“It’s too easy to criticize hope. And in the end, cynicism is a lousy strategy.” Seth Godin.
Best blog post I’ve read in awhile. While it was most likely referring to recent politics, Godin’s words could be applied equally to technology decisions in schools.
Many of us who work with students on web 2.0 tools have a sense of hope and optimism about our students and about the future. We trust in our own ability to use these tools effectively and wisely and in the power of using them with students. We don’t trust blindly but we do believe that we are professionals and we believe that students have much to contribute. We believe that students can make good choices when given a scaffold to do so (and on their own accord as well.)
It’s easy enough to shut those tools down, to disable them for all students or teachers because of what “might happen,” and to build our policies on cynicism.
But what would it look like if we built our policies on hope?
This reminds me of a line from Leonard Pitt’s column this morning: “Americans do not move because they are told to move; they move because they are inspired to. ”
Good post – thanks!
Doug
How true, what would schools look like if policies were built on hope. I believe there would be more conversations regarding digital citizenship, online behavior, what is acceptable and what is not. Now it is so easy to not address these issues with students both because they may be uncomfortable conversations to have and also because the tools are shut down, many do not feel they have any responsibility talking about what takes place outside of school walls. Thanks for the post.
Also I have tagged you for the Passion Quilt.
Here are the rules
1. Think about what you are passionate about teaching your students.
2. Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about…and give your picture a short title.
3. Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt” and link back to this blog entry.
4. Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.
Great post. Interesting how innovation is constantly stressed in the education field, yet many administrators refuse to allow such tools in the classroom. Effective classrooms are built on trust between the teacher and student. If you have that trust with your students, you should be able to incorporate the strategies necessary to innovate your students.