Quote: "By googling the error, he was able to tap into -- large, diverse programmers and hobbyists who all faced similar issues, he often found solutions that would allow him to complete his project."
I like this quote because it puts the onus for learning on the learner and teaches independence and responsibility.
Question: Are there any legitimate computer-type games that I can use in the classroom?
Connection: I connected with Allen's story as the computer programmer. He was mostly self taught through googling, reading, and doing his own research. The reason that I connect with this is because I have also learned a lot myself about history, my subject area, through reading, studying and other self-teaching means.
Aha/Epiphany: I had an “epiphany” when I read the part about “Diabetes Daily.” The section of the book talks about an online community that shares “experiences, insights, successes, failures..” This would be an amazing resource if I could repurpose this for a classroom purpose I realized. What if I could get students to interact with each other online discussing a book or how they felt about something they read or did in class. They could use each other as a resource.
Chapter 2
Quote: “[Culture] thrives on change, integrating it into its process as one of its environmental variables and crating further change.”
Question: How has technology made it more possible for us to teach students not "about the world" but to "engage with the world?" What has technology fundamentally changed that made this new approach possible?
Connection: The New Culture of Learning describes the old model as, "...a series of steps to be mastered." This is a lot like Tony Wagner's book and how he describes the rigid, inflexible attitude of curricula and teachers. Wagner looks at old school teachers the same way and criticizes them for not adapting to this "new culture of learning" that centers on engagement.
Aha/Epiphany: This chapter mentions the role change teachers are having and how they're becoming more facilitators than anything. My aha moment was realizing that the students have so much "information" at their fingertips, what they need is that facilitator - someone to guide them through it.
Chapter 3
Quote: "It took 70 years to go from the first color signal to widespread adoption of color TVs." I chose this quote because I think it does an excellent job of underscoring the slow pace of change for people and especially as it relates to TVs.
Question: My question is related to my quote. How do you get people to change more quickly? Humans seem to have a natural proclivity toward inertia and the status quo, how do we as teacher change this?
Connection: This chapter also reminds me of The Global Achievement gap. Wagner talks about how slow we all have been to change and give students more "real world" skills, rather than the drill and kill model.Wagner laments the AP tests especially, which have not really changed alongside technology.
Aha/Epiphany: This time it's more of a "hmmm" moment. The author writes that "embracing change is looking forward to what is next." And that, "The 21st century is all about embracing change." It's not that I disagree with this, and as a young person, I would certainly like to see some of the changes the author advocates. But there still seems like there are numerous obstacles like parents, old school administrators, and more that might hinder the "embracing" of change. Since the author doesn't offer much advice on getting past these sorts of obstacles, my "hmmm" moment is pondering my own way of getting around this issue.