I caught up with this idea last Friday morning on an early morning blog run and it stuck with me all day. I want my classroom to change, to evolve into something new. But I often struggle with the language of what that other thing is. What do I actually believe about education? I fought with my manifesto and now share it here.

Teaching and Learning are about Forming Networks
To be a  teacher means to be a learner as well. One of the key roles of teachers is to be a connector, a networker, helping students connect with content, with information, and with other learners who have new perspectives no matter where they are located on the globe. Understanding the dynamics of networks as living organisms is vital for both teachers and learners.

New Tools Give us New Channels
 No two learners are alike. We all have channels we prefer. Essays, blogging, podcasting, wikis, email, instant messenger conversations, and videos are all legitimate and equal channels for communication. They open up learning in time and space. They give learners the opportunity to have an audience and become a community. Being literate in today’s society requires us to interact with others around the globe in ways that are meaningful, authentic, culturally aware, and globally appropriate.

Ideas are Viral
Ideas spread from learner to learner. The more channels that learners are empowered to use, the more opportunities we have for change and for seeing information from different perspectives. Ideas need to be evaluated, remixed, rethought, and reconsidered. Ideas should need the opportunity to grow and spread, levelling power structures and enabling conversations.

Pursuing Your Own Goals
There are few thing more empowering then working on something you are authentically interested in. Hours of research, the relentless pursuit of information and excellence, and the absolute need to share what you know with others and learn from them are a few of the benefits. Yet in classrooms, we continue to pile information onto kids “just in case” they may, at some point in their life need to know things. Instead, we need to move towards “just in time” learning.

The Gatekeepers are Gone
Giving kids textbooks that are ten years out of date is not only wrong, but it is bordering on negligent. Students can access information online that is racist, hurtful, or perfectly false. They also have the opportunity to post information online and gain an international audience. As one of the grade seven girls in my class told me last year, “you don’t have to be a rich old guy from New York anymore.”

Clarence is a teacher based in Canada, who writes about his interest in the effect of technology on literacy and learning, the possibilites offered by virtual worlds, and efforts to nurture learning communities in his Remote Access blog .