Alan November is one of those keynote speakers that rarely has a scripted plan in front of him when he gets up to speak. Rather, he tries to get a “feel” for the audience and then goes wherever karma leads him. For him, it works. He could probably stand up and just spout off random facts that are totally disconnected from one another and make it seem as if you were listening to Shakespeare, or better, Coldplay.
Today was no different. There are a number of ideas floating around on my notes page that are worthy of posting, but let me just give you one.
November said that we should strive to make students responsible for their own learning. We need to find a way to let the kids work in the classroom instead of the teacher. As a result, when students have questions, students should find answers.
He had a great idea for a “one computer” classroom. First, you need to teach kids how to search effectively on the Internet. Not everything can be done best at Google (more on that in another post). Once they understand how to find information quickly (and this can be done as early as 2nd or 3rd grade), every day one student should sit in front of the class computer as the “official researcher.” As kids begin to formulate questions, the researcher takes responsibility to find and disseminate the information.
What about you? Do you think this is a good idea? Why or why not?