Day Blog (schoolyard subversion) Welcome to Unschooling What is it? When I first discovered Sudbury schools, I found them interesting. As I began to research them more, I found them fascinating. Unschooling is a phenomenon that is still relatively small, but steadily growing. Unschooling someone is surprisingly simple. How do I do it? I found out about unschooling through an incredible book: Teenage Liberation Handbook (TLH) [Amazon; price search], by Grace Llewellyn. The real-life examples and experiences made it clear that this is no wacko fringe group, or simply a program for "gifted" kids. Various studies that the book cites show that unschooled children are perfectly successful in the "real world" and almost always do better on standardized tests than their schooled peers -- even when they've never cracked a textbook or taken a conventional course. How will they possibly learn without school? I learned English not from school, but by writing emails and this column, as well as reading heavily.
The Schools of the Future | Education.com As the transformation does come, or at least as the pace of change picks up and begins to take distinctive form, it is not destined to carry the American education system off into the cybersphere and leave regular schooling behind. The transformation is partly about incorporating new technologies into the way American children are educated. But it is mainly about liberating the schools from the power of special interest groups, elevating the interests of children to first priority, and generating a political process that actively embraces productive reforms of all types. What will the schools of the future look like? No one can know the details, of course, as that is the beauty of innovation: it opens up possibilities that can't be anticipated. In general, however, there is good reason to think that certain basic properties will tend to emerge—if slowly at first—in the coming decades. Most schools will be hybrids of the traditional and the hightech. Schools will be less costly.
Coursera UPDATE: we're doing a live, updated MOOC of this course at stanford-online July-2014 (not this Coursera version). See here: CS101 teaches the essential ideas of Computer Science for a zero-prior-experience audience. Computers can appear very complicated, but in reality, computers work within just a few, simple patterns. In CS101, students play and experiment with short bits of "computer code" to bring to life to the power and limitations of computers. Here is another video Nick created for this class.
For Back to School, Reimagine Classroom Design Teaching Strategies Lenny Gonzales By Therese Jilek As the school year begins, most classrooms across the country will mirror traditional class design: rows of desks with passive children sitting quietly listening to a teacher in the front of the class. But not at Hartland-Lakeside. The innovative spaces were a product of teachers changing how they taught and viewed student learning. Teachers realized that they needed to do more than rearrange the room; they needed to start over. As teachers transformed their roles into facilitators of learning, they found that standing in front of the classroom or lecturing was no longer prudent. Students and teachers work together throughout the day in many different ways. This change also reflects the increased use of mobile technology to personalize learning. There’s already plenty of research to show that this kind of change is necessary. Therese Jilek “My desk used to feel like my prison,” said a third-grader. The Third Teacher Design Share Related
Carnet de (mauvaises) notes Il y a la foison de remarques acerbes : "Un peu fantaisiste", "Trop de dispersion", "Trop remuant", "Infantile", "Incorrigible bavard". De mises en garde martelées : "Attention !'', "Insuffisant", "Très insuffisant", "Ne fait pas le maximum", "Ne travaille pas suffisamment". Une litanie d'injonctions : "Doit se ressaisir", "Doit s'accrocher", "Doit faire un effort". Un "miroir" "On ne s'attendait pas du tout à ça !" Pourtant, voici bien deux décennies que travaux de recherche, études officielles, livres engagés dénoncent les méfaits d'une école française qui décourage, sanctionne. Absurdité de cette pression De nombreux chercheurs et des enquêtes, notamment celles de l'OCDE, montrent pourtant l'absurdité de cette pression : l'obsession de l'excellence ne fait en rien une école excellente. "Je me suis dit : 'Il faut en faire quelque chose', raconte l'ancien libraire. Idée lumineuse.
School of the future focuses on the basics - CNN.com Microsoft's School of the Future Microsoft-designed School of the Future opened in Philadelphia in 2006 Despite having access to state-of-the-art technology, students initially struggled The school started focusing more on one-to-one relationships The first senior class recently graduated and every graduate has college plans Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- The world was watching in 2006 when the Microsoft-designed School of the Future opened in Philadelphia and attempted to reform education. Despite having four principals, curriculum overhauls, and student technology gaps, the school graduated its first senior class last week, with every graduate having plans for institutions of higher learning. "This isn't a school about technology, this is a school about redefining the norm for urban education," said Mary Cullinane, director of innovation for Microsoft Education, who is also the liaison to the school. The school struggled in its infancy.
Free Online Course Materials | Courses 12 Reasons We Need To Reinvent The School Desk Added by Jeff Dunn on 2012-09-27 Students young and old frequently complain about the quality of the desks and chairs provided on campus, yet it remains one of the more overlooked issues. A pity, because poor ergonomics and comfort can actually lead to poor health, and poor health leads to missed classes and heightened medical expenditures once career time rolls around. Maybe it’s about time educators, schools, and districts reconsidered their approach towards how they set up classrooms. The positive outcomes might very well prove surprising. Sitting increases the risk of a heart attack : Small children probably don’t suffer from the same risk of heart attacks as their parents, but healthy habits stick better when introduced early. This is a post from our content partners at Online Degrees . Comments are closed.
Unschooling doesn't look like school at all - Pam Laricchia Le unschooling ne ressemble pas du tout à l’école Traduit par Stéphanie Meloche Le unschooling ressemble à la vie Le unschooling c’est comme des vacances d’été qui ne finissent jamais, moins la chaleur (à moins que vous n’habitiez plus près de l’équateur que moi!) Et à quoi ressemble l’apprentissage à l’école? La question est : comment les unschoolers arrivent à apprendre de cette façon, alors qu’on nous a appris qu’on ne pouvait apprendre que dans le système? Regardons en quoi le unschooling est différent de l’école et pourquoi. Les unschoolers ne croient pas en l’idée que tous ont besoin de connaître les mêmes compétences et les mêmes informations générales à un âge précis. Qu’en est-il de ce savoir et de ces compétences qui sont nécessaire pour se débrouiller dans la société? (2) Atmosphère soutenante Le fait de ne pas suivre un programme ne veut pas dire que les parents d’unschoolers ne font rien. (3) L’emphase sur les aspirations (4) Interagir avec des personnes de tous âges
7 building blocks for the future of schools | @mcleod If I had the chance to build a new school organization (or redesign an existing one), I would start by attending to the educational movements listed below. Every year we see these initiatives gain further ground in traditional educational systems. I see these as basic building blocks for the future of schooling and think that leaders and policymakers should be working toward greater implementation of all of these, both individually and in concert… Competency-based education and standards-based grading efforts that shift the focus from seat time to learning mastery. What did I miss here? [I'm five days late with this, my own Leadership Day post.
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