#MustRead Shares (weekly)

Posted on October 13, 2013 by boadams1

In defense of failure – Unstuck

What if we (schools across U.S.) tried the stuff in the HGSE article (http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news-impact/2013/09/whats-the-big-idea/?show=all) and used the tips here to help us overcome our fear of the ideas failing? I bet we’d learn a lot by way of the Edu R&D!

tags: failure #MustRead
What’s the Big Idea? | Harvard Graduate School of Education

Big Hat Tip to @MrsACBragg
“When it comes to “improving” schools, students, and teachers, there’s no shortage of opinions out there on what won’t work. We wanted to know, what could work? For several months, we asked people to tell us one tangible education idea they had that was worth spreading. Some writers are connected to the Ed School, others aren’t. Yes, there’s even an idea from a Muppet. As you’ll see, a few ideas are slight twists on thoughts we’ve heard before; others are quirky and curious. All, we hope, will get you thinking.”

Read more: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news-impact/2013/09/whats-the-big-idea/#ixzz2hJ4nzpsh

tags: School Change schoolreform edchange edreform #MustRead ChangED
As ‘Above,’ So ‘Below’: Leadership as Learning at #EdLeader21′s PLC Event | chris.thinnes.me

Leading IS learning.

HT @GrantLichtman
Outstanding recap of work, progress, sharing at #edleader21 via @CurtisCFEE http://t.co/rvk8G69lD1 @kenkay21 So many brushfires burning!

tags: edleader21 #MustRead Leadership
Part of the untold iPhone story

Not getting it perfect, but prototyping to learn and improve. A part of a case study re: iPhone.

HT @TylerThigpen
Reminds me of putting together #TDed http://t.co/o7eN8lcPoC @EmilyBreite @boadams1 @TJEdwards62 @TheRealJamCam @StrotherZach @KristynGatesA

tags: TDed #MustRead Design Prototyping failup

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

#MustRead Shares (weekly)

Posted on September 29, 2013 by boadams1

http://gallery.mailchimp.com/1c0d4e804119eeb06349e3ead/files/AJCArticle9.22.13.pdf?utm_source=2013-2014+MVPS+News+Service&utm_campaign=df3151cd7b-MVPS_Today12_10_2012&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_52232d4585-df3151cd7b-73110301

tags: learningspaces learning environment space mvpschool #MustRead

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

#MustRead Shares (weekly)

Posted on September 22, 2013 by boadams1

Young People Are the Geniuses Who Change the World | Switch and Shift

“At Choose2Matter, our opening line in speaking to young adults is “You Are a Genius, and the World Needs Your Contribution.” Next, we tell them they can change the world.
Why do we say this?”

Brief profiles of young people CHANGING the world, not just being prepared to change the world. This could BE SCHOOL!
Young People Are the Geniuses Who Change the World http://t.co/pwLs4NB3wV Look @boadams1 @jbrettjacobsen @GrantLichtman design in action

tags: #MustRead Curriculum Education3pt0
Making Education More Like Real Life Through Design Thinking | Lee-Anne Gray Psy.D

“Mary Cantwell, Design Thinking Coordinator and IT Faculty Support at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School (MVPS) in Atlanta GA has greatly influenced my thinking about design thinking (DT). A coach at Stanford’s D school program, she created DEEP: Discover, Explore, Experiment, and Produce as her DT platform at MVPS. Design thinking involves immersing students in what she calls situations for discovery.”

tags: design thinking design thinking designthinking #MustRead real-life real-world
Cultivating Innovators in Independent Schools | The Puzzle

Greg Bamford offers strong encouragement for realizing the potential of innovation in independent schools. (Of course, great advice and truth apply to more than just one sector.)
@boadams1 @jgough @lottascales @HillbrookHOS @romano47 Thought you’d be interested in my new post on #indyschools: http://t.co/JP3vnMcUIy

tags: indyschools innovation real-world motivation #MustRead
The Real Education Reform Choice: Democracy or a Doctrine of Repression | Education on GOOD

