Our schools are not failing. They certainly don’t need reforming. The system is obsolete and needs reinventing.
Tony Wagner: TEDxNYED – April 28, 2012 #Purpose
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Tag Archives: TEDx
Push “school” beyond the expected, develop a better blueprint – Lessons from Kelli Anderson
This morning, I discovered Kelli Anderson. She is brilliant, and I will be thinking for days on end as a result of watching her TEDx talk. Her designs leverage pathways between the expected and unexpected. [This makes me think of water and butter again.] In addition to being incredibly creative in their own rights, Kelli’s design philosophies seem to encourage re-examining the familiar and the everyday across many domains. Her advice and inspiration could certainly be applied to what we have come to expect from “school.” What if we expected more? What if we tweaked and re-designed to build something even more creative and purposeful for the next decade? What if we harnessed “disruptive wonder for a change?”
More from Kelli about her TEDx talk.
CHANGEd: What if we used the Big Shifts to evolve? 60-60-60 #56
Do educators really listen to the leaders of our national organizations? Shouldn’t we? As a member of an NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) school, I believe I should listen and respond to the leadership of Pat Bassett. Will you take 27 minutes to watch his talk about the Big Shifts for schools of the future? Isn’t it worth 27 minutes to understand more fully how our NAIS president believes schools must be disturbed and evolve to become relevant and effective schools of the future? And it’s not just for independent schools; it’s for all schools!
Oh, watching and listening is only a start. We should be inspired to DO. We should be inspired to ACT.
As I have continued to plan for a faculty meeting that I will not be leading in August 2012, I would add Pat’s TEDx talk to my list of “brainfood” resources. And I think I would add the NAIS Commission on Accreditation’s – A Guide to Becoming a School of the Future.
“What year are you preparing your students for?” Heidi Hayes Jacobs #TEDxNYED
As usual, Heidi Hayes Jacobs makes some intriguing and thought-provoking points. Among them…
- Are we educators studying television literacy and its effect on learning, especially given its force relative to print media? If not, why not?
- Are we upgrading (making strategic replacements of outdated curriculum)?
- Are we keeping “classroom curiosity” lists to archive the fascinating questions and researching of our learners? Or are we too busy “covering what has to be covered?”
- “I can’t think of a better time to be a public learner…which is what you must be if you want to teach.”
- Social production democratizes learning.
Take 17 minutes and explore theses and other provocations yourself. Or don’t.
[Note: In her talk, Heidi mentions “contagion” from a video that kicked off TEDxNYED. I bet that is Kiran Bir Sethi’s TED talk. If you have not seen it, and if you are interested in PBL with a “capital P,” then watch it. Or don’t.]
TEDxKids@BC and a dollop of Synergy feedback!
Assessment comes in so many shapes and sizes! Recently, I received some unexpected feedback about Synergy 8 – an interdisciplinary, community-issues, PBL class that Jill Gough and I created and piloted with eighth graders this past fall semester.
Earlier this week, as I was reading in my GOOGLE RSS feed reader (I use Feeddler on iPad), I discovered a call for speakers for TEDxKids@BC. Being a huge fan and supporter of TEDx and David Wees, I tweeted the blog-post-call-for-speakers. Thinking specifically of two or three Synergy “grads,” I called their attention to the tweet with a mention. Via direct messaging, two of the Synergy team members scheduled a face-to-face to discuss possibilities, and then one followed up with an email showing her initial brainstorming about a proposal to speak at TEDxKids@BC. I am pasting the email below, with permission:
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2011 11:09 AMTo: Jill Gough; Bo AdamsSubject: tedx kids ideas:tedx kids ideas:What should school look like?(use synergy experience as example)– discussion and question centered– students as teachers too– self assessments– improvement and retention vs. Grades– technology integrated– find out what students and teachers think school is and what it should be/what they want it to beClass room environment:??? (don’t rly know, this might be a totally irrelevant or repetitive tangent…)– respect– student involvement instead of teacher lecturing (students as teachers too)– using technology to appeal to all kinds of learners and learning styles– teach how they learn, and what they want to know not just for test– cultivate a love of learning and subject (may be far out there)Bisous 🙂Live, Laugh, LoveSent from my iPhone
“Ideas worth spreading” indeed! Fourteen years old, this Synergy thinker is. Can you feel the ripples she might be causing in the way we think about education and school in the 21st century?! Whether she makes it all the way to a TEDxKids@BC talk this go-around or not, “BRAVA!” to her for taking the risk and forwarding her thinking. Ms. Gough and I are behind her all the way!
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