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Theme photo from the presentation… |
I’m in Eden Prairie Minnesota today opening up a conference whose principal question is, “How do we create a culture of learners that thrive in the 21st century?” I will be doing an adapted version of a presentation that is most often called, “Cracking the ‘Native’ Information Experience,” where I identify and illustrate a number of qualities of our children’s outside-the-classroom information experiences. Those qualities are,
- That the experience is responsive,
- It provokes conversation,
- It inspires personal investment, and
- It’s guided by safely-made mistakes.
This presentation culminates with a set of transformative questions that might guide teachers (librarians and administrators) in creating learning experiences and environments that are more relevant to our learners ‘native’ information experiences and skills.
I may have posted these before, but I’ve come to the conclusion that it is perfectly ok to repeat yourself in your own blog.
Classroom Teachers:
- How might I alter this assignment or project so that it “Responds” to the learner? How can the experience “Talk Back?”
- How might I plant barriers within the assignment that force learners to “Question” their way through — to value the “questions” not just for “answers?”
- How can I ban silence in my classroom, provoking “Conversation” with my assignments and projects, expecting learners to exchange ideas and knowledge?
- How can I make their learning worth “Investing” in? How might the outcomes of their learning be of value to themselves and to others?
- How am I daring my students to make the “Mistakes” that feed the learning dialog?
Teacher Librarians:
- How can I make my library “Respond?” How can I make it “Talk Back?”
- How might it become a place that evokes “Questions” — not just answers?
- How can I ban silence, provoke “Conversation,” and expect patrons to explicitly exchange knowledge?
- How can I make this library a place that inspires “personal Invest”?
- How am I daring my students to make the “Mistakes” that feed the learning dialog — expanding and enriching the information experience?
Administrators:
- How does the learning here “Respond” to the learner? How does the learning “Talk Back” to the learner and to the community?
- Have my classrooms banned silence? Do the learning experiences “Provoke Conversation” by expecting learners to exchange knowledge?
- Are my classrooms places that student “Questions” as much as their answers?
- How do the learning environments in my school inspire learners to invest their time and skills for something larger?
- How are learners being dared to make the “Mistakes” that feed the learning dialog and how am I a part of that dialog?