Learning to Unlearn

The idea of unlearning something seems a bit odd.  How can you unlearn something?  What does that even mean?  Well unlearning is the process of leaving behind old ideas or ways of doing something and basically trading in those for new, more efficient ideas or ways of doing things.  This can be extremely difficult for many because they were so used to the old way of doing something and the new idea seems so foreign to them.

As an educator there are certain things that truly need to be unlearned in order for us to become better at our job.  Some of these things are the idea that learning only occurs in schools, that learning is limited by time and space and that it is an individual pursuit.  As educators we need to unlearn the old way of education and realize that in order to better our students we need to create independent learners who know how to utilize personal learning networks.  We need to unlearn the idea that leaders in the classroom should always be the ones with the degrees and the titles.  The kids need to learn to lead groups in order to become leaders for the rest of their lives.

Interactive Whiteboards in Today's Classroom

The Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) is one of the newest fads in classrooms across the United States.  Schools are investing thousands if not millions into this new technology trying to become more innovative.  The only issue raised is whether or not IWB's are actually helping the learning of the students.  One teacher said in an article published by the Washington Post stated, "It just allows you to create digitized versions of old lessons. My kids were bored with it after about three weeks."  I can speak from my own experiences that most kids find the IWB as just a fancy white board.  Especially when you have teachers who are trained well enough or aren't talented enough teachers to really utilize the IWB's. 

Along with the fact that some students and teachers find the technology boring or hard to use there are a lot of things that the IWB does bring to the table.  I have been in many classrooms where a teacher has used an IWB effectively and in a way that engaged the entire class.  I have had teachers use separate pads away from the screen that allows them to write on the screen from anywhere in the classroom.  So as many people doubt whether or not the purchase of the IWB's is worth it I believe that it all comes back to whether or not the teachers have the ability and motivation to use this technology in a productive way.

There are still so many questions that come up when talking about IWB's.  Such as whether or not they actually work, which studies have show that they do.  The only issue with these studies is that there is really no way that these studies truly show whether or not this technology works.  Another question, one raised in an article by Patricia Deubel, is what about participation? While students can go to the board for interactions, will all students be physically engaged at some point in the lesson or at least mentally engaged with what's going on?  I think that the answer to that question is that good teachers can find good ways to use the IWB's.  If you have teacher who aren't motivated and aren't trained correctly then you wont be able to get the most bang for your buck.  At the end of the day I do believe that this technology allows for well trained teachers to help every student no matter what reading level or learning style.  Differentiation can be achieved with help from IWB's because it allows teachers to post notes online and more of the information discussed in class.  Yet the fact remains that if teachers are not motivated and trained to use the technology then it just becomes a fancy whiteboard or projector.