep talking to the echo chamber...What do we start with and how do we move (or continue to move) forward? From Marcie's blog I was directed to a new blog that asks this question and says that she is going to try to create a target that her teachers can see...yes, we do get it, we ALL GET IT...but until we work together to change the whole system, I am afraid we may end up like the guys and their wagon. So I ask you all...adminstrators and edubloggers alike, what is your plan to prevent the system, the wagon, from getting STUCK
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Kristin,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great video to illustrate your point! It is very scary but true that some of us are just that stuck!
-Kristen :)
I agree with the statement that there is a great inflated ego out there by some bloggers.
ReplyDeleteWhat irritates me is that these people tend to want to change the landscape of education, but they enjoy the fact that they know more, blog more, and think more than the coworkers they are so interested in reforming.
An unconference within a conference???
Need I say more?
I think the most important thing is showing others how we can make their classrooms more engaging... There was a session at NECC "Using 21st Century Skills to improve test scores". That needs to be the essence in this age of prep and test...
ReplyDeleteIs it important for us to show them...? Isn't that just like us showing or telling our kids something and having them give it back to us--I think we need to (as we do our kids) GUIDE them into CREATING their own 21st Century teaching and learning environment--the conversation Ken is important to show them WHY...
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