Most likely you already know Web 2.0 and Education 2.0 (or 3.0), but how about School 2.0? Chris Lehmann presented a very interesting topic in TEDxNYED on education – School 2.0: Creating The Schools We Need.

While watching the Youtube video, I reflected on every statement he uttered. Amazingly, I was able to start writing again after a blogging break due to a bulk of deliverable for my MA subjects last March, integration period for my teaching load, and getting my MacBook Pro repaired in the service center for about 2 weeks while on a short summer vacation last April.

My typical day usually involves having too many ideas which hinders me from even starting the very first statement of a blog post. Twitter easily becomes the solution to posting and sharing ideas in snippets and this is one of the reasons why I also tend to skip blogging for I already do microblogging through my iPhone.

Focusing more on the examples that Chris elaborates, technology really plays a very vital role in learning. I was able to relate to his example of a student working on a laboratory activity, discovering the real thing on one hand while capturing it with a laptop on the other hand. I reminisced the time way back in my PSHS years where we usually draw what we get from our biology class that can be effectively accomplished now by just getting a laptop with a camera. This is ‘good data’ as Chris stressed on his talk.

Things are very much different now which makes unlearning and relearning very important to learners as well as teachers. The talk emphasized that instead of saying that you teach math, say that you teach kids or students because it’s all about being student-centered and being teacher-mentored at the same time.

“The digital footprint that you leave today matters”. That thing you post on Twitter or Facebook might get reposted a lot of times and be quoted on papers or even books (if dead trees will still exist after a decade).

I was dazzled as well with the example on the influence that a caring teacher can have on a group of students. I saw it as a great strategy to involving a whole class to creating a very big project, honoring their efforts in order to let them feel that college is real life as well – that they can already make things work while still in undergraduate level.

Lastly, there were some take away that I got from the concluding part of the talk. Teachers should focus on getting every day or every session to make sense for their students. They should teach students to ‘learn how to think’, that they can do more than what they learn inside the school. They should ‘allow technology to redefine everything’, especially for teachers who have anxiety on crossing boundaries in translating their old media (paper and pen) to new media (technology!). I have encountered lots of teachers who still use old media and I was greatly challenged to change them or at least influence them to use more effectively the new technology that they already have in their fingertips. Teachers must also teach the students while making an emphasis to changing the world to make it a better place and make life easier too.

Keep in mind that we should also ‘be a learner and be willing to be transformed’. We should ‘be humbled by all that we do not know’. Likewise, quoting Chris again: “How dare anyone think that you can transform a child if you are unwilling to transform yourself?”

So, are you ready to be transformed now?