Robert Thomas Sack's Page

This post is part of an assignment for a class I am taking at Baker University.  I should start by saying that I am definitely not a native of the digital age, but do consider myself a naturalized citizen.   (I probably speak teh language with a funny accent, like using "teh" inappropriately.)

I believe that "digital fluency" is the new lingua franca for an upper-middle class that is quickly expanding downward.   Warlick's "New Literacy" reflects this.   His basic premise seems to be that it is important for schools to teach this new language.

"A Vision of Students Today" is a great reminder of how the culture I grew up in is not the culture that students are in today.   Furthermore, since the students in the video are college students, it's probably safe to assume that younger generations are trending even further in these directions.

IDEO's "Tips for Creating a 21st-Century Classroom Experience" (this link is to a PDF file, but you can find many versions and responses by Googling the title) did not offer any ideas that I have not previously been exposed to, but it did collect and clearly state some admiral goals for classrooms.   I especially liked #9: "Incubate the Future" which suggests pulling as many real-world problems into the classroom as possible.   If we can convince our students that the only thing stopping them from solving the world's problem is that they haven't started yet, we will unleash an unstoppable force for change on those problems.

In "The 7 skills students need for the future video", Dr. Wagner said one thing that caught my ear: "The longer kids are in school, the less curious they become."   It is readily apparent by middle school that this is true, though not universal.   I felt like his main idea was that we need a cultural change, away from poorly designed standardized testing.   This is a frustrating message to hear, as teachers are like rowers in an old fashioned slave galley, putting in the sweat and work while someone else steers.  Though the video is 30 minutes long, it is well worth listening to.

The links presented suggest that this class will be very useful, and help us as teachers to be innovators.   I am looking forward to learning more.