Full STE[a]M AHEAD!!

The discussions are endless. STE[a]M is this….STE[a]M is …..

I think the acronym thing drives people nuts in a way. It is supposed to define something and by doing so, therefore limits understanding. I am thinking about this a lot lately as those I work with struggle to understand. Truthfully, I believe they rely on me to tell them what STE[a]M is supposed to be.

I have engineering professionals say they like the arts or the idea of STE[a]M but not too happy about the acronym, or is that another acronym. It doesn’t explain anything, and actually neither does the STEM acronym. It is really a combination of academic disciplines that refer to possible future careers. Each one of these subjects is involved with the other in some way. This is true for STE[a]M as well. So, how can you do science without mathematics? Technology?  And how do you do engineering without any of the other STEM or STE[a]M disciplines? STE[a]M, in my humble opinion, suggests that we infuse the STEM curriculum with the arts to make it more accessible and understandable, and yes experiential.

So why am I even bothering with this pedantic and detailed analysis and discussion?  Because so many people comment, criticize, support or question. These acronyms are a point of reference or a point of departure for a much more detailed list of what this is. So, back to STE[a]M. I never would question the need to include the arts in a comprehensive education. No matter how much you may believe that public education needs to prepare a child for what comes next, to be a productive and valuable member of our world (and it should do this!), we  need to justify what components exactly accomplish this. We need to defend that we include the arts as a part of education. How many students will ever be artists? Musicians? Can they support themselves and a family this way?

The arts for the art’s sake are valid –  no discussion here. The arts have a history of thousands of years, be it for pleasure or a way to evolve and develop culture and society. People have always needed to communicate and much of the arts is about communication, the rest is about creative or self-expression. All that we lump together as the arts reflect out world today, what we value, and how we look. In the future, it will be a mirror to the past. I don’t talk too much about the arts for art’s sake, simply because to me this is a no-brainer. Who really wants a world without art?

What is important in today’s “who knows what the future will bring” world,  educators focus on tasks as a way to innovation and technology. Get a better education and do it in a straight-forward, measurable way. Learn vocabulary, write in this formula, spit back math facts, memorize what you are told. Don’t think too much, just give those testers what they ask for.

STE[a]M and the arts in general are not specifically measurable. You can’t assess someone on their ability. There are not necessarily right and wrong answers. The goal is to think, explore, and figure it out.  These skills can be used in all the STEM/STE[a]M disciplines. It is my opinion, and not mine alone, that this kind of learning actually enhances knowledge, critical thinking and problem solving. And of course,it enhances a student’s ability to find the answer. They have to know where to look. The questions are not only why, but also why not?

My question is why do we need to argue about it?  I think we need to define in some way what STEM requires and how the arts can contribute to making this type of learning more accessible to all students, whatever their age level. It is clear that by the time an engineering student gets to higher education, they must understand some of these complex problems and concepts. Maybe building and designing, along with an evolving understanding of how beauty and aesthetic value contribute to human sensibilities, will further their imagination to look beyond what is immediately seen. This practice begins with very young children and opens the door to not be afraid. To not be afraid to try something and to challenge oneself.

So my reason for saying “full STE[a]M ahead” is let’s just go there. It is a collaborative learning style and it needs collaborators who are not afraid of the box getting broken. Don’t worry about the acronym or its definition. Open the box.

What Will the NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS do for Education?

I am truly excited about the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Maybe that is funny or strange, however The US needs a framework for teaching science and engineering in a progressive, experiential way while incorporating it with technology as a useful and needed tool. These standards relate to the Common Core State Standards for mathematics and language arts and will incorporate both engineering and inquiry skills. They will be internationally benchmarked as to make students globally competitive. The standards are currently being revised from the first draft and a new draft will be available in the Fall of 2012.  The website about this development is HERE.  

What is most important is these standards will now teach science in an integrated, experiential way. Students will not just learn facts but they will also learn concepts and have the curriculum aligned from grade to grade to build on their knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas and the scientific method. Students will learn to use the scientific method by asking a real world question or addressing a real world problem and investigating solutions and answers. They will learn engineering skills through problem solving by design. Both areas are essential to building a base of scientific knowledge. The scientific concepts taught will be real-world, useful, and taught through all disciplines of science. Content knowledge will build from grade to grade. The core ideas taught will be all the important scientific ideas that have a relevance and a relationship to the real world. There won’t be isolated facts for memorization here and there, but actual, practical core concepts. These standards offer the opportunity for all the STEM fields to work together and offer a synthesized and comprehensive education in science. Teachers in math and science will work together. What a concept!

It is exciting for this opportunity to bring science to life for students. We did not learn science like this when I went to school. Actually there wasn’t much science until high school. By that time, so many factors influence a child’s development that the door may not be open. Scientific concepts can be taught from a young age with appropriate activities and as a student grows and matures, these concepts can be revisited and expanded. The knowledge will get deeper and deeper, curiosity will happen. Students can keep an electronic portfolio of their work and review it from time to time. A journal of questions and ideas should be the norm.

