Tag Archives: future of schools

Disruption, GOOD #FutureLearning

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In “Graduating All Students Innovation-Ready,” Tony Wagner ended his piece with this question about courage:

Our students want to become innovators. Our economy needs them to become innovators. The question is: As educators, do we have the courage to disrupt conventional wisdom and pursue the innovations that matter most?

Recently, GOOD published a piece about a few of the disruptors – those who are pushing us to consider the bigger possible (r)evolutions in education. It’s great material for a bit of optimistic brain stretching…


Future Learning Short Documentary (12:50)

More about the film
GOOD Video: How Do We Make Learning Relevant to Students?

[Thanks to Govantez Lowndes for putting me onto the documentary on GOOD. I had missed it.]

PROCESS POST: Organizing and Annotating – #MustRead from Tony Wagner: “Graduating All Students Innovation-Ready” #EdWeek

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[Disclaimer: No one but I may want to read this post. Essentially, I am using this space to organize some past posts that I have written – to organize them in relation to Tony Wagner’s recent article about graduating innovation-ready students. The following is like a form of sticky-noting on my blog. But, as I have come to believe, why do this only for myself in a physical notebook…when I could share and possibly help another educational thinker/doer.]

Earlier today, I read a very powerful article about education and innovation – Graduating All Students Innovation-Ready, By Tony Wagner, September 12, 2012 Education Week. The article resonated with me in a way that only a few articles do. Even though I read voraciously, and even though I mark several articles a week “#MustRead,” I only occasionally discover and read one of those top 0.001% pieces of wonder.

In part, I think Wagner’s piece resonated so profoundly with me because I am doing some ongoing work that is providing mental velcro for such a piece of thinking-stimulant. Wagner’s four main implementation recommendations rung in my ears and everywhere else. I myself believe in:

  1. digital portfolio and authentic assessment over traditional, siloed marking and grading;
  2. teacher assessment based on professional learning and growth and evidence of student learning beyond mere “test scores.” Also, I believe admin should do what we expect of teachers and students! [related – Folio]
  3. schools collaborating together, and with business and non-profits, to create R&D for education…and to impact the world more positively now;
  4. learning built on play, passion, and purpose…learning infused with choice and global relevance…learning contextualized with real life. [related – #PBL, #FSBL]

This blog is one of my own R&D spaces…one of my own digital portfolios…one of my own passion and purpose-based play spaces. I have been writing for months on the four topics above. In particular, I engaged in a 60-day experiment about how we might transform school and education (CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60). Tony Wagner’s piece made me recall much of that thinking.

Tony Wagner’s article also further contextualized the exact reason that I left Westminster to join Unboundary as Director of Educational Innovation.

So I am organizing, and I am making some annotations…

Our students want to become innovators. Our economy needs them to become innovators. The question is: As educators, do we have the courage to disrupt conventional wisdom and pursue the innovations that matter most?
.

1. Digital Portfolios and Better Assessment:

“First, I believe the U.S. Department of Education and state education departments need to develop ways to assess essential skills with digital portfolios that follow students through school, and encourage the use of better tests like the College and Work Readiness Assessment.” [emphasis from my highlighting in Diigo]
2. Teacher Effectiveness and Professional Learning:
“Second, we need to learn how to assess teachers’ effectiveness by analysis of their students’ work, rather than on the basis of a test score. Teachers and administrators should also build digital portfolios, which their principals and superintendents should assess periodically.” [emphasis from my highlighting in Diigo]
3. Research and Development Labs:
“Third, to push educational innovation, districts need to partner with one another, businesses, and nonprofits to establish true R&D labs—schools of choice that are developing 21st-century approaches to learning.” [emphasis from my highlighting in Diigo]

