The Vision for Get Your Learn On

I believe in four basic pillars of learning (Learning to Know, Learning to Do, Learning to Live Together, and Learning to Be). I learned about these pillars from reading Zhou’s book Toward a Learning Society: Building Four Pillars of Learning. Within the framework of these “four pillars of learning,” I invision seven principles that I feel best link technology and education together. The seven principles that I have identified are discovery, focus, collaboration, skill development, awareness, acquisition of knowledge imaginatively and creatively, and lastly continued growth towards future development in learning. I hope to apply these seven principles to the creation and development of this PLE site.  

It is my desire to create a PLE that serves as a meeting place for my students to learn about and explore my curriculum, Life Science. For 7^th graders, middle school can be a scary place and I want them to feel comfortable in my classroom and with my subject area. Since their social world is surrounded with technology, then what better way to offer them support than through the use of technology in and out of the classroom? It is my goal to offer my students a creative and fun environment in which to learn. I have been heavily influenced and impressed by the work of Dr. Wesch, and his work serves as a benchmark to what I hope to achieve with my own PLE.

As my site continues to grow and develop, like the grass at the bottom of the screen, I, too, hope to be able to help my students to grow and develop in their own learning experience. It is my goal to help my students to not only learn the required curriculum in my class, but to learn how to learn and to become inspired and motivated to take ownership in their own learning experience.

References:

Zhou, Nanzhao and Sun Yunxiao (2001). Toward a Learning Society: Building Four Pillars of Learning. Beijing: Beijing Press.