In my tech class I watched a short video by/about Steven Johnson, author of "Where Great Ideas Come From." It was intriguing on many levels. First off, it appeared to be a collaboration with the Common Craft folks- the "in plain English videos" that are fantastic. The visual representation of Johnson's ideas are wonderful, particularly for someone like myself that can get lost in the web of interconnected concepts. More importantly, the subject matter for the video is at the heart of what we do as teachers. We want to inspire great thinkers, kids who can do the heavy cognitive work of analyzing, evaluating, and creating. While we, as teachers, want kids to be able to read, identify themes, solve equations, and write coherently, those are not necessarily the higher level skills we really want our kids to reach. You want them to do something with the information, make it their own.
The big takeaway for me was the incongruous nature of our classrooms and innovation. Your traditional classroom where you practice skills and apply them in somewhat real contexts does not lend itself to great innovation. Moreover, because of the amount of time that one needs to invest in the "slow hunch", we skip to easier to handle (and evaluate) skills. We want kids to collaborate but that requires more time than we believe is available. Perhaps that requires a rethinking of how time is allocated, the activities we place significant value on in our classrooms, and how we have students collaborate.
Watch the video and let me know what you think, particularly in the context of your own classroom.
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