So what will NGSS do for education? On the “evaluate the critical thinking and problem solving scale”  (not a real thing, my words), they are a 10. If we can teach the concepts through experience and build on them at age appropriate levels, we will create more scientists and engineers. Add to this, embracing the arts and using them to teach these concepts and you have your perfect world  – Integrated Curriculum. Students can build an instrument or design a yo-yo and learn what makes it work or what happens when you change the design. It is a lot of why and how.

So the US can be on its way to creating a new generation of critical thinkers and problem solvers, and ones that appreciate the dimensions the arts bring to science.  It all works together. There will be excitement, engagement and creativity. That is just the beginning….

What do you think?

So, now instruction and class size don’t matter. . . We need to make sure all children have two parents!

I don’t know what to say about this comment. It would be my hope that anyone who has the education, experience, intelligence, capability and desire to serve, and as a result, decides to run for the highest political office, the leader of the largest free nation in the world, should have more sensitivity, empathy and reality than to say such a thing. So, Mr. Mitt Romney, is this part of your education policy?

You put out this huge white paper on your views on education and what you would do and there are only a few small differences from the current policy. You want to abolish unions and you continually state how there is too much federal spending and you would not support that. Give it back to the states and see what happens.  Really?  So you mean all the states who are broke and have cut and cut since they have less federal support and really less local support? The states like the one in which I live that uses property taxes to pay for schools and since home values have decreased, so have school budgets? You mean that money?

In a speech in Washington last week, Romney compared the American public education system to that of a third world country. Instead of the government trying to clean up how it allocates money and for what, such as STEM curriculum,  innovation, career readiness, social/emotional wellness and graduation rate improvement, you would put money into vouchers for poor kids?  Or some poor kids who can get into a coveted private school where there is a spot and who has a way to get there? Are you assuming there is an excellent private school just waiting to educate these at-risk children?  Is it on the next block? And what do you propose for the neighborhood schools that need improvement that someone still attends? Should we take this money from them so they really can’t hire better teachers? You are going to give the money to the parents? How will that system of accountability work?

Mr. Romney happened to mention a few other things, such as that class size and accountability don’t matter, as markers for success and graduation rate. Yet he wants more transparency in testing etc. It is unclear how he intends to do this especially with reduced funds. The most infuriating thing he said however was this:

“Having two parents in a home makes an enormous difference,” Romney said. “And so if we’re thinking about the kids of tomorrow, trying to help move people to understand you know getting married and having families where there is a mom and a dad together has a big impact. And that’s, in my view, that is critical down the road.”

So what I ask is how do you intend to implement that circumstance, if that is so important? Are we going to have school admission that requires two parents be loving, caring and attentive? Is there going to be a license to parent? (I like that one!) Will there be monitoring at home to enforce good parenting so we know what happens behind closed doors?

It is not a secret that our current education system is in need of serious reform. Change is always difficult, painful and emotional. There are often many reasonable opinions and ways to do things that may work. I do think we can all agree that our children are our country’s most important asset. We need to get serious about education and stop talking and saying impossible and ridiculous things. If you don’t have something smart and reasonable to say, perhaps it is better to be silent.

I would love to have your reaction to these ideas. Where do we stand with educational policy reform?

Educational Truisms

I love that there is a lot of talk about education. Maybe it is just me, but it seems to be everywhere. Although I must admit our Presidential candidates aren’t talking about it yet. But our President has used education as a focal point in State of the Union speeches and the recent speeches to prevent the rate hike for student loans.  He has created a lot of controversy with his programs and many demonize Arne Duncan as if he is putting cocaine in baby bottles. The Republican primary did have candidates talking a little here and there about education. They too had all the answers. Just abolish the Department of Education-how simple is that?

So what are the answers? There are constant reminders that STEM education is very important. We have big companies talking and spending money to advertise to promote STEM education. We have 46 states that approved the Common Core State Standards, which is a good thing, although I do think trying to change a group of people adverse to change has its issues. It will happen. We have less emphasis on the high stakes testing since the president has allowed states to apply for a waiver of the requirements to conform to No Child Left Behind (am I delusional on this one?). We are constantly reminded either by the President or his representative and the many oil company commercials that we as a nation have fallen behind. I am guilty of continuous reference to this fact myself. People hate the testing and we have created a nation of stressed out kids, “Race to Nowhere.” Or those who are sill “Waiting for Superman.”  Educators speak with passion for whatever their belief…tests, no tests, arts, no arts, rote learning, experiential learning.  Should we focus on design and right brain thinking?  What about the great detail-oriented left-brainers?  Many there are really just no-brainers…

Things we need to accept:

• What worked 50 years ago won’t work today. I will buy that one.
• Public education should have a global perspective.
• Change begins with one step at a time. Don’t try to change everything at once. Start small, think big.
• Don’t be afraid to do things differently. Open your eyes and better yet, open your mind.
• There is a lot of talk. Time for action and no more excuses. Stop focusing on “how we do it” and make a difference. (This one really drives me nuts!)
• Use technology as a tool. Don’t be intimidated by it or think it is the total answer. It is a tool, and a good one.
• Open the door. It’s your party and the future will always look different so don’t let that intimidate you.

