One-click learning

Faster Internet speed. Download instantly. One-click shopping. Overnight shipping.

None of those things is bad. There is no good reason for slower Internet, difficult downloading, hours of shopping in stores, and waiting weeks for a delivery.

But if this is the mentality of our society today, how do we see that trickle into education? Maybe that question could be phrased better: how have we seen this trickle into education?

We have all of the knowledge in the world at our fingertips, as long as we have functioning technology. We need the fast Internet speed and instant downloads. One-stop shopping means shared lesson plans and materials. No shipping needed with an instant download of a unit plan, including the test (with answers).

Does this make room for more time? Or less? Certainly math hasn't changed over the course of time, but all we hear is, "I don't have time to do that." "That", in this context, could mean any number of things: reading, research, writing, thinking, stretching.

We want everything fast. And that includes learning.

However, this has not been the human strategy until the last 5-10 years or so. I'm no brain expert, but it seems like we weren't built to learn everything possible in the 10 minutes we give it. How many times have teachers presented new concepts to students only to complain in the teachers' lounge during lunch that they'll never get it? The kid in the 3rd row still doesn't understand last week's lesson. Jimmy always asks 40 questions. Sally is absent twice a week. And Joe just takes his time, learning when he feels like it.

It took me years to learn how to write. YEARS. Not a block period of 90 minutes with a smartphone, interactive handout, and an exit slip. And I had to be allowed to mess up. Make mistakes. Completely do the wrong thing. And then I had to get yelled at so I knew I did something wrong. And by "yelled at," I mean lots and lots of pen marks (I never had a teacher use a red pen. That's a myth.).

I feel like we have lost this in my little world of experience in education during the past 10 years. Room to breathe. Think. Stretch minds. Make mistakes. All of that should be okay.

That's where real learning lies. But it takes courage. And we don't live in a world in which it's acceptable to make mistakes. There are too many standardized tests at stake.

In my classroom, I tried to cultivate an atmosphere of happy mistakes. You congratulate a student and say, "Hey, at least you tried! Now try again." My goal was not for them to be experts by the time they left my classroom; on the contrary, I usually told them on the last day of school that they had only just begun, that my classroom was one stepping stone.

You can't one-click download long-term, authentic learning, enthusiasm, and intelligence. No, there is no app for that.