Powerful Humans

When Gutenberg invented the printing press people waited every 6 months for new material. Now we have the world wide web where new pages pop up every 10 seconds, yet still we decide to use our time playing video games and watching meaningless videos online. "Why do we need to know this? This is not something I will need as an adult." We have all heard this before at sometime or another. Is the student right? Is there a purpose for learning scientific notation or fundamental theorems of calculus? Is it the teachers job to make sure that the student knows how to solve the problems according to the steps? Could be. Or maybe its bigger than that. Maybe our job is teaching the students how to self advocate. Teaching the learners how to take control. Teaching the students that what matters is not how to follow the steps to get the right answer, but showing them how to build tools in order to analyze, be strategic, and work smarter - in all aspects of life. You can't teach common sense, but you can teach a kid how to become a responsible learner.   As teachers we must always remember that students will come and go. Many of them will most likely forget the things they learned as they get older. Those fine details in the classroom fade, but impressions will last forever. I want to give my students the impression that they can figure anything out. They will know that its OK to forget things, get answers wrong, or not even know where to begin. They will also know that nothing will be handed to them. If you want an answer, you have the world wide web at your fingertips. Let's teach our students how to learn.