Good early morning to all of you. 5:39am here on the red dirt isle and I’m finishing my prep for a 5 hour class I’ll be teaching at ten… Crisp here, even in my house, and I’m soaking in that intense quiet of the early morning. An intense quiet disturbed only by the sharp teeth of one little orange kitten who seems to feel that fingers zinging over a laptop are the house’s version of ten blind mice.
I’m reading over an article by one of my favorite educational writers, Frank Smith, and been mulling over the events of the last few days: My somewhat unorthodox presence at the MACUL conference, the rolocking good time we had at the wiki spectacular, and the quite amazing group of people that have signed up for our barnraising on Sunday. And then I came across this line in the 5th Chapter of Smith’s book…
Learning is a social phenomenon. What everyone in every culture has taken for granted for millenia (until experimental psychologists took the study of learning out of the real world and put it in the laboratory) is that learning is a simple consequence of the company you keep. (p. 57)
I’ve learned a great deal since joining this community, and feel quite proud of my membership, excited to work with you all in the ways i get to, and humbled by your willingness to accept my contributions.
I would like to thank you all for being such fine company.
Have a great weekend, and see you on Sunday.
And how wonderful it is to be in your company, Dave! Frank Smith is also one of my favorite authors. The “shield against bewilderment” phrase–describing schema–is one of my all-time favorites.
So, what schema do we need to thrive in this 21st Century, Conceptual Age world? In how many different possible ways can we introduce students to this schema? And, can Read/Write Web actually CHANGE the company we keep as students and educators, and transform the schema we use?
Miguel
http://www.mguhlin.net/blog
dude, you were at MACUL? my MACUL conference? the conference was practically across the river from my office. i had a few presentations at the conference but didn’t see much beyond my two sessions. i can’t believe i didn’t know you were heading down. oh well, maybe next year in detroit. cheers!