Addendum to 7-24-12: I dream a school…the “schoolification of the world.” Brilliant #TED #MustWatch

Posted on July 25, 2012 by boadams1

Education needs to work by pull, not push. – Charles Leadbeater

If you are interested in educational innovation, school reform, or learning enhancement, WATCH THIS! With all of the TED talks that I view, I have never seen this one – “Charles Leadbeater: Education innovation in the slums” [18:58]. It was captured over two years ago. Charles Leadbeater makes a compelling case for pull vs. push education.*

[To me, the story of how I found this is fascinating. After re-reading the first 16 sections of Seth Godin’s “Stop Stealing Dreams” for about an hour, as part of continuing research, I was exploring possible TEDx speakers. Within search engines and tools, I was grabbing combinations of “innovation” and other words. I stumbled upon Leadbeater’s April 2010 TED talk, and I was intrigued by the sidebar because of a recent podcast I has listened to about the Future of Cities and what we can learn from slum evolution. As I started listening to Leadbeater, I was blown away by the connections among Leadbeater’s stories and the way in which Godin begins “Stop Stealing Dreams” with the Harlem Village Academies.]

I dream a school – with a new way to begin on Day 1 #1st5Days #WhatIfWeekly

Posted on July 24, 2012 by boadams1

I dream a school…

With new ways to begin on day one and the first days of school. What if teachers staged a flashmob of sorts on the first days of school in 2012-13? As an entire profession, united as one, what if teachers put aside syllabi and course explanations, textbook distributions and notebook organization, grading policies and seating charts? What if we began with student voices and with listening to what they hope to learn and become. What if we did something like:

A Game Changer for First Day of Class, Grant Lichtman
Show and share interview and introduction – #DoDifferent and The Most Important 21st Century Skill #MCHunter, Jill Gough
What will you do the first five days of school?, Lisa Nielsen (First Five Days Theme Board pretty fascinating)

Perhaps we could start a movement…

I dream a school…that plays matchmaker between world issues and adolescent energy

Posted on July 23, 2012 by boadams1

Do you know about Innocentive? They match innovation needs with innovation providers – that whole demand and supply thing. In addition to doing great work, they also make a great metaphor for what school could be.

I believe schools could be structured this way.

Adolescent energy, resourcefulness, and desire to engage relevance
+
Issues of the world
_________________

Engaging curriculum that positively influences the world

Imagine the F=ma implications, in a social justice application of Newton’s Law, if a majority of schools employed the collective mass of our students…in integrated studies, project-based learning formats…to make huge dents in world issues. The size of that “additive amoeba” (think collecting broken up play-dough into one mass), could really make a difference. [Yes, I want to embed Kiran Bir Sethi’s TED talk right here, but I’m not gonna do it. Gonna use Jamie Drummond’s instead.]