• 3 Things Parents Wish Teachers Knew: We Can Handle the Truth – NYTimes.com

  tags: homework conferences #MustRead

• The tyranny of the curriculum: Shawn Cornally at TEDxEastsidePrep – YouTube

  Shawn Cornally shares BIG – the school he helped open in Iowa. It’s amazing. Significantly student-centered. Aligned with “real-life” learning. “http://youtu.be/aldMBgT6u-4”

  tags: innovation iDiploma #MustRead Synergy ShawnCornally BIG student centered transdisciplinary real-world ActionEd

• 6 Changes That Will Make You More Imaginative | Fast Company | Business + Innovation

  HT @MeghanCureton

  tags: innovation imagination #MustRead

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• The Stereotypes That Distort How Americans Teach and Learn Math – Jo Boaler – The Atlantic

  “All of my research studies have shown that when mathematics is opened up and broader math is taught—math that includes problem solving, reasoning, representing ideas in multiple forms, and question asking—students perform at higher levels, more students take advanced mathematics, and achievement is more equitable.”

  tags: math commoncore Common_Core JoBoaler mindset #MustRead

  • When all aspects of mathematics are encouraged, rather than procedure execution alone, many more students contribute and feel valued.
  • I refer to this broadening and opening of the mathematics taught in classrooms as mathematical democratization. When we open mathematics we also open the doors of math achievement and many more students succeed.
  • In mathematics education we suffer from the widespread, distinctly American idea that only some people can be “math people.” This idea has been disproved by scientific research showing the incredible potential of the brain to grow and adapt.

• Expose and Own Your Failures – Explore Create Repeat – by 4ormat

  tags: failure success feedback assessment #MustRead

• Does Teaching Kids To Get ‘Gritty’ Help Them Get Ahead? : NPR

  In the sixth paragraph from the END of the article, I think the reporter finally gets to a fundamental, key aspect – making space for learners to pursue their passions and interests and curiosities!

  tags: Grit mindset #MustRead

  • “I don’t think people can become truly gritty and great at things they don’t love,” Duckworth says. “So when we try to develop grit in kids, we also need to find and help them cultivate their passions. That’s as much a part of the equation here as the hard work and the persistence.”
  • It’s a little bit of a chicken-and-egg kind of question. Passion may drive kids to be gritty, but being gritty and able to tolerate failure also enables kids to develop and pursue a passion.

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• Letter Grades Deserve an ‘F’ – Jessica Lahey – The Atlantic

  A really good, quick piece on grading, assessment, and standards-based learning. Contains some worthwhile links and interesting comments to explore and dig deeper. HT @meghancureton

  tags: assessment grades standards sbg grading learning #MustRead commoncore Common_Core learningoutcomes

  • The goal in her classroom is no longer points or grades, but mastery. Students are held accountable not for the maximum points total assigned to a homework set, but for mastery of the concepts it contains.
  • Teaching and learning with an eye toward mastery of a defined list of competencies circumvents many of the pitfalls that points-based grading causes.

• Playful learning: Where a rich curriculum meets a playful pedagogy | Preschool Matters… Today!

  “The Capulets and Montagues of early childhood have long battled over their vision for a perfect preschool education.  Should young children be immersed in a core curriculum replete with numbers and letters or in a playful context that stimulates creative discovery?  The ‘preschool war’ leaves educators torn and embattled politicians in deadlock.  Playful learning offers one way to reframe the debate by nesting a rich core curriculum within a playful pedagogy.”

  HT @kellyBKelly2001

  tags: preschool play play-based playful learning #MustRead

  • Playful learning is a whole-child approach to education that includes both free play and guided play.
  • It refers to play in a structured environment around a general curricular goal that is designed to stimulate children’s natural curiosity, exploration, and play with learning-oriented materials.[xxii]  In guided play, learning remains child-directed. This is a key point.  Children learn targeted information through exploration of a well-designed and structured environment (e.g. Montessori[xxiii]) and through the support of adults who ask open-ended questions to gently guide the child’s exploration.
  • Guided play allows children to become engaged; didactic instruction helps them memorize but not transfer what they have learned.
  • Guided play helps constrain what children should be focusing on; free play leaves the field too open and does not help children focus on the target outcomes.
  • It is possible to have a curriculum rich in learning goals that is delivered in a playful pedagogy.

