Thinking About Learning Differently- Talking to Strangers
Our third graders are learning about different communities.They have spoken via Skype with classes from a suburb of Los Angeles, CA , an rural community in Missouri and a city, Weatherford, TX. The latest connection was with Anna Faridaku, a teacher and children’s book author from Indonesia. Students took turns speaking with Anna, who was just amazing in connecting (via the screen) to the kids, answering and asking questions. She engaged them and pushed them to deeper thinking about similarities and differences about our communities.
Will Richardson talks about Three starting points to think differently about “Learning. In addition to “Thinning the Classroom Wall” and “Being Transparent”, he lists “Talking to Strangers” as one of the starting point!
Being able to connect and learn with strangers is an important skill for all of us, and especially for a generation that will be learning online for the rest of their lives.
The above image visualizes how we are taking learning about a country from only looking at a map and reading about it in a book to talking to a “stranger “who lives in that country. We still used the map and books for background knowledge and preparation, but information is amplified:
- Information comes from a primary source
- Information is fluid, not rigid, it will adjust to the questions the students have (a book will only hold the information that editors have decided on including and will not magically switch in front of your eyes
) - Information can take on directions, tailored to your students’ interests
- Information can
“Talking to Strangers” is a critical skill to possess. It contributes to information fluency. It so dramatically contrasts the drill we heard over and over again from our parents. We used to be taught “DON’T talk to strangers” and now need the skills to do precisely that.
Disclaimer: I am not talking about talking to a stranger in a dark alley at night!
The Magic of Learning http://t.co/hV2SIOzH via @langwitches
Thinking About Learning Differently- Talking to Strangers http://t.co/Ljb8QXhq
Thinking About Learning Differently- Talking to Strangers http://t.co/RJ9tvXQx via @langwitches
There are very few absolutes in life and never talking to strangers isn’t one of them either. I never told my own kids this as I always found traveling and meeting new people to be highly educational. People love absolutes and black and white rules, it makes life simpler.
Words like “never” and “always” make me perk up as I finding few ideas work with those as prefaces. Instead, as you’ve shared, there are many situations, circumstances and environments when talking to strangers is a wonderful thing. I’d suggest there are fewer situations where it is not. They exist but our tendency to focus on fear has cost us many opportunities to learn. Essentially, we’re awful at risk management.
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