Marc Prensky keynote - now in full

Having published what I thought was the full podcast of Marc Prensky taken last month, I found out from Will that it was cut off halfway through. So get your Quicktime or video iPod ready: here is the full version of his motivating presentation with visuals. You might also be interested in Will's thoughts on the first 28 minutes 12 seconds. Hopefully, he'll listen to the rest and continue his commentary ;-)

I also wonder now how many teachers really are making an effort to know their students and create engagement. These are the two main points of Marc's keynote, but even yesterday some colleagues were scepetical about using the Da Vinci code to learn. Is trying to find a way to use this and all the other things that our teens are keen about uneducational and invalid or are some of us just someone trying to understand what makes the kids tick?

Comments

[mpentleton]

Ewan, I've already given my 2p worth over on the MFLE discussion board, but I want to add my comments here too. Your point - and your italics - are crucial. All we're doing is TRYING something out. We're not suggesting that by using the Da Vinci Code or Big Brother or Eurovision or anything else is going to capture every single one of the students in our classes. But surely it's our professional responsibility to experiment with what's available to us, with what MAY have an effect on their learning?

It doesn't take an enormous amount of imagination to work out a way of incorporating a topic or theme which is part of what I'd call Universal Youth Culture into how we teach our kids. What it does take is effort on our part. Maybe Big Brother bores me. Or maybe I don't agree with the ideas behind the Da Vinci Code. But if at the end of the day my apparent interest (no matter how authentic) in such things is enough in the eyes of my students to make me create some kind of learning experience based on these themes then I feel I've achieved something. The kids benefit from it, and my "street cred" (which I'm reliably told by the young people I work with is a very uncool term...) goes up.

Imagination. Will. That's all that's needed. And there is a huge amount of imagination and will across the country, as seen several times a week in ideas discussed on the MFLE and elsewhere. Of course, no-one should have to do anything they don't want to do in order simply to identify with the kids or to provide an interesting lesson for them. But if people could just be a bit less judgemental and negative about things it would let those who do want to try to engage with their charges do so without fear of being bombarded with negativity from those who feel there's only one right way of doing things.

For what it's worth Big Brother doesn't bore me completely, and I think the Da Vinci Code has done wonders for promoting intelligent discussion on social, moral and religious issues, not to mention getting lots of people into reading.

[Eva Forbes]

Uneducational? Invalid? Certainly not.

Imagination. Will. That's all that is required.

Mark, if only it were so simple. On the other side of the balance we have TIME and ENERGY - Lack of ...

[Ewan McIntosh]

But when I find one of those eureka moments of imagination and will I can't stop myself carrying it through, even if I have no time or energy. I just find it. I know it's not possible in the long term, but now and then is possible. I know from what I've heard of your teaching, Eva, that you don't lack energy, imagination or will. I just hope you're not the exception...

[Alex Blagona]

I have to agree with a number of points raised below - one of the best things about teaching is the feeling you get when you try something new and different to (re)motivate the kids - but unfortunately with me I have to make 2 or 3 attempts before hitting the jackpot. I for one, won't stop having a go, because the feeling of success and enjoyment expressed by the students when it does work is always worth it. I don't think i'll bother with Big Brother though!

[Lynne Horn]

I find it easier to motivate myself for the imaginative things than for the mundane, as I know classes will respond. So it took me longer to make a ppt to teach tenses with Dr Who and the daleks than it would have to just write examples on the board, but it was a lot more exciting for me and the class. I'm not the world's greatest football fan, but am about to organise a football tournament which will run along with language challenges.

These things energise me, rather than make me worry about the lack of it.

I find it easier to motivate myself for the imaginative things than for the mundane, as I know classes will respond. So it took me longer to make a ppt to teach tenses with Dr Who and the daleks than it would have to just write examples on the board, but it was a lot more exciting for me and the class. I'm not the world's greatest football fan, but am about to organise a football tournament which will run along with language challenges.

These things energise me, rather than make me worry about the lack of it.

[Craig]

I think that what really wears you done is repeating what you have already done, grinding through material which you know by heart. That is what makes you feel tired since there is no spark of personal interest.

Even if your materials are less than perfect and do not possess the glossy sheen of professionally produced stuff they are superior in two ways;

Firstly, they have been produced in reponse to your students particular needs.

Secondly, you've invested something of yourself in them. This is true of everything we use in the lesson, and not just high - tech things such as blogs and podcasts.

I have been teaching for 17 years and I'm glad to say what and how I teach now is very different to what I was doing even a few years ago.

[Eva Forbes]

Thanks for that, Ewen. Perhaps the -
I know it's not possible in the long term, but now and then is possible.
needs more emphasis because permanent expectation leads to demoralisation. And Lynn you are so right about
These things energise me, rather than make me worry about the lack of it.
There's the scope for so many jobs here but who will pay?

[John]

I also wonder now how many teachers really are making an effort to know their students and create engagement Quite a lot I think, maybe not with ict, but I feel my colleagues are pretty good value for money from the taxpayer.
I too like the trying, because that allows us to fail sometimes and to have fun. If teachers follow their own imagination and interest we will be working in our own time.
In the long term teacher motivation and pay needs to be addressed.
I also love the but now and then is possible which mirrors Peter Ford's be creative occasionally.

[Alicia Salazar]

I think there is a will in all of us and a genuine interest in promoting learning from within (something we look up as new in our culture but that is ancient in principle and very much common practice in other cultures). If we could open up the doors of learning (of which, by the way, nobody in particular has the keys)and have more confidence in our youth and their potential, acknowledge that their experiences are valid, encourage them to bring that wealth into the classroom fostering critical thinking and not being afraid, as teachers, of being challenged and confronted, that would be a step in the process of engaging as equals in the process of learning.