Comments on: Conversations and the Flat World cont. http://www.thethinkingstick.com/conversations-and-the-flat-world-cont/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=conversations-and-the-flat-world-cont Educator Consultant Author Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:34:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: The Thinking Stick » Standards cont. http://www.thethinkingstick.com/conversations-and-the-flat-world-cont/#comment-1081 The Thinking Stick » Standards cont. Sat, 19 Aug 2006 18:00:38 +0000 http://www.thethinkingstick.com/?p=275#comment-1081 [...] We keep saying ‘we need them a few more years.’ and I know we do. But we are a good 6 years in to using technology full force in education. If this was a new reading program…or better yet a new testing system…we’d have been all over it: training, theory, implementation. What frustrates me is talking to people like I mention in this post, who are laughing at the education system and truly looking for the thinkers among us. [...] [...] We keep saying ‘we need them a few more years.’ and I know we do. But we are a good 6 years in to using technology full force in education. If this was a new reading program…or better yet a new testing system…we’d have been all over it: training, theory, implementation. What frustrates me is talking to people like I mention in this post, who are laughing at the education system and truly looking for the thinkers among us. [...]

]]> By: pondering http://www.thethinkingstick.com/conversations-and-the-flat-world-cont/#comment-1080 pondering Mon, 14 Aug 2006 12:12:20 +0000 http://www.thethinkingstick.com/?p=275#comment-1080 <strong>Conversations and the Flat World ... from the horse's mouth:...</strong> The Thinking Stick » Conversations and the Flat World cont.: Jeff and his wife teach in an international school in Shanghai. Before that, they taught at a similar school in Saudi Arabia. Billy and I had a chance to talk... Conversations and the Flat World … from the horse’s mouth:…

The Thinking Stick » Conversations and the Flat World cont.: Jeff and his wife teach in an international school in Shanghai. Before that, they taught at a similar school in Saudi Arabia. Billy and I had a chance to talk…

]]> By: Christie Welch http://www.thethinkingstick.com/conversations-and-the-flat-world-cont/#comment-1079 Christie Welch Sun, 13 Aug 2006 20:12:29 +0000 http://www.thethinkingstick.com/?p=275#comment-1079 change is difficult, especially in a system that has been doing business the same way for over 100 years. It is time to change, we do need to start producing graduates who can think on their own and problem solve. As a school counselor this is the basis for what we teach kids, problem solve. I'm hearing this more and more from our business community, they aren't really looking for GPA's they really want students who can look at a problem and find a solution. We as educators need to realize that this world is not what it used to be when we went through the system. We are not the same as the students we are currently teaching or will be teaching, and it is time to stop looking at them as if they are "mini me's"! This is going to be uncomfortable for us, we need to re-think and re-learn in order to give our students what they need to be sucessful in the world. I'm excited for this and hope to bring as many educators on board as I can! change is difficult, especially in a system that has been doing business the same way for over 100 years. It is time to change, we do need to start producing graduates who can think on their own and problem solve. As a school counselor this is the basis for what we teach kids, problem solve. I’m hearing this more and more from our business community, they aren’t really looking for GPA’s they really want students who can look at a problem and find a solution. We as educators need to realize that this world is not what it used to be when we went through the system. We are not the same as the students we are currently teaching or will be teaching, and it is time to stop looking at them as if they are “mini me’s”! This is going to be uncomfortable for us, we need to re-think and re-learn in order to give our students what they need to be sucessful in the world. I’m excited for this and hope to bring as many educators on board as I can!

]]> By: Silvia Tolisano http://www.thethinkingstick.com/conversations-and-the-flat-world-cont/#comment-1078 Silvia Tolisano Sat, 12 Aug 2006 19:20:23 +0000 http://www.thethinkingstick.com/?p=275#comment-1078 At the present time, I believe (as a private-school teacher and parent of three public school educated daughters in the American school system), that the majority of students are not prepared by the system to know how to learn on their own and understand that learning is a life-long process. There is too much emphasis put on standardized and high-stakes testing, rather than out-of-box thinking and innovation. Too many teachers are looking for the cookie-cutter answer and the kids who know how to reproduce these answers seem to get rewarded the most in this educational system. Can we teach these skills? Yes, of course! These skills can be taught by encouraging students to go outside their comfort zone and “experiment” with their learning. We as adults, as teachers and educators also have to model that we are on the same path of life-long learning. Teachers (parents) have to feel comfortable to show their students (children) that we gladly reverse roles and let them be our teachers too. Web 2.0 tools are a great start to teach these skills. We need to emphasize (as educators) to our students and their parents, administration, and politicians that the world is flattening. We need to spread the word to them that this business man who said, “I’m looking for people who know how to learn! I don’t care about your degree or any other piece of paper you might have. I want to know your experiences, have you been faces with problems, how did you solve those problems and what was the outcome.” is representing the a big part of worldwide employers today and their “potential” employer ,when our students enter the job market, will definitely have this frame of mind. IIf our students don’t broaden their horizon and learn to think outside the box someone else in the world will have. Global education should be the core of all curricula. An expectation for high school graduation should be to know at least one, if not more foreign languages and be cultural competent in them. A competitive resume should include at least a foreign exchange semester or internship abroad as a requirement. Experiences like these will help our students see and internalize that there is more than one way to look at a problem and more than one way to skin the cat. At the present time, I believe (as a private-school teacher and parent of three public school educated daughters in the American school system), that the majority of students are not prepared by the system to know how to learn on their own and understand that learning is a life-long process. There is too much emphasis put on standardized and high-stakes testing, rather than out-of-box thinking and innovation. Too many teachers are looking for the cookie-cutter answer and the kids who know how to reproduce these answers seem to get rewarded the most in this educational system.

Can we teach these skills? Yes, of course! These skills can be taught by encouraging students to go outside their comfort zone and “experiment” with their learning. We as adults, as teachers and educators also have to model that we are on the same path of life-long learning. Teachers (parents) have to feel comfortable to show their students (children) that we gladly reverse roles and let them be our teachers too. Web 2.0 tools are a great start to teach these skills.
We need to emphasize (as educators) to our students and their parents, administration, and politicians that the world is flattening. We need to spread the word to them that this business man who said,

“I’m looking for people who know how to learn! I don’t care about your degree or any other piece of paper you might have. I want to know your experiences, have you been faces with problems, how did you solve those problems and what was the outcome.”

is representing the a big part of worldwide employers today and their “potential” employer ,when our students enter the job market, will definitely have this frame of mind. IIf our students don’t broaden their horizon and learn to think outside the box someone else in the world will have.
Global education should be the core of all curricula. An expectation for high school graduation should be to know at least one, if not more foreign languages and be cultural competent in them. A competitive resume should include at least a foreign exchange semester or internship abroad as a requirement. Experiences like these will help our students see and internalize that there is more than one way to look at a problem and more than one way to skin the cat.

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