Technolandy

Day 41 (of SOL 2025) Dear @shanesafir & @sjeducate 9/10 “spoilers” of edutoxins in Pedagogy of Voice: scarcity mindset

Dear Shane and Sawsan… in Pedagogies of Voice, you bring up “10 Toxins” carried in the form of signature practices and dscourses – here is a thought on:

9. Scarcity mindset

Looks Like:

• Pull-out interventions 
• Rote instruction to “boost skills” 
• Eliminating rigor to make learning more “accessible” 
• Content coverage: more is more

Sounds Like:

• “We have a lot to cover so please sit quietly and take notes.” 
• “No matter what we do, students have so many gaps we can never catch up.” 
• “It’s not my fault that they’re coming to me five levels below their grade. What am I supposed to do with that?”

Can Feel Like: 

The comment that the kids have ‘fallen behind’ because of the pandemic… but if everyone has ‘fallen behind’ – has anyone?? Well maybe when compared to some previously used standards… OR did it make us look at the standards a bit closer? Who watches the standards makers (Watchmen Graphic Novel Tease/Reference)??  Maybe we need to consider more what ‘learning’ is and what we do to measure it…  compare the ‘loss’ of some traditional (unused) skills vs what the learners are spending hours (and lots of rigor) on instead. 

Maybe the focus shouldn’t be about pre-determind ‘levels’, but engaging the scarceness of the “love of learning” that has been a trend (missing it – having to learn instead of ‘getting to!!’) seen in engagement