Filling a Bucket or Lighting a Flame?

Friday the 15th May saw the annual Innovation Showcase at the Crown Palladium in Melbourne. It was an absolutely excellent event that clearly followed the theme of linking educators to share innovation. The first session I attended was ”Flat Classroom Walls” by Anne Mirtschin, which can be summed up as simply brilliant. Her ability  to connect her students with others from all around the world is nothing but inspirational.

I also was fortunate enough to be asked to present a session in the afternoon on the use of Mobile Phones and SMS  in the classroom which seemed to be well received by both the online and face to face audiences. You can find a copy of the presentation here; http://mrrobbo.wordpress.com/innovation-showcase/

After a fantastic day connecting with lots of like minded professionals we moved into the closing keynotes with one in particular raising a few very interesting points that will require some further thinking. So here’s what I was left with after Mark Pesce’s Closing Keynote;

 Do you fill a bucket or light a flame, when it comes to teaching your students? This is a very interesting way to think about the way in which we go about educating our students.  What’s your take?

 

The second point was demonstrated using my favourite cartoon South Park. The video  proves that no matter what rules we enforce, or systems we put in place to prevent students utilising ‘banned’ tools during school time, the fact of the matter is they will continue to do so. As a teacher this reinforces the need to consider exactly how the tools that the student’s embrace, could be introduced into the classroom to improve learning and engagement. If more of this thinking was to occur in our classrooms we might start to see a few more candles being lit along the way.