The Wide Road

“We’re not going to be able to live in this world if we’re not willing to do what he’s doing with one another. The road will always be wide. The rain will never stop falling.”
From Shoulders, by Naomi Shihab Nye

Naomi Shihab Nye tells the story of man crossing the street in the rain, holding his son, protecting him from the cars as they cross the road. As public school educators I believe we need to be sure that we, too, protect our children from the onslaught of for-profit influences on learning. As educators, we have been teaching, paying attention to learning and learners for a long time, not for-profit, but for the good of children and our communities. We work hard and sometimes are overwhelmed by the responsibilities. We often lack the funds to push back against the flashy tools and tricks, used by the tech industry,  that pull us ALL into our phones and the internet.

The tech world and its entrepreneurs have stepped into the role of ‘fixers’ in modern education. Now, there is research pointing at a small amount of evidence that personalized learning is not grounded in or proven to be more than a fad! That may be true if we look at things the way some of the Silicon Valley firms might implement personalized learning; without using teachers as guides, letting algorithms replace the relationships that build and foster individual learning, we very well may head down a slippery slope. Yet, for educators, personalized and customized learning is much more that placing a computer in the hands of child and saying go! There is so much research and evidence that teachers build the relationships needed to support agency in our learners and the positive influence on teaching learners to find their own voice and learn. Skills we cannot devalue in a global and ever changing world!

Learning is social. Learning is interactive and messy. Learning happens, so often, when we least expect it and often when it is not directed. We all need help to learn. Some of us learn from engaging with our peers, other engaging in text. Still others, like to see and hear what they are interested in knowing. Some folks need to touch or draw out what they see and hear. And, learning requires people to interact with each other - pushing edges of truth. We need to hold each other accountable - and that is why teachers matter and teaching matters. As educators, it is important that we work together to create the environments that we know help kids learn. “For the road will always be wide. The rain will never stop falling” (Naomi Shihab Nye).

Find out more about our journey, at IU8, to customize and personalize learning experiences on our WOL Blog.