Being aware of the water… as a fish. #Awareness #Education #Mindfulness

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To be aware. And from that awareness to choose how we respond. In the nine-minute video below, David Foster Wallace convicted me that such lives at the heart of education. (H/T to my wife for sharing this incredible piece with me.)

THIS IS WATER – By David Foster Wallace

= = =

Also related:

  • Fundamental Attribution Error, which I learned about in college psychology courses but didn’t really dig into until I read and re-read and studied Switch, by the Heath Brothers
  • Krista Tippett’s December 2012 interview with Jon Kabat-Zinn about the science of mindfulness – “Opening to Our Lives”

 

#MustRead Shares (weekly)

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

QUILT POST: One patch… “we need to change our present concept of education” – Wendell Berry

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A patchwork quilt of ideas, only loosely assembled so that you might do your own sewing and stitching. The patches are thanks to my wonderful professional learning network…

Some words – and ideas – to chew on.

The complexity of our present trouble suggests as never before that we need to change our present concept of education. Education is not properly an industry, and its proper use is not to serve industries, either by job-training or by industry-subsidized research. It’s proper use is to enable citizens to live lives that are economically, politically, socially, and culturally responsible. This cannot be done by gathering or “accessing” what we now call “information” – which is to say facts without context and therefore without priority. A proper education enables young people to put their lives in order, which means knowing what things are more important than other things; it means putting first things first. ― Wendell Berry [HT @cannonball31]

“10 Ideas Driving The Future Of Social Entrepreneurship,” Co.EXIST, Mark Cheng

And these 10 seem broader and more universal than just applying to social entrepreneurship. See the entire Fast Co. post here. Just the section headlines here… [HT @cannonball31]

  1. “It’s about changing the system, stupid.”
  2. “Change is accelerating.”
  3. “To solve our problems, we need more problem-solvers.”
  4. “It starts with young people.”
  5. “Scale through collaboration”
  6. “Technology is driving creative disruption.”
  7. “Power is moving from the few to the many.”
  8. “The silos are breaking down.”
  9. “Here comes the social entrepreneur.”
  10. “When you pass the torch on, light many fires.”

The Hard Parts, Seth Godin, blog post on April 28, 2013

Seek out the difficult, because you can. Because it’s worth it. [HT Google Reader]

Young Movers, With a Passion for Change, NYTonline, May 1, 2013

These young peacemakers challenge the standard notions many adults have about people their age. “We tend to look at young people in one of two ways: they’re either victims or potential victims we need to protect, or they’re perpetrators we need to punish. That’s our narrative. That’s our public policy,” said Eric Dawson, Peace First’s founder. “The idea behind the Peace First Prize is to offer a different narrative. That young people are peacemakers — powerful change makers.” [HT Mary Cobb]

This article is so inspiring. And it reminds me of a post I wrote not long ago about what schools grant students credit for. Some might think I am “missing the point” by suggesting that schools grant credit for such community work and independent social entrepreneurship. That such examples live in the necessary space “outside of school curriculum.” I disagree. I think the work in this article COULD BE SCHOOL CURRICULUM!

“If We Didn’t Have the Schools We Have Today, Would We Create the Schools We Have Today?” Thomas Carroll, 2000 (yep, 2000!)

(HT to @SAISNews for reminding me of the post by @WillRich45 linking to this article.)

Dewey, Self-Interest, and Community

A brief Storify archive of a Twitter discussion that is proving to be invaluable to some of my thinking and dot connecting. Thanks to this blog post: “Finland: The Lighthouse of Progressive Education and Divergent Learning,” by Kavan Yee, shared by Chris Thinnes.

(HT @KavanYee, @CurtisCFEE, @pgow, @GrantLichtman, @FredBartels)

Triangle Learning Community #NewSchoolModels @SteveG_TLC

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Two years ago, at EduCon 2.4, I was privileged to meet Steve Goldberg (@SteveG_TLC). Steve is a visionary educator and activator. In August, Steve and a team of others will open Triangle Learning Community in Durham, NC.

The three-minute video below overviews the form and function of TLC. And it also serves as a catalyst for re-thinking some of our assumptions about how “school” has to be structured. I appreciate so much that Steve lives out a profound idea – humans created “school,” so we can also re-imagine it, recreate it, and remodel it.

Along with new start-up schools, though, I deeply hope that long-standing schools with lengthier histories are also re-imagining school, recreating school, remodeling school. At the very least, I hope that we are engaging in such design exercises. If they reveal that our current structure and system is the best, then so be it. But what if school could be even better?! Shouldn’t we be willing to do that research and design, so that we can know more certainly, more confidently. Not let habit and assumption blind us to possibility.

 

You can also learn more about TLC at the school website and Steve’s great blog.

Teaching innovation and innovating the system. #BothAnd

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From Thom Markham, as read on MindShift, April 1, 2013

One overriding challenge is now coming to the fore in public consciousness: We need to reinvent just about everything. Whether scientific advances, technology breakthroughs, new political and economic structures, environmental solutions, or an updated code of ethics for 21st century life, everything is in flux—and everything demands innovative, out of the box thinking.

The burden of reinvention, of course, falls on today’s generation of students. So it follows that education should focus on fostering innovation by putting curiosity, critical thinking, deep understanding, the rules and tools of inquiry, and creative brainstorming at the center of the curriculum.

This is hardly the case, as we know. In fact, innovation and the current classroom model most often operate as antagonists. The system is evolving, but not quickly enough to get young people ready for the new world. But I do believe there are a number of ways that teachers can bypass the system and offer students the tools and experiences that spur an innovative mindset. Here are ten ideas: (emphasis added)

Read the full post here.

I think Thom’s post is excellent. The three intro paragraphs are profound and thought-provoking – and, hopefully, action-provoking. Also, I appreciate his willingness and ability to empower teachers and classroom practices. Thom’s thinking and examples resonate strongly with me and with my experience co-designing and co-implementing Synergy – a transdisciplinary, community-issues, problem-solving course for eighth graders.

But I am also left wondering about and wanting more concerted efforts to actually affect the system purposefully and intentionally, rather than feeling that our only, or most practical, choice is to bypass the system.

How are you and the schools with which you are involved systematizing the learning of innovation? All of us – in education, in for-profit business, in non-profit organizations beyond education, and in our personal lives and families – should be more focused on such questions, issues, and solutions. The citizens can affect such change and impact current and future quality of life – if we commit to doing so. Of the people, by the people, for the people enables us to do so. We can affect the system. The system is made from us, by us, and for us. If not us, then who? If not now, then when?