• What I Learned Today | A teacher modeling empathetic global engagement

  Want an INCREDIBLE example of curiosity-based, journey-driven learning? Follow Steve Goldberg’s blog. Instead of bucket-ing curriculum in siloed subject areas, what if (at least part of) the school day launched from current events as a means for deep, integrated, transdisciplinary learning?!

  tags: PBL DeeperLearning #MustRead

• What Schools Can Learn From Google, IDEO, and Pixar | Co.Design | business + design

  Great piece on innovation, project-based learning, and the spaces that help energize such work and learning.
  HT @TJEdwards62

  tags: #mustread pbl space learning environment school model innovation google ideo pixar collaboration

  • What would it mean for schools to have a culture centered on design thinking and interdisciplinary projects instead of siloed subjects? What if the process of education were as intentionally crafted as the products of education (i.e., we always think about the book report or the final project, but not the path to get there). What if teachers were treated as designers?
  • philosophy behind the design reveals something deeper — that its layout was designed to foster “forced collisions of people,” because “the best meetings were meetings that happened spontaneously in the hallway.”
  • Imagine what could happen if the advanced physics student and the photography student had meaningful collisions in the average American high school. What if they did by design — if their classwork wove together diverse content and skills intentionally and elegantly? What would young people see as possible? They might come to understand that the lines between music, math, physics, and art are much blurrier than textbooks make them appear. Schools could be the breeding ground for a new millennium of Renaissance young men and women where creating something trumps memorizing it.
  • valuable innovations are born from serious play, deep teamwork, and a holistically engaged (and cared for) staff.
  • Imagine what might happen if students had this same power to edit and make their own spaces within the school environment.
  • What are the school environments in your community telling you? Telling your young people? It is time to re-imagine and invest in schools and spaces ripe for creativity and cross-pollination.

• Slow Down Your Problem Solving – Explore Create Repeat – by 4ormat

  tags: designthinking problem solving #mustread

  • A big part of brainstorming isn’t finding the perfect creative concept, but understanding the core problem better.
  • The key is to be open to slowing down.

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

• 10 Things Extraordinary Bosses Give Employees | Inc.com

  tags: leadership #MustRead

• Innovative Education: Make Room for “What Ifs” | Edutopia

  Project point of origin work. The more I dig into real-world PBL and innovation, the more I am struck by how the “big stories” begin with personal connection. Making space for learners to journey from a story of personal connection needs to be the next “big thing” in school design and scheduling.

  tags: real-world #MustRead

  • What if we invite students to solve real problems? What if the classroom doesn’t have walls? What if learning activities don’t always end with letter grades?
  • When Lehrer pitched the idea to students, he made it clear that they would be heading into uncharted territory.
  • Van As generously offered to fabricate a prosthetic hand for the child himself, but Lehrer decided to “keep that offer in my back pocket. I think he was surprised when I explained that I wanted to build this with my students.”
  • In hindsight, Lehrer can see how the club structure offered a range of benefits for this unusual project. He didn’t have to map the project to learning goals or think about grading. “I didn’t need to do assessments for these kids. Not that rubrics aren’t important,” he adds, “but there are times when you want kids to just take an idea and soar. What these students have learned is so clear to them. Their level of reflection is like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
  • “This wasn’t just an assignment. This is real life,”
  • If anyone’s thinking we can’t do real things with kids, I’m telling you you’re wrong.”

• Four Ways to Move from ‘School World’ to ‘Real World’ | MindShift

  “By shifting from a scarcity mindset to one of abundance, we can move from school world to real world.”

  tags: real-world learning #MustRead

  • When leaders exchange a scarcity mindset for one of abundance and innovation, they open the door to an empowering click-through curriculum.
  • it’s about self-direction, passion, interests, persistence, critical thinking, curation, and outcomes. There’s a greater focus on what they have done and will do with what you’ve learned, rather than how they learned it.

• The Benefits of Blue Sky Thinking – Explore Create Repeat – by 4ormat

  “We should embrace the challenge of trying to outdo ourselves in all forms.”

  tags: innovation creativity brainstorming ideation #MustRead leadership

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