links for 2008-03-10

• 35 (Really) Incredible Free Icon Sets | Graphics | Smashing Magazine

  35 (Really) Incredible Free Icon Sets

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Metaphors- Ochs vorm Berg

While thinking about my last post “Unwilling to Make the Effort to Learn” and talking with my mother about the issue of humans’ resistance to change, she used a great metaphor in German.

People see that things have changed and they know that they will need/should adapt. Many still prefer to stand in front of that “change” like an “Ochs vorm Berg“.

Which directly translated would mean : Stand in front of something like an Ox in front of a mountain. The ox will look at the mountain, waiting for the mountain to move. If the mountain did not move the next day, it will stand in front of it again… waiting…

Image by drurydrama

Isn’t that one of the differences between humans and animals? That humans are able to change, innovate, re-think, re-evaluate, adapt… Animals live on instincts and habits that they repeat time after time without questioning.

In the English, Spanish and German language we use a phrase related to animals, when we talk about people who like their routines and feel uneasy about change.

• Animales de Costumbre (Spanish, direct translation: Animals of Customs)
• Gewohnheitstier (German, direct translation: Animal of Habit)
• Creatures of habit (English)

Unwilling to Make the Effort to Learn

Nothing makes me sadder than a student who is turned off by learning. Nothing makes me madder than a capable person who is “wasting” their mind on drugs. And nothing irritates me more than a teacher who makes no effort in continuing to learn.

I understand that everyone has strengths and weaknesses in different areas. One person cannot continue to learn in ALL areas. One has to pick, choose and specialize. As an adult with a college degree, we have the liberty of the choice to never having to look at Calculus or Biology again if we chose to. I am talking about the attitude and unwillingness of some to simply refuse or not making a minimal effort to learn anything new. Even in their area of “specialty” that they chose and are teaching.

I came across Karl Fish’s blog post “Is it ok to be a technology illiterate teacher?”

If a teacher today is not technologically literate – and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more – it’s equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn’t know how to read and write.

I understand that change is hard for many people. The irony is though that there are actually teachers who are willing to put in a lot of effort and work in avoiding any change? To answer Karl Fish’s question of Is it ok to be a technology illiterate teacher?

NO, no, no, no, no. OF course it is not ok.

In order to continue learning in our age and world, you have to be able to access, evaluate, communicate, collaborate… We have to model for our students life long learning, along with the flexibility of un-learning and re-learning coupled with re-mixing by connecting our knowledge to each other (our own previous knowledge and collective global knowledge).

I am stunend when I see/feel/witness the blatant unwillingness of making an effort to learn from a TEACHER!!! A professional, who is in the business of learning and teaching others, should not be allowed to exhibit such trait.

Andrea Hernandez on EdTechWorkshop recently wrote:

Can you imagine going to a doctor or dentist who advertised themselves proudly as “doing things the same way I’ve done them for 30 years. I don’t need to use any of that state of the art equipment, no sir!” Who would go to this person? It is only in the field of education that people use this crazy line of reasoning.