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European DBQ Source Goes Digital
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Dedicated to relinquishing responsibility for learning to the students
The Boston Globe (October 30, 2008) recently reported on efforts to redirect district curriculum to "skills the district has deemed necessary for survival in the 21st century, including critical thinking, invention, problem-solving, and multicultural collaboration."
I find that I rarely get asked to do staff development to "bring the scores up." Increasingly I'm asked to help teachers create more engaging learning environments for students.
While NCLB began with the admirable goal of narrowing demographic performance gaps and putting an end to sorting kids on the “bell curve,” it may be doing just the opposite. Many of our schools are now compelled to force feed the content required for “adequate progress” as measured by standardized state tests. Does test prep = academic "feed-lot?"
Too little time is left for student-centered, project-based learning that allows students to work at the upper level of Bloom. Innovation requires much trial and error (Bloom’s evaluation). Learning to self-assess your problem solving approach is not a skill fostered in multiple-choice test-prep environment.
NCLB correctly put the focus on student achievement. Our students will need a strong foundation in core concepts. But schools can’t be filled with routine tasks. They need to be fluid environments focused on helping students take responsibility for thinking and problem solving where there sometimes isn’t a right answer.
Creating is Bloom’s highest level of thinking. Creating is not limited to “the creative.” We all create when we make new combinations of existing elements. Someone put wheels on the bottom of a scaled-down surfboard and created the skateboard. And so it goes…
While teachers and students are constrained by mind-numbing test prep, the rest of society is working overtime to foster creative connections. In September the annual “IdeaFestival” was held in Louisville, KY. It brings together creative thinkers from different disciplines to connect ideas in science, the arts, design, business, film, technology and education. The festival motto – “If it can possibly go together, it comes together here.” Why not apply that perspective in our schools?
Here are some suggestions from the festival on how to come up with new ideas. Many can be easily adapted to help our students discover their creative potential in the classroom.
“Education and the Next President,” a debate between Linda Darling-Hammond, education advisor to Senator Barack Obama, and Lisa Graham Keegan, education advisor to Senator John McCain, which will be held at Teachers College in the Cowin Conference Center on Tuesday evening, October 21st, 2008, at 7 pm. TC President Susan H. Fuhrman will moderate. You will be able to view a live Webcast of the debate at www.tc.edu/edadvisorsdebate starting at 7 pm on the 21st of October. The Webcast will be archived for subsequent viewing on iTunes U the following day.
(You might also enjoy a lively discussion on the subject broadcast on the Diane Rehm show on October 21.)
Obama and McCain managed to squeeze in a few minutes on educational policy into final debate. Isn’t it about time we heard more about their educational policies?
I’ve been experimenting with Dipity, a new website that allows you to build interactive timelines. Open a free account, create a new topic, and then upload text and images (from a file.) You can view your topic as an timeline or flipbook. You can even geocode your events and view the project as a map. You are allowed to set permissions for viewers and editing rights. I created a sample timeline “How did the roles and rights of women change at the turn of the 20th century?” Note: One drawback for classroom use – banner ads appear on the page and I can’t vouch for what might show up.
Dipity allows you to configure the display of the topic and copy and paste the embed code into your page. You should be able to click the embedded image below.