Reading @CurtisCFEE’s superb post GOOD Lite:The Real Education Reform Choice: Democracy or a Doctrine of Repression http://t.co/2JXUuJi21O

“our facilitation of more authentic learning, and our design of more authentic policy, will emerge from the restoration at every level—from our classrooms, to our capitals—of an understanding of the purpose of education in, and for, our democracy.”

tags: education reform democracy #MustRead

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

Human-Centered and Relational

Posted on September 20, 2013 by boadams1

From Dr. Lee-Anne Gray, “Making Education More Like Real Life Through Design Thinking,” Huffington Post, 9/18/2013

Design thinking asks students to become investigators in their world, attempt to solve problems, bridge gaps of knowledge independently, collaboratively, and resourcefully.

From Tyler Thigpen, “Taking a Relationship-Centered Approach to Education,” Education Week, 9/10/2013

What if schools used real-world scenarios to teach? What if learning were tied to complex problem-solving? What if students graduated from high school knowing how to negotiate peace treaties, stimulate depressed economies, and reduce obesity rates in America?

Now imagine a school where students and teachers decided collaboratively that the future of energy, the problem of inadequate access to safe drinking water, and the issues surrounding genetically modified organisms were among the topics of study. In this model, students would be taught to use skills and knowledge from the traditional disciplines—math, science, English, social studies, and so on—to take steps toward scaling and solving aspects of these complex issues. Teachers would work together, leveraging their content expertise in service of a problem. Students would navigate complex, unpredictable situations using a multitude of educational resources. This real-world problem-solving approach would partner with expert field practitioners, community members, research scientists, political leaders, and business owners, all showing students ways of addressing the pressing problems facing the world, from the local to the global.

“Design Thinking” and “Transdisciplinary Education” may be called buzzwords and trends by some. For me, they are long overdue innovations in the school world that promote and empower relevant, real-world solution seeking as the foundations and trunk lines of time spent in school. School should be life. School is life.

At their core, #DT and #TDed are about the corps. The people. Design thinking and transdisciplinary education are human centered and relational. They are about inquiry, empathy, and impact.

@MVPSchool is about #DT and #TDed. #ILoveMySchool

What an honor it has been to see the core/corps of our school discussed in Education Week and The Huffington Post these past few days. Thank you.

#MustRead Shares (weekly)

Posted on September 15, 2013 by boadams1

Unstuck iPad app – How to live better every day – Unstuck

“Creativity is innate in all of us. It helps us define who we are, how we live, how we can make life better every day. But somewhere between sculpting Play Doh and applying for our first job, many of us get the message that creativity is a rarified trait, possessed by only a lucky few. The team at Unstuck is here to tell you otherwise.”

tags: Creativity #MustRead
Soft skills and hard – Krypton Community College

“Do successful people learn hard skills (differential calculus, advanced Spanish, Ruby on Rails) and then go on to learn the soft stuff (connection, innovation, humility, initiative, the ability to ship work that matters) or does it happen the other way around?

I think the answer has shifted, and just recently.”

tags: Seth Godin Future of Learning future of schools school model curriculum time space #MustRead
Education Week: Taking a Relationship-Centered Approach to Education

“Let’s play “what if” for a second.

“What if schools used real-world scenarios to teach? What if learning were tied to complex problem-solving? What if students graduated from high school knowing how to negotiate peace treaties, stimulate depressed economies, and reduce obesity rates in America?

“Now imagine a school where students and teachers decided collaboratively that the future of energy, the problem of inadequate access to safe drinking water, and the issues surrounding genetically modified organisms were among the topics of study.”

tags: transdisciplinary TDed #MustRead curriculum relationship real-world
Scarcity and abundance in education – Krypton Community College

tags: scarcity abundance education Seth Godin school model time curriculum instruction #MustRead
Don’t Let FOMO Affect You As a Pro – Explore. Create. Repeat. – by 4ormat

An important read for educational innovators and creatives. How does one find balance when there is such easy access to so many compelling opportunities and learning possibilities? How does one decide what to say “No” to, so that what one says “Yes” to can be fully embraced?

tags: FOMO QOL #MustRead Leadership balance