Wenger and Forward reading

One of the quotes that caught my attention from Wenger’s article was on pg. 4, concerning the the nature of knowledge. It was her second point that made me stop and think for a moment about how knowledge can be defined “Knowledge is a matter of competence with respect to valued enterprises- such as singing in tune, discovering scientific facts, fixing machines, writing poetry…and so forth”. I felt this is a great way to think of defining knowledge to someone, especially to a student who may feel as though they are not knowledgeable. Not everyone can be smart at everything, but individuals can be knowledgeable about a hobby, way of doing something, or be knowledgeable about how things work, such as the mechanics example. I just felt inspired by this quote because there are times when I don’t feel very smart when doing something, such as math problems, and feel as though I’m not knowledgeable, but I now feel more confident in knowing for myself, and being able to encourage students, that just because they/I struggle in a course does not mean we lack knowledge, it’s just that we aren’t familiar with or are just having a little trouble with the struggles endured in that course, but we can feel confident knowing that we are full of knowledge in other areas of our lives. The other points Wenger brought up have been pretty genius as well, but this one struck a particular chord with me and made me aware of how knowledge can be defined.

Another quote I found intriguing to my current learning experience of teaching was on pg. 10, discussing how there is no one way of learning and that we should break the traditional learning style of lecturing to students. “What does look promising are inventive ways of engaging students in meaningful practices, providing access to resources that enhance their participation, opening their horizons so they can put themselves on learning trajectories they can identify with, and of involving them in actions, discussions, and reflections that can make a difference to the communities that they value”. What I liked about this quote is how it resonates with today’s learning styles and the fact that they are constantly evolving, especially when you include the many resources online. While there is still a lot of debate about the distractions with social media and video sites, that’s no reason to dismiss all the positive resources that are online for students. Utilizing those “distracting sites” could be something to consider using in a class room too. For example, if students are using laptops in the classroom and are working on a project that requires the use of that laptop, this would be a great opportunity to have students see the beneficial, and educational/social side of those sites. With Facebook being one of those distractions, let’s say you have a social studies class and want a public opinion. You can make a game out of these sites by having students post a question that is school related, see how many responses they get from that question, then do a blog post or short write on what they discovered from that question.

One of the benefits to learning and education now is that it is changing and there are so many sources, both educational, entertaining, and social wise, that can keep students involved. As we have discovered over time, the less interested a student is in what they are learning, the less engaged they will be and are not actually learning anything, which is detrimental to the student and teacher. It should be an experience where the teacher/professor is teaching something that students will walk away from the class with some knowledge of. I know, not every student is going to enjoy what they are learning in a class and it’s almost impossible to find a way to teach a subject that all students will learn from, but the more effort you put into finding an interactive or somewhat entertaining way, the more likely your students are to pay attention to you. As long as you can find a good balance between education and some form of entertainment, you will lead a successful class and your students will walk away from that class with at least a portion of what you were trying to engrave in their brains. That was a little bit of a rant, but I was mostly trying to point out/get at the fact that Wenger is discussing how we need to rethink about how we look at/define knowledge and learning and that we, as teachers, need to think outside the classroom box and get creative with how we educate students.