Reading Mitra’s (2012) conclusions regarding the role of the teacher in a Self-Organized Learning Environment (SOLE) where children are responsible for learning in a collaborative setting with almost zero intervention from the teacher, was a lesson in humility for me. Not only do students today have immediate access to limitless facts on the internet – which certainly does not require a teacher’s presence to access – but, Mitra also argues that students actually learn as much in a SOLE as they do in a traditional school setting with highly rated teachers (location 414). If students can access information online and can learn collaboratively without a trained teacher, then why am I entering into the teaching profession? How can I assist student learning in the age of technology?
Screen Shot (Mitra, 2012, location 588)
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Questions (Cornwell, 2011)
Mitra has a very clear answer: the role of the teacher is to stimulate learning by guiding students with challenging questions (2012, locations 573-579). Mitra states, “Computers can give out answers, but they cannot, as of yet, make questions” (2012, locations 587-588). As a teacher, my time is best spent creating questions that guide students to higher levels of critical thought. My inspiration for how to craft these questions is Bloom’s taxonomy of questions which progresses from prompting students to discover facts with knowledge-based questions, to challenging students to synthesize information and form evaluative judgments (Cornwell, 2011). I need to acknowledge with all humility that I will not know the answer to all of these questions, but I get the privilege of learning along with my students.
I had a break through moment with the Kindle application while writing this reflection: Kindle makes it easy to credit sources when copying text. I highlighted and copied a sentence, and Kindle automatically added an almost perfect citation to the end of the text when I pasted it into a word document. I was amazed and delighted with this. I double-checked and Kindle will add-on the citation whether you use keyboard short-cuts to copy and paste or the actual copy function on the screen. Since citations are time-consuming, I love this feature. In addition, I appreciate how Kindle is trying to limit plagiarism.
References
Cornwell, J. (2011, March 23) Bloom’s Taxonomy: Encouraging higher cognitive thinking in primary school classrooms [Blog post]. Retrieved from: https://juliaec.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/blooms-taxonomy-encouraging-higher-cognitive-thinking-in-primary-school-classrooms/
Mitra, S. (2012). Beyond the hole in the wall: Discover the power of self-organized learning. TED books. Kindle Edition.
Molly Petersen 
First, that’s pretty sweet about how it gave you the citation. I remember having trouble copying and pasting, but worth trying to figure out if it gives me the citation. Although, I also seem to have trouble with Kindle in general. I, like you, have been a bit cautious about Mitra’s writing (although mine is secondhand because I haven’t started reading this one yet) but I think he makes a great point about why there is still a need for teachers, even with all this technology. I think I need to get better at understanding and using Bloom’s Taxonomy. I’m looking forward to reading this one, thanks Molly!
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I think the best thing I learned from Mitra is that teachers need to get out of the way of student learning. Humans are naturally curious and what our students discover on their own will stay with them for a lifetime. As the teacher, I am there to guide them through the process, but not do the learning for them. If I remember that core tenet of human nature, then I think my teaching will be enhanced.
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Hi Molly,
I don’t believe that teachers will ever become obsolete. Although Mitra shows us that children can and do learn on their own, aside from the big questions teachers can ask to push them further, we are still human and can do things that machines cannot do for them. We can still see where a child is struggling in something and help them find a way to figure things out. We still have a wealth of life lessons that they have not yet gained which we can share with them. After all, isn’t it the teachers who have shared personal information about themselves that have shed light on something we didn’t know about as a kids the same ones who inspired us? They were those for me. I heard a fellow World Language teacher talk once about the threat of online classes taking over our positions but I also disagreed then. Nothing will replace the knowledge and warmth that a human being can bring to a student.
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