#MustRead Shares (weekly)

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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.

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

Curiosity, Control, and Caring. #fsbl and Bran Ferren’s TED talk on Pantheon miracles.

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The best passionate pursuits of learning always seem to begin with exploring, observing, questioning, and being curious. This is why we started #fsbl – “father-son-based learning” – in my family.

As I listened to “Bran Ferren: To create for the ages, let’s combine art and engineering,” I smiled almost continuously throughout the talk because I pictured Ferren on an #fsbl adventure that started with raids of electronics piles, trips to science museums, and a mesmerizing visit to the Pantheon. And his adventure is still going.

Ferren’s curiosity was allowed to flourish as he was granted a high degree of control over his explorations and observations. And from such foundations of his surrounding adults’ pedagogies (and parenting), he developed deep caring for what he was discovering and learning. From these depths of curiosity, control, and caring, Ferren maintained the persistence and intrinsic motivation that nurtures his continuous inquiry, innovation, and impact.

If there is a “formula” for passionate pursuit of learning and difference making in this world, then I believe this is darn close to it!

Curiosity Tap Root @boadams1

 

RELATED POST: “Could there actually be one ‘C’ to rule them all?!”

Innovative School Seeks Innovative Leader

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HEAD OF UPPER SCHOOL
Position Description

Innovative school seeking innovative leader. Mount Vernon Presbyterian School is accepting applications for the position of Head of Upper School (Available June/July 2014). Head of Upper School reports directly to Head of School and collaborates with Chief Learning and Innovation Officer and School division leaders.

Mission and Vision

We are a school of inquiry, innovation, and impact. Grounded in Christian values, we prepare all students to be college ready, globally competitive, and engaged citizen leaders. Established in 1972, Mount Vernon Presbyterian School, serving 900 students in preschool through grade 12, is located in the heart of Sandy Springs, Georgia within the metropolitan Atlanta area. Located on the 30-acre Glenn Campus, the Upper School (grades 9-12) student body has more than doubled in size during the last five years and is projected to exceed 300 students in 2-3 years.

We are building something exceptional here. The School is in the midst of a new era of exploration and innovation, under the guidance of an energized staff, Board, and faculty leadership as well as committed and connected families. As an outward expression of our inward passion, the 2012-2017 Strategic Plan is driven by a fundamental MVPS question: How might we innovate school to meet the needs our students and our world? The School has been aggressive in launching key programs to position our students as realizers of our mission: Mount Vernon Institute for Innovation(MVIFI), Mount Vernon Mind, Council on Innovation, Center for Design Thinking, Innovation Diploma, Interim international travel opportunities, transdisciplinary education capstone project, College and Work Readiness Assessment, Write Now, and //fuse to name a few.

Roles and Responsibilities

Amplifying the mission and executing the vision of the School, Head of Upper School plays a creative and collaborative role:

  • cultivating and nurturing strong relationships within the School community–students, faculty, parents and other partners.
  • designing a vigorous, relevant, and innovative learning and assessment map for each Upper School learner–students, as well as faculty.
  • employing a variety of evidence-based and innovative approaches and methodologies in order to engage and motivate students of this generation.
  • exercising an innovator’s DNA–observing, questioning, experimenting, networking, and associating.
  • providing professional learning opportunities supporting individual staff needs/organizational goals.
  • co-chairing Research & Design (R&D) teams.
  • developing partnerships with corporate sector, non-profit community, and civic organizations.
  • researching, identifying, and advancing innovative programs.
  • retaining and attracting high performing teaching candidates.
  • overseeing the day-to-day operations–schedule, meetings, events, calendar, and facility spaces.

Interested candidates should send a cover letter, resume, and link to professional portfolio to employment@mountvernonschool.org.

Fear of “deep space” and exploring 10 expectations

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As educators, what are we doing to confront our fears about school transformation? About those shifts that are making school feel different than the school we experienced… the school that the parents of our students experienced? In what ways are we responding to these fears versus hunkering down because of perceived “danger?”

How are we exploring our space? The “space” that is all around us in our schools, communities, real-world surroundings, etc. The less-well lit areas of differently designed curricular organizations, assessment strategies, and learner-directed “pathing.”

These two videos are strongly connected for me. One is “Chris Hadfield: What I learned from going blind in space?” It’s a rather beautiful investigation of fear vs. danger, and it puts our earthly “fears” in a different perspective – if you listen and empathize deeply enough.

The second video is “10 Expectations” from Leaving ToLearn (HT @SciTechyEdu). It details 10 expectations that students have for their school-learning experience. And yet not too many school cultures really shape up to meet such student expectations. Why is that? Who is school for? What is the purpose of school anyway?

Are our resistances to exploring and engaging transformation because of real danger? Fear? From the adults?

How might we venture out and explore, experiment, and exchange our fears for new adventures and deeper understandings of our own “deep space?”

#AK12DC – Briefing and Windows into Design Summit, March 21-22

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#AK12DC = The Atlanta K-12 Design Challenge

The Atlanta K-12 Design Challenge lives as a collaboration among 11 Atlanta schools – half of them independent in governance structure and half of them part of the Fulton Co. public-charter system. The original grant proposal leapt from a jumping-off point of believing that public and private schools in Atlanta could partner as an innovation nucleus to amplify the trajectory of powerful educational transformation for ALL Atlanta schools.

Through generous funding from the Howard R. Dobbs Foundation and an operational collaboration precipitated by The Center for Teaching and bolstered by connections with Stanford University’s d.School, this inter-school workforce (read “dream team”) is employing design thinking to explore the needs of educational users and to expand the power of iterative prototyping to enhance learning for virtually countless people throughout Atlanta.

The Summit

On Friday and Saturday of this week (March 21-22), the 11 schools gathered as a whole cohort for a second time (the first time was January 14). This mid-stream design summit provided time and opportunity for schools to advance the empathy gathering they’ve been doing at their schools by defining their challenges, developing their POV (Point of View) statements, and iteratively prototyping solutions for the needs of a particular user they met during their initial discovery immersion.

Below are a few links that provide windows into the work accomplished on Friday and Saturday, March 21-22.

What’s Next?

The next stage (“Stage 2”) involves continuing the school-based work through further testing and iterating of prototypes, implementing emerging solutions, and transforming practices.

Stay tuned. It’s exciting times in Atlanta education!

Windows: