As Dr. Wesch warned, “We cannot continue living the next 100 years, the same way we have been living the past 100 years.” How can anyone deny this statement? This applies to all aspects of life, including the classroom. I, too, have had my students ask me, what is going to be on the test? Why do I need to learn this? I have also been standing in front of the class, attempting to explain a new concept, and looking across the room to see many blank stares. At that moment, it was easier to ignore and continue with the same,. I was guiding my students to become knowledgeable. I was feeding them the knowledge and they were following me, or at least I hope they were. I wonder how much knowledge they kept and what they are doing with it?
I have now acquired the appropriate term to describe what I want my students to be, knowledge-able. I want them find, sort analyze, create, criticize knowledge. Technology and media are means to support them in using, applying, navigating, and expanding their knowledge base. I don’t know all the answers, and I shouldn’t pretend that I do. I should make my students understand this, and guide them to find the answers to questions that are meaningful and relevant to them. Most importantly, I will lead them to the web where they can access the entire human body of knowledge with digital artifacts of over 2 billion people.
As I was watching the video, so many ideas about how to move my students to become knowledge-able, were going through my mind, and still are. First, utilizing technology as a means for my students to create, collaborate, organize, collect, connect, share and publish information. For the past two years, my district has been working hard to improve the wireless infrastructure and increase the number of devices. These resources should enable me to begin shifting the learning culture and increasing the learning opportunities in my classroom and take them from knowledgeable to knowledge-able. I want my students to believe they have the same power that the little bird, in the Aztec story, to save the world.
TEDxKC - Michael Wesch - From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able. (n.d.). Retrieved June 11, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeaAHv4UTI8