Mind Dump

If education was really about learning

If  education was really about learning…

…we’d let kids ask more questions and then give them support to find their own answers.

…we’d see dunking milk in cookies as a science opportunity, not just a snack.

…we’d only give kids giant test booklets if they needed to use the paper build a tower to explore force & motion.

…we’d label our kids with terms like “mostly visual learner, hilarious, excels in reading, struggles with addition, loves baseball” instead of “Proficient” or “Basic”

…we’d stop making copies of low-level worksheets and give more blank sheets of paper for brainstorming.

…we’d make it our goal to get kids to ask questions in class that we cannot answer, nor Google the answer to.

…we’d stop spending billions on textbooks.

…we’d celebrate mistakes far more than we celebrate earning “A’s”.

…success would be overcoming obstacles and embracing struggle, not “perfect papers”.

…we’d invite an engineer or scientist to class to answer questions and not just because it’s a grade level standard.

…we’d talk more about finding their passion than about Friday’s Spelling Test.

…we’d take the best theories of gifted education, special education, and everything in between, and make a school where ALL kids needs are met.

…our kids would never question “Why do I have to learn this?” because they’d be too busy investigating.

…inquiry would rule over lecture.

…professional development would be differentiated, meaningful, and steer clear of reading PowerPoint slides.

…every school would be filled with the type of collaboration happening on Twitter every single day.

…we wouldn’t hear things like “We don’t teach that since it’s not tested.”

Education might not be about learning right now.  But, that doesn’t mean your classroom can’t be about learning.

Krissy Venosdale via http://venspired.com/?p=1647

I don't usually quote posts in their entirety. That's how awesome this one is...

11 comments

Nov 11, 2011
Anne said...
Absolutely awesome!! I'm posting this in my class first thing Monday morning!!!
Nov 12, 2011
Patrick Larkin liked this post.
Nov 12, 2011
Alma liked this post.
Nov 12, 2011
Robert Rowe liked this post.
Nov 12, 2011
livepaths said...
Computers a are only assistants and a good teacher’s will always be needed.
However social networks such as facebook and YouTube as well as great resources including Wikipedia and Wolfram-Alpha are here to stay so that educators must use them in the teaching process. Many academics are posting great educational videos and a curation process is needed to present them in an organized manner.

Online Self-learning is becoming fast the perfect choice of learning, especially with so many great educational videos available for free. The only problem is to sort the good ones from the rest and present them in an organized manner.

This effort is being done by: http://Utubersity.com which presents the best educational videos available on YouTube in an organized, easy to find way to watch and learn.

They are classified and tagged in a way that enables people to find these materials more easily and efficiently and not waste time browsing through pages of irrelevant search results.

The website also enhances the experience using other means such as recommending related videos, Wikipedia content and so on. There's also a Spanish version called http://utubersidad.com

This is a project that YouTube should embrace itself, with curated content from academics and maybe using a different URL (Youtubersity?) so it won’t be blocked by schools.

Nov 12, 2011
Patrick Larkin said...
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
Thanks for your e-mail. Please note that my new e-mail adress is larkin@bpsk12.org.

Patrick

Patrick Larkin
Principal, Burlington High School
(339) 234-1673

Don't forget to check out the BHS Blog for the latest news from BHS

Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bhsprincipal

Nov 12, 2011
arvind s grover liked this post.
Nov 12, 2011
ejules liked this post.
Nov 12, 2011
Cap Lee said...
Real reform can begin in the classroom, and can begin now. Let the tests fall where they may but make learning real. Even outside the classroom http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement.html
Nov 12, 2011
Nov 12, 2011
Lingaraju S said...
Education may be within the classroom or outside the classroom; may be within the term (trimester or semester) or outside the term..... otherwise, learning becomes discrete.

Leave a comment...

? ? ?