Just listening to the fireside chat again - to be fair to Sheryl’s point, she’s actually summarizing/paraphrasing what David was saying, and he is exploring ways in which teachers can facilitate discussions with students to get them to tell us in their own words how they learn, so that we can learn from this how to arrange for this kind of learning in the classroom.

There’s a certain level of trust needed to ensure that students know we really mean it - that we sincerely want to know what they think/feel they need and that we want to act on this.

How many of the students are sufficiently conscious of their learning needs to be able to tell us? Is it enough to get out of the way, or do we also have to facilitate the conversation, provide them with a context for becoming more conscious of their needs? I like what you said about 21st century teachers needing to be master learners rather than master teachers - and I think it ties in with my question: do we need to help the kids tell us what they need?

In Alan November’s latest podcast, Professor Angela McFarlane of Bristol University talks about this idea that if teachers only get out of the way, students will use the technology to maximize their learning (my paraphrasing), and argues strongly that this is a myth. I know I’ve been guilty of this claim in the past - it’s simplistic, I guess. It’s so easy to make assumptions and parrot what everyone else is saying, rather than taking a good look for yourself and collecting your own data. I’m becoming more and more convinced of the value of data gathering and analysis as a tool for decision-making in schools, and not just for academic research.

Professor McFarlane says students that know how to use technology to play are not necessarily able to transfer these skills to learning, but need teachers to provide the guidance and scaffolding. I wonder if this to some extent applies to the idea of expecting students tell us what they need. It’s important to know the difference between what kids say the are doing and what they’re actually doing - students tend to tell us what they think we want to hear rather than what they actually think. I’m worried many students don’t really know what they want or what they need in order to learn, as their ideas of what education is (or should be) have been shaped by what they’ve always experienced.

Okay, I guess to some extent I’m just parroting Professor McFarlane now, and I may also be a bit unfair in putting Sheryl’s comment into a very narrow context. My intention is not to criticize, just to use it as a springboard for further reflection.

Finally, your job title intrigues me: “21st Century Literacy Specialist” - is it predominantly a curricular job, or do you work closely with Dennis and Justin on a daily basis? It’s really impressive for a school to devote a full-time position to this. Or do you also teach?

Ståle