Standing on Our Shoulders

 According to the author of Who Owns the Learning, Alan November, discusses in chapter one of how students initially reacted to the Digital Learning Farm model.  He stated that students, at first, can be uncomfortable when they are asked to take on more responsibility when it comes to their learning “after years of having their learning managed for them,” (page 23).

While I can see this being a problem for older students, most elementary school students love to participate, help their classmates and use the computer at school.  So, since I’m not an educator, I can only assume that when I do become an elementary school educator, I will see little resistance from students when I ask them to contribute to the class.  Young students love to help one another and if the computer is part of the equation and they get to record themselves, even better.  Actually, I believe young students would be excited to make a difference and not just in the classroom.  My son loves to help out every Thanksgiving at the Feed-a-Family Community Food Program and when they collect canned goods for school, he constantly begs me for more cans.  And, my son is not the exception, many children when offered the chance to help would jump at it.  If you watch the news, every so often you hear of children who do amazing things, such as Miles Umschied, who collected over 2,200 cans of food to donate to a local food bank.  Or the young boys in Texas who collected money for Habitat for Humanity by running a lemonade stand.

I believe that parents would have a positive outlook on this shift, especially when they can see how their child is contributing to the school or community and that they are learning along the way.  The child is proud of his/her work and the parent is proud of what their child accomplished.  Plus, the parent is part of the equation.  The parent can discuss the child’s work and keep the child excited about their project or work.

I think my first steps in building a learning community in the classroom would be start with the tutorials, where students can create videos to help other classmates and students.  Once they see how rewarding and fun it can be, we could discuss others in our community that need help and how we can help them.  Unlike older students, I believe the elementary aged students could come up with many ideas.  The roles in our projects will have to rotate, just as in the Digital Learning Farm, as to give everyone an opportunity to learn and experience something new.  If this is approached the right way, students won’t even realize that they are taking more control of their learning.