I call B.S.!
I was priviledged and humbled to attend the TEDxDenverED Conference last night. I have followed TED Talks for many years now, and several of the talks have had a profound impact on the way I teach and learn and think. The second I saw that there was going to be a TED Event in Denver, I jumped at it. There was an amazing lineup of speakers and it was amazing to get to attend such a prestigious event.
I learn best by listening and watching. I have always benefitted from positioning myself near smart people and listening quietly. It really doesn’t matter if it is live or in podcast form, I learn best by listening, and I love to listen critically and actively. I was fortunate to get to listen to some really smart people talk yesterday at ISTE and last night at TEDxDenverEd. I didn’t agree with every word spoken and every idea shared, but I learned from everything.
That being said, I left really disappointed and confused with the TEDxDenverEd Event. Let me explain:
Despite hearing from some amazing educators, there was an obvious trend with a political and social agenda. One that I wasn’t expecting and it really caught me off guard. More towards the end of the evening, the presentations were increasingly chocked full of buzzwords like: food justice, activism, organic, global citizenship, green, climate change, social justice, vegatarian, brown, awareness, community, school garden, nutrition, empowerment, global model, and environmental literacy.
The presenters were, no doubt, passionate about what they were doing. They were connecting with kids and making a difference in their classrooms, but I just couldn’t get past their not-so-hidden agenda. There, I said it. I didn’t like their message because they had a different agenda than I do. I don’t like seeing them wrap their buzzwords around education to promote their agenda. But its not what you might think.
I’ll confess, my not-so-hidden agenda has been, and still is, technology education. I go to conferences and make presentations using buzzwords like: interactive, engagement, connected, hyperlinked, digital native, alternative assessments, one-to-one, mobile computing, and the list goes on and on. I hang out with people who wrap their own set of geeky buzzwords around education to promote their agenda of educational technology.
The thing that bothers me most is this: why do we need a secondary agenda? Why can’t we just focus on making strong, meaningful connections with our students and teaching them to grow up to be good learners and be great people?
Organic gardens and global citizenship are add-ons and can be distractors just like iPads, web tools or interactive whiteboards. I call B.S. on anyone (including myself) who place more importance on these things beyond just ordinary tools preferred by one set of teachers or another. Yes, these tools can and do help us connect with children, but they are false horizons and fake goals. They aren’t the most important things. Nothing can replace the human, caring connection between a student and a teacher.
There. That’s all I have to say about that. at least for now.
I will be extrememly careful as I choose lectures, workshops and conversations over the next few days to remember these things. I will also make a point to review this post before I start planning staff development for my staff or share with others, and remember what is important.
