“LEARNING is about challenging perceived norms” ~George Couros
It is a SNOW DAY here in Upstate NY, and I ended up scrolling through the Apple TV for an inspirational movie—and found one of my favorites in the library: Moneyball.
I am a huge baseball fan, have always been and will always be. In the past 20 years this game has changed dramatically and I found within this change a metaphor for education.
“Baseball thinks the way I do, and will be glad to throw you and Google Boy under the bus.” was a common theme among MLB scouts in the early 21st century. Today, all teams employ analytic experts to study SaberMetrics and LEARN from the performances on the diamond. The bus in question was in fact heading backward, and “Google Boy” is now the norm.
Can we continue to break down these very same walls in our classroom and our schools? The perceived norms of education rely upon teacher centered classrooms, standardized testing, and banning of phones, Twitter, YouTube, and all forms of SM. It is MLB in the year 2000. Perceived “threats” to our “status quo” in education. The problem is, the “status quo” is not working for our students–only the educators.
There is another way. ADAPT to the worlds that our students live in. Grab a foothold there. Ask THEM for help to get started, and find a way to tailor it to your classroom and your objectives. Collaboration, Digital Citizenship, Relevance, Rigor, and perhaps if you play your cards right—EMPOWERMENT will be the result. Daily assessments through Twitter? Do it. Collaboration with other students and experts through Skype? Do it. Find your norm that suits today’s child. Not the norm that suited the graduating class of 1985. Challenge those perceived norms. The students will win.
The clip in question from the movie Moneyball: “Adapt or Die”
~Rich V
PS–go Jays. #ComeTogether
Rich Violanti 