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faltering, flatenning, fascinating
Flat. The dictionary definition:
1. horizontally level: a flat roof.
2. level, even, or without unevenness of surface
My experience with the Flat Classroom project has twisted that definition just a bit. Students are very uneven, rarely living without an uneven surface. Teachers are perhaps a bit more even simply by the nature of teaching and life experience, but uneven in perspectives.
The process begins with students and teachers who have just met, put rapidly into working groups. Hitting the very level ground quickly to identify backgrounds, experiences, expertise and do all those so uneven human things we do when beginning a new relationship. The concept, task and process identified, its time to dig in to flatten the digital divide.
Our teacher group saw the digital divide not as the Continental divide; more like a DNA strand with access, awareness and experience all in varying quantities. Our group's digital DNA included varied chronologies, cultural backgrounds, language, technology experience. We were not flat. Our flattening came through listening, agreeing, and sharing.
The flat classroom project is not about creating a flat sameness from the peaks of diversity. It is about recognizing diversity and weaving it into a shared vision of how a problem can be solved. It is learning what it means to be even in understanding and experience and use that to create something new and uneven.
Flat isn't flat anymore.
1. horizontally level: a flat roof.
2. level, even, or without unevenness of surface
My experience with the Flat Classroom project has twisted that definition just a bit. Students are very uneven, rarely living without an uneven surface. Teachers are perhaps a bit more even simply by the nature of teaching and life experience, but uneven in perspectives.
The process begins with students and teachers who have just met, put rapidly into working groups. Hitting the very level ground quickly to identify backgrounds, experiences, expertise and do all those so uneven human things we do when beginning a new relationship. The concept, task and process identified, its time to dig in to flatten the digital divide.
Our teacher group saw the digital divide not as the Continental divide; more like a DNA strand with access, awareness and experience all in varying quantities. Our group's digital DNA included varied chronologies, cultural backgrounds, language, technology experience. We were not flat. Our flattening came through listening, agreeing, and sharing.
The flat classroom project is not about creating a flat sameness from the peaks of diversity. It is about recognizing diversity and weaving it into a shared vision of how a problem can be solved. It is learning what it means to be even in understanding and experience and use that to create something new and uneven.
Flat isn't flat anymore.
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Comment by Julie Lindsay on September 20, 2009 at 1:17pm -
Thanks Saundra for your interesting perspective! I love your term 'Flat isn't flat anymore'. Thanks for being a such a great member of the workshop! We certainly saw some amazing outcomes.
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Julie Lindsay posted a blog postFlat Classroom Workshop 2012 - Mumbai, India - Thanks Everyone!
What a wonderful event! Thank you to teachers and students who worked hard and achieved so much in 3 short days. Here we all are in the picture with our purple Flat Classroom T-Shirts.We are delighted to announce that, after an international vote,…See More
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