Thank you for the comment. I have actually had the good fortune to attend a couple of Marco’s presentations. Back in late 2004 he gave a presentation to about 25 teachers here in the library of our school. I know that he is a leading light for education and the application of meaningful technologies within the classroom and beyond.

Yet, questions such as the one that Marco posed to the teachers regarding knowledge and Google can put teachers offside. It certainly drew the attention of this old teacher and I am already a convert. I thought that it may have been provocative as you suggest in your comment Mathew yet I still feel a more diplomatic approach is required in order to win over the hearts and minds of more teachers with respect to the teaching tool that is technology. I personally adopt a diplomatic approach when providing professional development for teachers.

Your post and Tim’s post certainly made me think. Yes from time to time we switch to “sausage factory mode” and feed the students facts but there is a great deal of ‘storytelling’ and analysis in there as well.

Thanks very much for commenting Mathew and sharing your views. I apologise for incorrectly spelling your name in my original post above. I shall correct it now.

Best wishes, John

Marco is a teacher and a teacher advocate. You can hear more of him in a recent podcast by Wesley Fryer. Taking his question out of context, it might sound like he is criticizing teachers but I believe he is just being provocative. His larger body of work has never criticized teachers.

Bloggers by nature tend to be more reflective teachers so it’s possible that the question doesn’t apply to you personally as much. However, it does cause me to rethink and reevaluate my own teaching a bit. It does make me think of countless classrooms I’ve visited where students are simply memorizing facts. I think that’s what Marco is talking about.