In Kurt Vonnegut’s 1997 novel Timequake, there is an exchange about the “innocent question: ‘Art or not?'”. Here is what Vonnegut comes up with.
RIP 1922-2007: With the publication of his novel Timequake in 1997, Vonnegut announced his retirement from writing fiction. He continued to write for the magazine In These Times, where he was a senior editor.
Listen: “Contemplating a purported work of art is a social activity (emphasis added)… People capable of liking some paintings or prints or whatever can rarely do so without knowing something about the artist. Again the situation is social rather than scientific… If you are unwilling (or in education, unable [my addition]) to claim credit for your pictures…there goes the ball game.”
The social action Vonnegut stresses at the close of the 2oth century, has become a pillar of 21st century education manifestos and best practices. The “social activity” mentioned above, transferred to contemporary education instruction, manifests in the call for students to generate knowledge through a variety of production styles which are then placed in the public sphere. Simply put, the traditional practice of students writing a paper for one set of eyes (the teacher’s) to see, digest, comment and evaluate is an anachronism. Continued practice of this type of assessment is a remnant of the sage on the stage model of education. It is indeed time to reinvent the wheel.
So, who is calling for students to generate knowledge and publish it for public consumption. First, let’s explore some perspectives from the recent publication NEW DIRECTIONS IN SOCIAL EDUCATION RESEARCH: The Influence of Technology and Globalization on the Lives of Students edited by Dr. Brad Maguth “As pressures mount for society to equip today’s youth with both the global and digital understandings necessary to confront the challenges of the 21st century, a more thorough analysis must be undertaken to examine the role of technology on student learning (Peters, 2009).” Likewise, “youth are active participants, producers, and distributors of new media. The digital production of youth includes over 38% of designing personal websites, 23% constructing online videos and slideshows, and 8%launching digital causes campaigns….The internet has allowed youth new opportunities in fostering global awareness of civic, humanitarian, political, economic, and environmental causes (Maguth p.3)
Student generated knowledge is a powerful educational experience. These clips are a tribute the unleashed potential of celebrating student interests and sharing work in the public sphere.
1) “Child prodigy Adora Svitak says the world needs “childish” thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity and especially optimism. Kids’ big dreams deserve high expectations, she says, starting with grownups’ willingness to learn from children as much as to teach.”
2) Nikhil Goyal is a student at Syosset High School in New York, United States. He wrote a book: All Hands on Deck: Why America Needs a Learning Revolution to be published in September 2012. Goyal writes for the Huffington Post, guest blogs for the New York Times, and contributes to NBC Education Nation. “Students are left out of the debate, even thought we have the most important opinions. Instead of schools cherishing students’ passions and interests, they destroy them. Let’s raise kids to dream big and think different. America will need to re-kindle the innovative spirit that has propelled in the past. It’s a do or die moment. Bring on the learning revolution!”
These messages and practices are supported by present, influential movements in 21st century education. Consider the following frameworks and strategies for the future of education practice. How close do your schools and classrooms meet these goals and aspirations for our students and educators?
A) Vision for the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Inquiry in Social Studies State Standards: Dimension 4 highlights the ways students use to present their ideas (e.g., essays, debates, video productions), the venues in which they present their ideas (e.g., classrooms, school gatherings, public meetings), and the ways in which they work (e.g., individually, small groups, whole class).
Readiness for college, career, and civic life is as much about the experiences students have as it is about learning any particular set of content, concepts, or skills. Thus the learning environments that teachers create are critical to student success. Students will flourish to the extent that their independent and collaborative efforts are guided, supported, and honored.
B) Succeeding Globally Through. International Education and Engagement. U.S. Department of Education. International Strategy. 2012–16 “The Global Competence Task Force … defined globally competent individuals as those who use their knowledge and skills to investigate the world beyond their immediate environment, recognize their own and others’ perspectives, communicate their ideas effectively with diverse audiences, and translate their ideas into appropriate actions.
C) Common Core State Standards: “Although information is provided in both arguments and explanations, the two types of writing have different aims.
Arguments seek to make people believe that something is true or to persuade people to change their beliefs or behavior. Explanations, on the other hand, start with the assumption of truthfulness and answer questions about why or how. Their aim is to make the reader understand rather than to persuade him or her to accept a certain point of view. In short, arguments are used for persuasion and explanations for clarification.
I guess another question to ask is to what extent do these statements actually carry weight in state standards and testing and school cultures. Are these ideas valued? Buy whom?
Well, I still believe that the most important factor in educational experiences is the classroom teacher. If you are still doing the one way practice of student –> teacher publishing, fear not. Below are some tips on student products. But first, what is meant but he “public sphere.” Simply put, the public sphere is anything beyond the teacher’s eyes only. Consider the list below a continuum moving from narrow to broad spheres of public. Next to each dimension I included a few suggested ways student work can interact beyond teacher eyes only models. Of course the list is not complete but hopefully gets the idea juices flowing.
The Public…
a) …classroom: gallery walks, class discussion of student work.
b) …department: peer editing from other sections, presenting to other classes, discipline website highlighting student work
c) …school: display tables at lunch, displays in hallways, newspapers, library archives, part of parent nights
d) … community: student work in civic buildings, displays, local newspapers,
e) … nation: engage in projects like National History Day, collaborate with schools, and colleges, engage in contests
f) … international: establish sister schools, link with non-profits, video conferencing
g)… cyber space: present at online conferences, post work on websites, establish a learnist board, comment on blogs, utilize web 2.0 tools
But what to publish? Well, the sky is the limit here. One suggestion is to do this in a secure course in your school’s LMS. Here are some concrete (not a total) list of suggestions.
Publish what?
*Writing (all types) *Visuals/mind-maps * Blogs/Wikis *Infographics
*Presentation *Video/Audio/Media posts *Comments to an established webpages
Overall, this is a very exciting part of education that need not be done always, but should be part of any model classroom. Agreed?
and so it goes…