Assessment comes in so many shapes and sizes! Recently, I received some unexpected feedback about Synergy 8 – an interdisciplinary, community-issues, PBL class that Jill Gough and I created and piloted with eighth graders this past fall semester.

Earlier this week, as I was reading in my GOOGLE RSS feed reader (I use Feeddler on iPad), I discovered a call for speakers for TEDxKids@BC. Being a huge fan and supporter of TEDx and David Wees, I tweeted the blog-post-call-for-speakers. Thinking specifically of two or three Synergy “grads,” I called their attention to the tweet with a mention. Via direct messaging, two of the Synergy team members scheduled a face-to-face to discuss possibilities, and then one followed up with an email showing her initial brainstorming about a proposal to speak at TEDxKids@BC. I am pasting the email below, with permission:

Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2011 11:09 AM

To: Jill Gough; Bo Adams

Subject: tedx kids ideas:

tedx kids ideas:

What should school look like?

(use synergy experience as example)

– discussion and question centered

– students as teachers too

– self assessments

– improvement and retention vs. Grades

– technology integrated

– find out what students and teachers think school is and what it should be/what they want it to be

Class room environment:??? (don’t rly know, this might be a totally irrelevant or repetitive tangent…)

– respect

– student involvement instead of teacher lecturing (students as teachers too)

– using technology to appeal to all kinds of learners and learning styles

– teach how they learn, and what they want to know not just for test

– cultivate a love of learning and subject (may be far out there)

Bisous 🙂

Live, Laugh, Love

Sent from my iPhone