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.

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.

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.

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!

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…

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?