The week is beginning and I’m looking forward to it, although it will be very busy. I was doing some reading of various blogs when I again came across another thing I question on one.
“for educators to really take advantage of the potential of the Internet, we need to rethink our practice. And, I think, the best way to do that is to get involved in “passion based learning” ourselves, much like what has occurred in my practice since I started blogging and connection those many moons ago. That may mean giving up something else. It may mean making a choice between something we currently do, say reading the newspaper, for something new, like reading the aggregator. But we have to find ways to do it, because our current practice will just not pass muster much longer.”
After I read this, i reflected on my day to see what I would give up. Breakfast with my two boys, chowing down on porridge and discussing if our skating rink would be ready for hockey today or not. Then it was off to church. After church, I made brunch, hashbrowns, bacon, eggs, juice and toast for all and a pot of coffee for me and my wife. The nine of us then sat down to discuss the upcoming weeks events – I reminded the older 3 to put their items on the ical and always refresh. Next it was outside to hang the garland and fix some of the Christmas ligths as my 3 year old helped. We discussed the week, his favourite costume – Spider Man, his favourite movie – Spider Man and whether we would have chocolat chaud when we were done. From that it was fixing the humidistat on the furnace – it’s mighty dry in the house when it’s -35C. From there it was checking the rink and doing some watering – yes we water our rink. Upon coming inside, I listened to my 11 year old play four of her songs for the upcoming Christmas Musica Festival, then the 5 year old followed by the 13 and 14 year old. I was looking at the paper, which my 11 year old picked up. After the piano, we ended up having a great discussion about the Liberal leadership race, the candidates, what was said about each. We then discussed Stephane Dion and what his was written about his speech. She had some good questiosns and I encouraged her to do some further looking on the internet – which she did, reporting back at supper what she found. I then did some sledding with my 9 year old at the hill at the school. Next was supper – corn chowder with ham. Delish!! Basketball practice was at 6:30 until 8:00 – my team is learning how to shuffle when doing 1-on-1! We’re also getting better at our outside shots. I then went for my workout, home to rub backs. Did a little surfing – only ended up with 2 points in my hockey pool! Read a few items. Did this post. What would I give up? Well, if my wife wasn’t doing some computer work for school, this.
So, as a fairly experienced web user who is quickly seeing the applications with the web2, I’m beginning to wonder about this whole passion thing that was being referenced? What do teachers give up? When? Who’s going to tell the Director or Superintendent? Hey, I’m the principal so we’ve got that covered. Who’s going to teach the teachers? When do they get to practice? What parts of the curricula are best suited? What do we tell teachers to give up? What do kids give up? Oh, they’ll have to give something up in order to continue their online discussions. What are we going to sacrifice for this next stage of learning?
Here’s something I found in the StarPhoenix regarding the wave of the future for kids.
The world of health care, one of the most technologically advanced areas of our society, is beginning to look at the cost of the technology.
Another article I found interesting dealt with the obesity of children. The one line that really stuck out was :
Try to ensure your child gets 60 minutes of physical activity per day.
Get active, and be active with your child. Play Frisbee, walk the dog, go to the park, go for a bike ride, skate or ski.
What do we give up? Reading through the article, I’m thinking we need to spend more time as families and less worried about how flat the world is becoming. But my view of relationships, learning and kids is a bit different.
K
Blogged with Flock