4. Play, Passion, and Purpose:

“Finally, we need to incorporate a better understanding of how students are motivated to do their best work into our course and school designs. Google has a 20 percent rule, whereby all employees have the equivalent of one day a week to work on any project they choose. These projects have produced many of Google’s most important innovations. I would like to see this same rule applied to every classroom in America, as a way to create time for students to pursue their own interests and continue to develop their sense of play, passion, and purpose.” [emphasis from my highlighting in Diigo]

#MustRead from Tony Wagner: “Graduating All Students Innovation-Ready” #EdWeek

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Graduating All Students Innovation-Ready

By Tony Wagner,

September 12, 2012

Education Week

Our students want to become innovators. Our economy needs them to become innovators. The question is: As educators, do we have the courage to disrupt conventional wisdom and pursue the innovations that matter most?
.
  1. “First, I believe the U.S. Department of Education and state education departments need to develop ways to assess essential skills with digital portfolios that follow students through school, and encourage the use of better tests like the College and Work Readiness Assessment.” [emphasis from my highlighting in Diigo]
  2. “Second, we need to learn how to assess teachers’ effectiveness by analysis of their students’ work, rather than on the basis of a test score. Teachers and administrators should also build digital portfolios, which their principals and superintendents should assess periodically.” [emphasis from my highlighting in Diigo]
  3. “Third, to push educational innovation, districts need to partner with one another, businesses, and nonprofits to establish true R&D labs—schools of choice that are developing 21st-century approaches to learning.” [emphasis from my highlighting in Diigo]
  4. “Finally, we need to incorporate a better understanding of how students are motivated to do their best work into our course and school designs. Google has a 20 percent rule, whereby all employees have the equivalent of one day a week to work on any project they choose. These projects have produced many of Google’s most important innovations. I would like to see this same rule applied to every classroom in America, as a way to create time for students to pursue their own interests and continue to develop their sense of play, passion, and purpose.” [emphasis from my highlighting in Diigo]

Grant Lichtman’s #EdJourney Videocast, Episode 1

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In just a few short days, my friend and colleague Grant Lichtman, author of The Falconer: What We Wished We Had Learned In School, will begin a three-month, cross-country trek to visit more than fifty schools – schools that are navigating their own journeys through the transforming landscape of education.

You can follow Grant’s adventure by tuning into his blog, The Learning Pond. Grant will also be tweeting to #EdJourney. Most recently, on September 5, Grant provided a T-3 Days countdown to his trip’s beginnings.

In the spirit of innovating and learning-by-doing, Grant and I are trying a little experiment to accompany his travels. As Grant ventures from school to school, I plan to do my best impression of Daniel Pink’s Office Hours and interview Grant about a few highlights from the week. This morning, we captured episode #1 of Grant Lichtman’s #EdJourney Videocast. We hope you’ll follow along as Grant gathers insights about the ways in which different schools are addressing the issues that surround “schools of the future” and the “future of schools.”

An idea worth spreading – Grant Lichtman visiting with 50 schools re: future of schools & schools of the future #EdJourney @GrantLichtman

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This from Grant Lichtman (@GrantLichtman)…

Dear Colleagues,

As you know, over the next three months I will be meeting with hundreds of educators at more than 50 leading independent, charter, and public schools around the country, each with a unique story to tell about how they are evolving their organizations to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world.

I hope you will help leverage this opportunity for professional connections with fellow educators around the country who share common interests.  How?  It is really simple.   Share this link to my blog, The Learning Pond, or #EdJourney on Twitter with a few colleagues or collaborators. My blog posts will have active links to people, places, and programs that might be of interest. Here are three examples before I even leave San Diego, of schools that are doing some really interesting work:

Groundbreaking New Pilot at Dallas Townview Magnet School

This is What School Innovation Looks Like

Middle School Hunger Game: Check It Out

I am fortunate to be visiting some of the most exciting schools in America, and I hope to widely distribute those seeds of knowledge. Thanks for helping to share, learn, and grow!

Regards,

—

Grant Lichtman

http://learningpond.wordpress.com

Twitter @GrantLichtman