Monday, January 31, 2011

I was a closet optimist...

Wrong Way
Flickr photo via KungPaoCajun
 I am grateful for those who set me straight on why we can't get things done.

Their wisdom informs me that we must see the negative side of issues before the positive.

I've learned not to think too much to avoid possibility.      

The pessimism they share keeps me from taking risks that lead down unfamiliar paths.

After all, learning and living should be safe and predictable. Cognitive dissonance makes people feel uncomfortable so we shouldn't cram too many conflicting ideas into our heads.

We don't want to think differently; we just need to stay our course- no extras.

Things are way too intangible outside the box.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

"EduKare"- A new paradigm for struggling urban schools...

Education reform is a hot topic. The media is all over it. So many stories, editorials, features, columns and documentaries revolve around the "drop-out factories," as some urban schools are infamously referred to, and what kinds of educational leadership tactics can be put in place to reform these institutions and their practice. I've been wondering when all this talk is going to turn into something tangible that will actually reform the way we teach and learn.

Michael Josefowicz (@ToughLoveforX), one of the key idea-tappers at #ecosys (Twitter chat every Wednesday at 9:00 EST) and I have been discussing some radical improvement possibilities for the so-called drop out factories of large, urban centers in North America. Michael is from Brooklyn and knows a thing or two about urban issues, and I have a lot of respect for his point of view. We're using the term EduKare to describe a very new and different perspective toward teaching and learning in our most challenging urban environments.

Monday, January 17, 2011

The Ultimate Reflective Question...

 
Like many educators across the globe since the dawn of 2011, I’ve been reflecting on stuff. As one who views change as the process of perpetual improvement, I’m not sure I buy into the whole resolution thing, but nonetheless the start of a new year seems to nudge me into a reflective mood… not a bad thing. In a professional context, I’ve been thinking about my practice, my career, my school, what I’m reading, my PLN and a host of other things related to teaching. The thing I want to talk about here though came to me as I was reading a fascinating book over the break that my wife bought me; “Being Wrong- Adventures in the Margin of Error” by Kathryn Shultz. Now that you’ve stopped laughing, let me share some of the brilliance in this book.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Mastery is a Myth


We need to challenge individuals by continuously raising the learning bar- mastery in learning is a myth.

Learning is continuous growth fueled by wonderment leading to discovery.When we place arbitrary benchmarks on any learning continuum, and then deem one on the high end of the continuum to be mastery, we do a disservice to learning. The most profoundly intelligent among us are those who understand implicitly that they have everything to learn. The term mastery by definition connotes exactly the opposite of this idea...
-mastery [ˈmɑːstərɪ]
n pl -teries
1. full command or understanding of a subject
2. outstanding skill; expertise
3. the power of command; control
4. victory or superiority
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
With the exception perhaps of definition number two, mastery in the context of learning seems to connote control, command, power and superiority; elements contrary to the idea that no matter how much we think we know, pushing the parameters of discovery requires curiosity, humility and the perspective that there are no limits to how much we can learn.

There are no objective definitions of failure, therefore there should be no objective definitions of success. In learning, mastery is a myth.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

What you see isn't always what you get...


The question is iconic... "what do you want to be when you grow up?" Perhaps there are those of the opinion that we ask this question in school too early, and maybe even too often adding stress to the minds of young people who have enough on their plate just handling the pressures of school. The fact remains, however, that all children will do something when they grow up requiring the unique skills and abilities they develop throughout their lives, and teachers play an important in this development.

Thinking of this development as each child's story is one way to approach our challenge to support and nurture it. We start hearing from our writing teachers very early in school that the best writing comes from our own experiences. What if our students began documenting their learning stories in kindergarten, and continued to write them all the way through to graduation? I mean actually writing them down. The story would read and look differently over time, but that's what we would intend to happen.

For our students, these stories would be a meta-reflective, continuously evolving assessment of where they've been, where they are and where they want to go in life and school; their hopes and dreams would jump off the page like postcards predicting the future. For their teachers, these stories would be the assessment lens we use to gaze at our students strengths, glance at their weaknesses and analyze where we think we can support them in writing the next chapter. If authentic assessment is that which carefully considers the perspective of the learner while striving to make learning relevant and engaging, then I can't think of an easier way to tap the private logic of kids than simply asking them to tell us their stories, from their point of view.

Simply sharing our student's stories, celebrating them, using them as catalysts for personalized learning and competency development is an opportunity teachers should leverage in support of each one of them.
Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

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