Are they Students or are they Innovators?
I’ve always been interested in inquiry based learning and the opportunities that providing different spaces or different tools can do for expanding outside of normative ways of classroom production.
What are the connections between social affordances and identity and learning? If we do bring tools into classrooms, it has to come from that angle first, because that’s the human angle.
If you change schools to emphasize youth as creators, you are going to see different kinds of products. If you allow youth to be genre creators and not just reproducers, I think you’d see a lot of innovation.
Youth and teachers have so many creative resources that they bring to these spaces that aren’t really valued or allowed…it’s like this stop gap — you’re not supposed to bring in the digital tools that you have, you’re not supposed to bring in your interests or relationships…these are incredible resources. I think it’s more dire that we’re not allowing those resources in.
I love what you are saying here! Youth are Creators = how you perceive them influences what they produce. I have to say that it seem to me that innovation and creativity is pouring out of young people these days as they are finding support from each other to express their own ideas- outside of school (internet etc.)
Bringing this into the classroom (even in the face of given curriculum) would be a big leap. Each person does have their unique gifts but I agree that this is encouraged in current public school systems. But the time is right to bring individual gifts and resources into the classroom. I believe that this can be done by just changing our perception of the situation- by seeing students as innovators and not empty bottles to be filled by facts.
Thank you!
Mara (a former secondary school teacher and facilitator of teachers, leaders and organizations in visioning and creativity since 1987)
http://hopevolution.org
Mara Senese
06/01/2012 at 18:29
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