Serendipity

I originally titled this entry "An Old Aphorism Falls Away", but I hope that by the time I press the "Publish button" I have discovered a better title.  But, at least you will know what I'm thinking as I begin.

Among the truly wonderful, almost miraculous to me, aspects of the Internet is the serendipity effect of discovering new movements and merging them, perhaps erroneously, in my own thinking.  I began regularly reading Steve Wheeler's "Learning with 'e's" a few months ago after following a link from Felix Grant's Growlery.  Crooked Timber has been a tab on my blog list for a couple of years.  Today, Wheeler and Crooked Timber have touched on something I've felt strongly about for decades.

There is an aphorism, "Those who can, do; those who can't do, teach; those who can't teach, teach teachers."  I've said it many times, because quite often it seemed largely accurate.  I've also angered some teacher friends with it.  Of course, as with any generalization, there are exceptions, and I do know some, but it seemed to illustrate a valid point.  I think, earnestly believe, that our nation's secondary schools must improve before anything else - politics, ethics, business, etc, - can change.  And that means better teaching, curriculum, and goals for education.

Steve Wheeler has taught me that there are educators working to improve the way content is transferred to students.  He has done so partly through a series of  eleven blog entries, beginning with Part One, here.  Part Eleven is here.  Eleven was posted January 26.  If you have time, read all his entries since number eleven.  Especially important, stop and reflect deeply on "Our global village".  Think about "a3" learning", and, for now anyway, finish with today's entry, "Engaging the digital generation."  With these, you have the beginning point of my learning process.

After I read "Engaging the digital generation", I read a Crooked Timber post, "Building Better Teachers."  I read it again, then began reading the comments.  In my opinion, Crooked Timber is distinguished by having very well spoken, intelligent, and knowledgeable commenters.  Harry, the blogger, erred slightly by not including a link to Elizabeth Green's Sunday Times article, "Building a Better Teacher", in his text.  One commenter provided it, and I followed the link and read the article.  Then I printed both Harry's blog and Green's article.

The comments to the Crooked Timber post are great and worth the time taken to read.  As usual, I learned as much from intelligent comments as the article.  Few blogs other than Crooked Timber can claim such a high level of commenters.

It has been a good day.  I learned that my aphorism isn't accurate.  The teachers are searching for better ways to reach the digital generation.  there's comfort in knowing that there is movement.  i hope that in this case they also disprove another of my aphorisms, "Movement is not necessarily progress."