CSLE, Environments, Choice, and those cursed cellphones.

“Put your phone up!”
This is a common refrain for most educators towards their students, as they carry out the directive of their supervisors. That directive would be meant well as most educators and their supervisors want to protect their students. Unfortunately, the unintended consequences of this mindset have been devastating to this generation of scholars. They are not allowed to explore, develop, or pursue content knowledge through a 21st century lens because their likes bear the burden of negative stigma. I liked what Douglas Thomas said in his Ted Talk about the juxtaposition of education. We as educators have been coerced into teaching like they are going to Industrial Revolution era factory jobs, and the reality is they are not (Thomas, 2012).
Society is centered on the concept of choice and education must follow suit. This happens through creating a student-centered significant learning environment. Dr. Bates summarily explains it can be as simple as letting students pursue their interests (Bates, 2019). In my own classroom, I have begun introducing the students to the concept of choice. It’s slow in progressing, but the data is even showing that their standardized tests scores increased when they were given a choice. Could it be that education has ironically taken away choice when we should have been teaching them how to make a choice? Part of their choice has involved the use of a phone.
My refrain changed recently. “Get your phones out and make something good happen.” For more information, be sure to visit my page detailing my innovation plan.

References

Bates, T. (2022, April). Dr. Tony Bates on Building Effective Learning Environments. ChangSchoolTalks. 

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of Constant Change. Createspace.