Learning Manifesto

I.

Ask yourself what you are truly passionate about

My philosophy of education encompasses many different aspects of teaching and

learning. One of my favorite quotes is, One who teaches must never cease to learn. If
asked to state my philosophy of education into one terse statement, this quote would be it.
I believe that in teaching, there are two sets of people that never stop learning; the teacher
and the student both have an endless supply of knowledge at their disposal. It is important
for the teacher to remember that just because he or she is the expert of the information in
the classroom, there is still always plenty of room to learn. Learning from a student, I
believe, is one of the most valuable kinds of learning in existence.
I think my most valuable lesson that I have learned is that while teaching, I am
not just teaching English. I am teaching English to Bobby, Kaitlin, Alexa etc. It is
important to remember that you cannot just teach content. You must teach many different
aspects of learning styles, individual techniques, etc. Bobby will read Shakespeare
differently than Kaitlin, and so forth. Teaching to individuals rather than an entire class
will improve engagement, achievement, and success.
While a teacher must know that one does not ever stop learning,
it is also important for the teacher to believe in teaching as an art. One
must take everything that he or she has learned, and mold that into
the physical art of teaching it. Teaching is not just taking information
and telling it to a classroom full of students; it is taking information,
knowledge, life lessons, and overarching ideas, and applying it so that

students can begin to ask their own questions about the material
presented. In order for this act of the students to happen, the teacher
must tell, show, do, and apply. The classroom must be a physical
environment that encompasses many different kinds of learning, as
well as a place where the individual learner has a fair chance.
My philosophy, I believe, is what constructivist pedagogy is truly
all about. John Abbott, in Building knowledge: constructivism in
learning states that constructivism means that students never learn
anything from scratch (2008). Constructivism is when one takes all of
the experience and background knowledge to process new information.
What I find most important about Abbotts explanation is that in
constructivism, one can never see anything objectively (2008) which
makes me think about the idea of testing that is upon us ALL THE TIME
in our public school system. SATs, Keystone Exams, PSSAs, they all do
the same thing; they ask all of our students to see the same exact
material in the same exact way. This leads to my largest problem of all
time: if I believe in constructivism, and want to truly incorporate this
philosophy into my teaching, what in the world do I do about all these
tests? These tests that now have my annual rating attached to them. I
have a dream of one day, for an entire year, closing my classroom
door, practicing the art of teaching how I think it is meant to be
practiced, and just wait and see what the test scores all say. My
hypothesis is that they will be higher than ever.

II.

Identify what you think are emerging issues related to digital learning
and leading at the state, regional, national, and/or global contexts.
While digital learning has many positive outcomes and by products, it has many

negative aspects as well. I think that each issue is present at the entire state, regional,
national, and global contextthey are all really one in the same. Think about what digital
learning is; it is connectivity. If it is an issue at the global level, it is automatically an
issue on a smaller scare, and vice versa. For example: in each school district, digital
learning (online classes, digital connectivity within traditional classes, etc.) has become
somewhat of a norm for many middle and upper class districts. However, that is not the
case with inner city and rural school districts, districts with less money and fewer
resources. It also poses an issue inside the well-to-do classroom, as there are students in
each district, no matter how well-off it is, who do not have the same connectivity as
everyone. Now compare this issue with the state, regional, and global level: there are
some states, some regions, and some countries that have an unequal distribution of
connectivity.
The reason I use the term connectivity instead of Internet is actually because of
the manifesto I read by Seth Godin, entitled, Stop Stealing Dreams. He explains that
we are actually beyond the Internet revolution and into the connection revolution
(Godin, pg.36, 2012). He explains that the idea of the connection revolution is to
amplify[y] [it] to become the dominant force in our economy (Godin, pg.36, 2012).
Many people are realizing, however, that we dont really know how to use digital
learning or this amazing connectivity to amplify our lives an economy. A contributor,
Tom Vander Ark, for an online education journal, Getting Smart outlines some of these

fears; he explains that teachers are concerned about how technology doesnt really
enhance learning much of the time; we are using the same teaching techniques but with
new technology (2012). My example here is the idea of a multiple choice, objective quiz.
If we give one online using Quizlet, is it really any different or better than giving it on
paper? No, but because its digital, teachers think they are all the rage. Another issue is
what I questioned earlier; how can we really move forward into the digital learning age
full force if we are still required to take crazy standardized tests? (Ark, 2012).
III.

What is right/wrong with education and what should the world do to

enhance/fix it?
This question is a lofty one to answer. Education is such a major aspect of our

society, there are a million things right with it AND a million things wrong with it.
Whats right/wrong with our government? With our law enforcement system? With our
food regulations? These are things that make up our entire society, and we will never be
able to perfect any of them, or even come close. I believe that for the most part, we all
have a very similar idea about educations purpose: we are educating people so they can
better contribute to our society when finished with the education system. Whats wrong
with it, however, is that we do not agree HOW to educate all of our members of society in
order to actually make them better contributors. We have not updated the education
system fast enough to keep up with our updated (and constantly updating) society.
However, I ask, is that even possible? Seth Godin explains, if schools function is to
create the workers we need to fuel our economy, we need to change school, because the
workers we need have changed as well (Godin, pg.17, 2012). Yet how do we do that?
Change school is such a lofty goal; school is a major empire with so many working
parts. When I really sit down and reflect on this issue, I think I have at least one major

part of the puzzle. In order to change school and to update our educational system to
match our growing and changing society, we need to cultivate better teachers. How do we
do that? By incentivizing teachers who really want to be there to do a good job: pay them
more, stress them less, and allow them to do what they are trained to do: teach! Stop
forcing teachers to provide information in this digital learning age, we dont need
teachers to stand in front of a room to provide factual information- that is what Google is
for. Instead, allow teachers to do the job we all wish to do: facilitate discussion,
exploration, critical thinking, problem solving, and molding our young people into the
people we want to see in society. Then, I think, our test scores will improve (and maybe
wont matter so much anyway) and we can really then embrace the idea of digital
learning and leading.

References
Abbott, J. (2008, January 31). Building knowledge: Constructivism in learning [Video
file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F00R3pOXzuk
Ark, T. V. (2012, February 11). 10 Benefits & 10 Concerns About the Shift to
Digital Learning. Retrieved February 4, 2016, from Getting Smart website:
http://gettingsmart.com/2012/02/
10-benefits-10-concerns-about-the-shift-to-digital-learning/

Godin, S. (2012). Stop stealing dreams [PDF]. Retrieved February 6, 2016, from
http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/docs/stopstealingdreamsscreen.pdf