Group items tagged

Are we bold? So, with a minimum of description, I'm thinking "bold" schools are: 1. Learning Centered - Everyone (adults, children) is a learner; learners have agency; emphasis on becoming a learner over becoming learned. 2. Questioning - Inquiry based; questions over answers 3. Authentic - School is real life; students and teachers do real work for real purposes. 4. Digital - Every learner (teacher and student) has a computer; technology is seamlessly integrated into the learning process; paperless 5. Connected - Learning is networked (as are learners) with the larger world; classrooms have "thin walls;" learning is anytime, anywhere, anyone. 6. Literate - Everyone meets the expectations of NCTE's "21st Century Literacies" 7. Transparent - Learning and experiences around learning are shared with global audiences 8. Innovative - Teachers and students "poke the box;" Risk-taking is encouraged. 9. Provocative - Leaders educate and advocate for change in local, state and national venues.

Actually I get the feeling this is been shared before oh well some good ideas as a template for us to work towards

But increasingly, schools are offering students more ambitious options, such as participating in an international field placement, a university-organized volunteer opportunity, or a course with a community service learning (CSL) component. CSL is a special form of experiential education that connects course material to real-life experience. During the course, students either work in small groups or individually with an organization-often a not-for-profit agency-toward a specific solution or a goal that is mutually beneficial. As part of their grade, students are required to reflect on how their community outreach experience is explicitly linked to what they've learned in the classroom

Interesting debate on freedom of expression in schools turned into a religious freedoms issue (though not about religious freedoms in my books). Guess my life has been a waste...and I'm guessing there will also be MANY "Life is wasted without..." shirts at school on Monday! I like "Life is wasted without evolution" OR "Life is wasted without gay marriage" Would that be OK? Isn't science a kind of religious freedom? And what is it with Nova Scotia youth and shirts? Anyway, hope they do a student-led forum on this one as it's loaded with teachable moments... 

Research by the Institute for the Future released in a report entitled "Future Work Skills 2020″ shows that preparing for a specific career area based on content is difficult and, instead, people should be developing certain broad skills. These same skills are important for our students to learn. The report explains each of the skills in detail, and also goes into the implications for education and policies. 

Many more students will be told that Wikipedia is not a reliable source. For some, this is a no-brainer while for others it is a travesty. The key question in this debate has nothing to do with Wikipedia or any other source. What we need to be asking ourselves is: What is the point of the research paper? Five, fifteen and fifty years from now, do we want students to know the information they learned from their research topics or is the real value in what future graduates will be able to do, namely seek out information, evaluate it for relevance and accuracy and, ultimately, analyze and synthesize it in order to make an informed argument?

Distributed leadership and transparency needed in education and student leadership. It's time to abandon antiquated models of Prefects and Student Councils/Governments which promoted limited voice, action and impact.  Discussion by Mashable and OneYoungWorld inspire some thoughts in this direction and the role of social media and new models of social entrepreneurism  

Perhaps this is what we should do for our G9-10 exams?

But some schools are way ahead of the curve. By using technology, giving students the opportunity to choose what they want to study, or even just allowing teachers to deviate from the curricula norm, these schools have already taken education to the next level and waiting for the ministry to catch up.

I think we should look into introducing TEDxIB or better still TEDxYouth to Mulgrave as a new platform for the Cypress Student Summit.

The predominance of data-driven education is a product of the eduindustry, not the basis for sound teaching and learning beyond the factory model. Data itself is not bad; standardized assessments though are just one assessment and cannot define achievement. "Fixing" a teacher's "deficit" in "understanding" "standardized" "test" "data" is as ideologically and practically flawed as the "data" we're talking about. Professionally-developing teachers on how to work with bad data is still going to yield bad data. Standardized test scores are not effective measures of student skill mastery, and that's the more pressing debate. -- reeveskd comment

As Marjorie's suicide reverberated across Quebec, schoolyard bullying was exploding into the political spotlight, with Ontario on Wednesday unveiling tough legislation that could lead to expulsion for students who send classmates hateful text messages or shove them in the hallways at school. Quebec on Wednesday said it would review its school anti-violence programs, and Edmonton's school board on Tuesday evening joined the Canadian school districts that have voted to adopt an anti-bullying policy for sexual minorities.

Paul Martin, the former prime minister and guest speaker at Wednesday's We Day youth rally in Winnipeg, has been busy building his non-profit Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative to fight what he calls the federal government's "absolute discrimination" against Aboriginal students.

Don't shoot the medium. While no doubt FB presents challenges in its application in education, the real problem is not Facebook. The issue is professional value of teaching in the US, and North America in general. Until teachers are treated as professionals with salaries, responsibilities and statuses on par with university professors, following the Scandinavian and Asian models, the calibre of professional conduct will be as inconsistent as the pool of quality teacher candidates committed to an underpaid and undervalued profession.

I know that "flipped" is a trendy idea right now. While I am intrigued by the idea of video tutorials to help guide students in learning, it is absurd to suggest that a video can replace a human in creating the ultimate customized learning experience. What this concept misses is the nature of human learning. Teaching is a relational endeavor. I'm a proponent of the flipped approach. But if we are pushing for flipped, we need to make sure that remains a conversation.

Dale J. Stephens brings a unique perspective on the future of education, talent, and innovation.  He is a sought-after education expert appearing on major news networks including CNN, ABC, NPR, CBS, Fox, and TechCrunch.  His work has been covered by the New York Times and New York Magazine to Fast Company and Forbes. At 20, Dale leads UnCollege, the social movement empowering students to create their own education.  In May 2011 Dale was selected out of hundreds of individuals around the world as a Thiel Fellow.  The Thiel Fellowship recognizes the top entrepreneurs around the world under the age of twenty. His first book, Hacking Your Education, will be published by Penguin in early 2013. 

Dan Russell, a Google "search anthropologist" who studies how everyday people search for information online, told The Atlantic last week that 90 percent of people don't know that they can use CTRL or Command+F to find a word in a document or web page.  Now did you know that? Do your students know that?

Great resource for setting up eFolio reflection goals

Great discussion piece... good for TOK and beyonmd... Good for a staff discussion... . I like #1, 2 (especially for Mulgrave! I want access like Starbucks!), 4 (go Wikipedia), 5 (go Facebook),  #6 is Mulgrave's moment. Love #8: If you were a video game, no one would play you -- feedback is too slow. But I'm slow anyways