Harry Potter’s North Star
The latest Harry Potter film came out last night, and (according to MSN), hundreds turned out for the midnight showing. I was not one of them, but reading the reviews this morning I felt a new connection to Harry and his friends.
Harry is following his North Star, and Hogwarts is a North Star school - hear me out on this! Think of the muggle world as a traditional school model. The Dursleys are afraid of what they don’t know, as so many people are. (Granted, for the sake of literary drama they appear a little overzealous in their fear, but I’m sure we’ve all met with such opposition.) But Harry has the memory of his parents as his guides, and the day Hagrid walks into his life and offers him a CHOICE, he begins his journey.
What makes Hogwarts different from the Muggle world? Two things: first, Harry is asked to choose many of his own classes, with clear options of where these courses will lead him. Nothing is theoretical in Hogwarts (particularly for Harry, who regularly finds himself in situations where he is forced to call upon history and practical magic just to stay alive). Second, Hogwarts’ administrators make full use of every new magic they discover.
Replace the word magic with technology. Suddenly, Harry is learning 21st century skills and utilizing those skills to develop his character and find his North Star. YAY!
July 16th, 2007 at 6:02 am
And don’t forget this part: The tools are wonderful if they are used responsibly by both adults and children. Untrained teachers can use the tools in a way that does not benefit the students, and, as we all know, children can really cause trouble with their curious minds, lack of experience, and misunderstanding of the potential damage their “powers” could cause. Teachers need to understand the tools the children have and must teach the children to use them safely and productively.
July 16th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Hi Maryann,
YES!!! Above all: a tool is a tool, not a teacher, not a parent. The tool can be used for good or evil, depending in part on the way it is used and the guidance the user is given.
But I’d like to add something. Children need to learn to use the tools safely and productively, but there’s another side: we don’t want to fear giving the students some room to learn through trial and error, we want to remember the “how” they learn as well as the “what.” What have theylearned if we just tell them how to learn it?
July 16th, 2007 at 10:40 am
marli said: “Replace the word magic with technology. Suddenly, Harry is learning 21st century skills and utilizing those skills to develop his character and find his North Star. YAY!”
You could also replace the word magic with “creativity”… utilizing creativity and creative thinking in new and innvoative ways, and discovering the creative spirit from within…
July 16th, 2007 at 10:55 am
@ Maribeth
Have you seen the ISTE standards (http://www.iste.org/Template.cfm?Section=NETS)? They deal inherently with technology, and “Creativity and Innovation” is the first standard on the list!
July 16th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Marli, no… I haven’t seen the ISTE standards. Doesn’t surprise me though that creativity and innovation is one of the standards - I would certainly hope it would be!
I guess I was just looking at what you were saying from yet another angle - of creativity (whether associated with technology or not) in place of the word magic. It wasn’t to replace what you were saying about technology, but your thoughts led me to mine, in thinking of our educational system where creativity still struggles to be valued as a critical component of every person’s learning journey… and a critical component of just about every subject (not just “art”, which I think many people solely associate with “creativity”).
I know many learning standards include “creativity”, but in reality, it does seem like creativity is often undervalued (or simply overlooked) in relation to overall academics. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist at all, or that there aren’t some amazing teachers and schools out there truly valuing and encouraging creativity, but to me it’s such a critical element… skill… way of thinking and seeing and being… the ability to think creatively, and to create.
July 16th, 2007 at 11:32 am
…our educational system where creativity still struggles to be valued as a critical component of every person’s learning journey
That’s true. One of my favorite aspects of North Star classrooms is the reversal of that: bringing the creativity from the bottom of the pile, where it struggles to be valued, to the top, where it encompasses everything else that happens in the classroom.
The reason I connected creativity back to technology (and linked to the ISTE standards) is that I have a theory that technology is the tool that is causing change in the schools, and giving us the opportunity to pull creativity in alongside it.
July 16th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
The reason I connected creativity back to technology (and linked to the ISTE standards) is that I have a theory that technology is the tool that is causing change in the schools, and giving us the opportunity to pull creativity in alongside it
Interesting theory! That very well could be. It might be at least one factor or tool that is helping to cause change.
Though connecting with your blog entry above, how teachers are using (or not using) technology remains to be an issue. It’s one thing to have the technology, but I think we have a long way to go to educate many educators about how to best utilize the technology as a teaching and learning tool.
Many teachers I know remain intimidated by technology, and act like you have to practically have a degree from MIT to know how to use it beyond emailing and writing up a handout in Word, not to mention untilizing it as an innovative teaching and learning tool.
Also, I get the impression that many educators feel that technology is the polar opposite of creativity, so that’s another myth that still needs to be dispelled in classrooms. I know there’s a lot being done out there - which is great… and I think what will help is regular, in the trench classroom teachers, who are really using best practices in technology, sharing those practices with their colleagues.