• Design Thinking: Tools to help make thinking visible \ The Lab

  “The British science, technology and arts research organisation Nesta, along with European social innovation experts, have pulled together their top 30 tools for social innovation. Many of them have immediate uses for helping plan and structure design thinking activities in the classroom. We explain some of those that have the most immediate value for learning.”

  HT @jbrettjacobsen

  tags: designthinking design thinking design_thinking innovation social entrepreneurship iDiploma #MustRead

• The Disturbing Transformation of Kindergarten | TRUTH ABOUT EDUCATION

  “hey are hyper-focused on how students perform, but they ignore how students learn”

  tags: kindergarten play #MustRead

  • they are hyper-focused on how students perform, but they ignore how students learn
  • How can teachers hold all children to the same standards when they are not all the same?
  • Play is essential in kindergarten
  • There is a wide range of acceptable developmental levels in kindergarten; so a fluid classroom enables teachers to observe where each child is and adjust the curriculum accordingly.
  • if we want our youngest to actually learn, we will demand the return of developmentally appropriate kindergarten.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

• Zero-Based Strategic Thinking

  tags: School Change transformation innovation mutation grantlichtman #MustRead Strategy

• What Keeps Students Motivated to Learn? | MindShift

  tags: motivation #MustRead Student Voice PBL

• Show Your Work: Austin Kleon on the Art of Getting Noticed | Brain Pickings

  “The best way to get started on the path to sharing your work is to think about what you want to learn, and make a commitment to learning it in front of others.”

  tags: creativity innovation genius #MustRead sharing

• swissmiss | Specialization

  tags: #MustRead

• Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Crucial Difference Between Success and Mastery | Brain Pickings

  tags: creativity failure mastery #MustRead

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

• 10 Books to Inspire Innovation in the Classroom – ThingLink

  tags: innovation #MustRead

• d.school: the whiteboard | Drop the design-thinking crutches

  “It’s not design thinking that the world needs; it’s design thinkers” #dtk12chat http://t.co/dDx1ichypS

  tags: dtk12chat designthinking design thinking #MustRead

  • we practice design thinking as an underlying principle, not as a process
  • So don’t focus on whether you’re adhering to the design-thinking process; focus instead on restoring your creative function

• The Critical Few: Components of a Truly Effective Culture

  Fantastic read on affecting organizational culture.

  tags: culture #MustRead

  • To sustain such a culture, Southwest and other enterprises understand that key behaviors have to be actively managed and made visible.
  • A keystone habit, Duhigg has noted, is “a pattern that has the power to start a chain reaction, changing other habits as it moves through an organization.” Companies that recognize and encourage such habits stand to build cultures with influence that goes beyond employee engagement and directly boosts performance.
  • companies that eschew all-encompassing culture change initiatives and instead focus on three specific elements—critical behaviors, existing cultural traits, and critical informal leaders—have the most success.

• The Montessori Mafia – Ideas Market – WSJ

  tags: #MustRead iDiploma montessori DisruptEdu

• Choosing the Right Metrics for Success – Explore Create Repeat – by 4ormat

  “It’s important to know that your sense of professional success is defined by the parameters you set. Choosing the right metrics means knowing how and when to best measure yourself, and that can provide you with the self-driven momentum to exceed even your highest expectations for your career.”

  tags: success metrics iDiploma #MustRead

• Predicting education trends: #BLC13 & #BLC10 compared | A Stick in the Sand

  tags: trends #MustRead

• Video: Full Episode | Watch Is School Enough? Online | PBS Video

  ” importance of breaking out of the classroom and connecting students to the wider world.”

  tags: real-world real-life School Change iDiploma #MustRead #MustWatch

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