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Learning Manifesto

Learning Manifesto: A new perspective on public education

Bryant Ton
Lamar University

Learning Manifesto

After every year of teaching, my learning philosophy and perspective on education

changes ever so slightly. As a teacher, I have tried to put students learning and needs first.
Because I teach mathematics at the high school level, I often have students who claim that they
hate math, or are bad at math, and it is these students that I often look after the most. When I
initially sought out to become an educator, I believed that intelligence and able-ness were
attributes of a person that were dictated from birth. That is, a person cannot change his or her
intelligence or ability. After several years of teaching, and just a mere three weeks into a masters
program at Lamar University, my views have completely flipped. I now consider myself a firm
believer in the growth mindset ideology, which essentially states that my preconceived notions
of learning are false. Every person, despite their background, can improve their capabilities,
whether they are in the classroom or out in the field. I take this philosophy to heart, but I have
tried applying the growth mindset in my everyday life as well. As I am tackling tasks and
assignments with the growth mindset, I start to see how a simple perspective shift can make a
whole world of different. I suppose that on a deeper level I always knew this. After all, I decided
to join Lamar Universitys Digital Leading and Learning program because I wanted to learn
more about technology, and because I wanted to feel more relevant. I have always found great
pleasure in sharing the world through teaching, and it is my greatest passion. I know that at the
end of my journey through the masters program, I will have gained the knowledge and skills
necessary to take learning to a new level in the United States public school classrooms.

In todays age, there are often discussion regarding differing countrys education levels.
You will often see Twitter users boast their home countrys education rating and compare to
others. It is not uncommon nowadays to see others ridiculing our countrys education system and

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rating. We are often touted as uneducated by our foreign peers. Several online news sites, such as
TheGuardian.com, has summarized and interpreted the 2009 World Education Ranking scores of
the most educated countries based on data obtained by OECD.org, an organization that serves as
a global political website. According to the data, the United States ranks in at about 17th, behind
Japan, Poland, and Iceland. For a country that boasts itself and prides itself so often, we may
soon have to reassess what, exactly, we are proud about. I do not mean to say that we are low, or
that we should stay so. I bring up these facts because I believe that there is always room for
improvement. Despite all the confounding variables that play a part in a countrys education
rating, the education system undoubtedly plays a big role. I believe that with proper restructure
of the system, and effective integration of technology in the public schools can result in massive
improvement levels in education.

In Japan, every one of the 24 prefectures boast some type of education center that allows
its people to learn and explore technology and technology/industry related topics. Several of
these departments also allow teacher retraining, assistance in improvement of teaching materials
and teaching practices as it pertains to education in the classroom. Perhaps the United States, or
even California can benefit from such a utility. Because technology is so new and typically
foreign for many of our veteran teachers, many of them will retire or outright dismiss technology
due to lack of understanding. With training readily available and paid for, perhaps, these teachers
will open up, and change their mind.

One of the biggest issues holding a shift in education back, at least in my district, is a
severe lack of funding for technology in the classroom. While every site has some sort of

Learning Manifesto

computer lab, the technology is outdated and slowmany students wait up to five minute before
they can actually do anything. When compared to todays advanced and ultra-responsive smart
phones, these computers seem obsolete. As a result, these slow, unresponsive, and archaic tools
may actually hinder student interest. In addition to the computer labs, about 10 teachers of 150
have chrome books in their classroom. While these notebooks are shared, it is not convenient,
nor practical, all the time to share and borrow them. It may also be worth mentioning that class
sizes are simply too large. There are up to 38 people in a single classroom where collaborative
conservations and discussions should be taken place. Often times, it becomes too loud and
distracting for effective discussion and thinking. Ideally, class sizes should be smaller. Based on
research conducted by Mitchell and Mitchell in 1999, smaller class sizes will, in fact, lead to
positive gains in student achievement. The summary of the research goes on to imply that class
sizes should ideally be below 20 students.

Throughout the course, I have been alluding to the problems that the current education
system faces. Here are some more notable things that I feel need change: There is too much of an
emphasis on the letter mark that students receive at the end of each semester. I feel like the
arbitrary letter is indicative of a students learning achievements in the classroom. School almost
becomes a game where projects and extra credit are heralded as they often bring up students
grades. It also puts less emphasis on learning, and more emphasis on playing the system. For
example, often times, students will choose an easy teacher over one that may be better
qualified to teach a particular subject, but deemed hard. In such a case, the student is foregoing
a better instructor for a chance to receive a higher grade in the course. Another criticism is the
lack of effective use of technology in the classroom in our district. While some of our teachers

Learning Manifesto

have access to Chromebooks, including myself, many of us have not yet received enough
training to effectively integrate the Chromebooks into our curriculum. There is one math course
so far, Agile Minds, that is a double block math class for struggling students. This is the only
class so far that has technology fully integrated into the course. Based on anecdotal evidence,
however, the attempted meld between the math and technology has not been fully fleshed out,
and feels experimental. In my own classes, so far, I have only had students use the
Chromebooks for the web browsing capabilities. I am however, conscience of this, and want to
be able to do more with the limited technology available. The last thing that I want to mention
comes from Sir Ken Robinson, a British author, who delivered a TED talk on his views on
current education. In his eyes, education is not where it should be due to several reasons. In the
video, he half-joking remarks that the current education system produces university professors.
In my opinion, he is implying that schools should not only cater to those who seek achievement
in academia and improvement academic ability; they schools should also cater to students who
seek practical and career specific skills and knowledge. I want to quote him, The whole system
of public education... is a protracted process of university entrance, he puts, so well, how
there is too much of an emphasis on letter grades, and their importance on university acceptance.

One of my biggest, wildly important goal these next two years is to fully integrate the
effective use of technology into my classroom. Technology can mean a plethora of things, yes,
but I want to focus on the use of Chromebooks, students' cellphones, and interactive applets and
media. Although I have experimented with going to the computer lab to play with applets and
other learning tools, I have still not effectively utilized Chromebooks in the classroom. This is
mostly because I have not yet developed or found an effective and interactive learning tool or

Learning Manifesto

module that can streamline learning using technology. I do not want to find myself letting
students "loose" by assigning them online assignments, games, or adaptive technology. I want to
use it as a learning tool, as opposed a means of completing work. Currently, I am reading Using
Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works by Howard Pitler. In his text, the author
offers the basis of what technology in the classroom should entail. He also details how
cooperative learning can be used in conjunction with technology, and I am hoping to incorporate
some of his ideas in the classroom. So far, the text has been easy to read, but I crave much more.
Ultimately, in order to achieve true effective use of technology in the classroom, I believe that
there must be proper training given by experts to teachers who are willing to learn and
determined to usher education into a new digital light.

Learning Manifesto

References:

Dillon, Naomi (2005, April 5) Class Size and Student Achievement At a Glance. Retrieved from
http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Organizing-a-school/Class-size-andstudent-achievement-At-a-glance/Class-size-and-student-achievement-Research-review.html

Murata, Shoji; Stern, Sam (1993, Fall) Technology Education in Japan, 5. Retrieved from
https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v5n1/murata.jte-v5n1.html

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that
works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Robinson, Ken (2007, Jan 6) Do Schools Kill Creativity? Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Shephard, Jessica (2010, December 7) World education rankings: Which Country Does Best at
Reading, Maths, and Science? Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-mathsscience-reading

Schleicher, Andreas; Davidson, Michael (2013) PISA 2012 Results US. Retrieved from
https://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/PISA-2012-results-US.pdf