An Educated Person
For our first posting, think about the following questions:
What does it mean to be an “educated” person as opposed to a “schooled” person?
What type of curriculum would produce an “educated” person?
Discuss this with your partner and respond to this posting. Read the postings of the other group members when you are done.
Because the school’s server blocked our blog, we compiled our answers from our partner discussion on Word. The facilitator then posted the group answer.
Schooled vs Educated
Schooled
Forced to learn
Lack of application
Linear thinkers
Covering objectives
Educated
Want to learn
Application
Critical thinker – out of box
Engaged
Life long learner
What type of curriculum would produce an educated person?
1. Well rounded curriculum – all subject areas, including fine arts
2. higher order applicable material – relevance
3. learning connected to life – cross curricular
4. build on prior knowledge
5. measurable goals – flexible curriculum
An educated person has a passion for lifelong learning and could be considered a well-rounded individual who is capable of thinking outside the box. One may also associate the terms street and book smart with educated and schooled, respectively.
What if… instead of thinking outside the box, you try to teach your students to create their own box?
Okay, Okay, so let’s leave the definition of box open to the student – for some it may be a jack-in-the-box, for others maybe it’s a shoe box or a cardboard box and still others it may be a box of chocolates- because Tim, life is a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get!
I agree with Julie, but I think I would add that personal qualites and social skills, as well as experiences, should be included in a definition of “educated”. Julie is educated
Tim is schooled. (Just kidding)
Are we really helping our kids think outside the box if we continue to refer to it as a box instead of a circle or some other geometric shape. Couldn’t we also teach kids to think outside of the abschicken? On a more serious note, wouldn’t the students needs be better served if thinking outside of the box was incorporated into every lesson. In other words why do we view critical thinking as the exception to the rule rather than the rule itself?
You know the answer to the question you posed…. standardized testing, time constraints, and a million other reasons are why every lesson does not incorporate critical thinking. This is what separates the great teachers from the good ones and the average ones from the bad ones. The more critical we can get our kids to think and analyze and problem solve (any situation that comes up) the better job we have done as educators. That’s the answer that you already knew. ABSCHIKEN!
The “schooled” child is one who doesn’t want to play the game. The child thinks linearly (is that a word) and can’t grasp the big picture. There is no evidence of well-roundedness in their scheme of things. The “educated” child works hard, has goals, believes that all learning experiences are valuable, and wants to play the game. The educated child doesn’t want to just get by, but reaches outside of the box–oh my!
I meant ABSCHICKEN!!!!!!!!!!!
Our goal as teachers is to “educate’ our students. You want them to be critical thinkers; we want them to think outside the box. We should include lessons that engage students and require them to analyze things. They should create their own ideas and learn to make connections. A schooled person lacks in those abilities and can’t seem to stray away from their linear thinking.
Since I’m the last to comment on this topic, I think we are all correct in our beliefs of “educated” vs. a “schooled” student. As a teacher with more years outside of the classroom and a parent of children in their 20’s, I may look at this topic from a different point. I want to approach my teaching with some “fun”, “laughter” and “unexpected” moments. My hope would be that students in my class want to be “educated” – to want to learn more versus the “schooled”- who are required to be there and put in there time. I feel as an elementary teacher I can engage students enough for them to “find” something they want to learn more about and share with us what they’ve learned. This year I have 2 boys that I haven’t “found” something for them to “sink” their teeth into yet and motivate them: open for ideas.
Being in kindergarten my job is to create a learning environment that is not only full of creativity and imagination but provide my students with the tools to be critical thinkers and problem solvers. We work together as a class to create our classroom centers and then I add to them so that there is learninig involved. Yes we do play in kindergarten, but as all kindergarten teachers know we learn through play. We create an environment that connects and builds on the next environment. This my friends is what it means to be educated.
Could you see if I just set up my classroom with toys and said, OK class…PLAY TIME! Now there is your definition of schooled…or daycare!
Um Becki….are these boys into sports by chance?????