Teachers are good. Teachers are bad. Support teachers. Give teachers back the control. How do you know?  It is really important to well educate the next generation.

It is the answer to poverty.          

What do I think?  Some teachers are good and some are not so good. It is not different from anything else. The quality is not equal. Teaching styles differ. Learning styles differ. It is a human endeavor and it is not perfect. Maybe that is the truest thing I have said.

Why Are The Energy Companies Promoting Education? Exxon Mobil Kid Friendly?

Has anyone else been puzzled by the recent bevy of ads from Exxon Mobil touting the need for better education in science and mathematics? Exxon Mobil is a founding partner in the National Initiative for Science and Math Education (website HERE). I guess they had a huge wake up call when they couldn’t find enough engineers to fill jobs and they realized they need some research into clean energy production. I guess. Exxon is now on the bandwagon to right the wrong of the US falling behind in achievement in math and science.

I don’t want to criticize a good thing. Exxon is not a leading company in scientific research, in my humble opinion.  They exist for commercial enterprise–they have a product that supplies a need. They do give a lot to philanthropic causes and have been a leader in promoting the arts, but this is mostly image related.  Encouraging students and developing ability in math and science is a really good thing. Yes, it should have been done for years, but I will take “better late than never.” I have watched these well-done ads in recent weeks and yes, there are other energy (euphemism for oil) companies joining them. All of a sudden the bad guys are becoming good Samaritans. The ads are clever. You can view them HERE.

I found myself feeling good about the bad guys and really happy with the colorful, cute and intriguing ads. Then, I started to think about what’s up? Exxon would not be the first company I think of when I think of companies who endorse good science and promote quality education. The ad campaign serves to enlighten viewers that “Its not just U.S. leadership in energy that’s at risk—it’s also our leadership in medicine, research, technology and other pillars of the American economy.”  True, yes?

So, okay, Exxon Mobil is motivated by the fact they (and the world) need many scientists, engineers and technicians to do the work they know the world will demand. They have jobs and no one to fill them. The United States has massive unemployment. We do need to help to educate the next generation to fill these jobs. There is talent out there no one may find.  Students are so far behind in science and teachers don’t have the support and skills to stay current. Science is taught the same way as it was many years ago (my affinity for politeness won’t allow me to say how many years ago). Students are not motivated and teachers are not doing a good job. We need help. We need community partners and industry professionals to light the fire–for both students and teachers.

We need to imagine what will be or where we could go. We need to think about our world and clean air and clean water and preserving energy. We need to value science and discovery. It seems to me that science is getting put on the back burner in favor of allowing whatever to happen. States are not encouraging the bettering of ourselves as a society, but rather leaving the future in the hands of fate. Quality education concerns everyone. It is not political. At the same time, I will not allow those who want to undermine science to prevail. States are passing laws that denounce science. So if Exxon Mobil promotes science for their own commercial gain, I say, so be it.  We can’t just drill or do fracking and expect everything to be okay. There is science needed to glean information. We need to do this right.  The next generation of scientists and engineers is waiting. You don’t know who they are or what they will discover. But  they will if you give them the tools.

The US is clearly behind in math and science. It may not be as bad as the statistics indicate. After all, we are a much bigger and more diverse country than most of the ones who are ahead, so the numbers need that perspective. They have figured it out so we should figure it out. We were always on top and we should be again.

The fire needs to be lit.

STEM, STEAM, MATH and MUSIC — Integrate? How and Why

Why STEM? (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Why are they in a group? Should they be integrated with other core subjects? Should students learn these subjects in addition to regular curriculum or is it a part of the regular curriculum?

Do those who write curriculum and create learning materials understand the interconnectedness of the arts to mathematics and science? Technology spans all disciplines and so does engineering.

How do you make a piano?  How do you make an instrument sound a certain way? How do you design a hockey stick to be strong, light and flexible? Can you make a pan that retains heat better? How do you solve a Rubik’s cube? What do you imagine a robot doing? Can you design it? Do you understand how a paper airplane will fly and how its design affect its trajectory? Have you worked with gears and pulleys to make something useful for daily life? What are the effects of having different building materials? Can you create a fabric that is cool and doesn’t wrinkle?

STEM subjects are many–mathematics, physics, chemistry-biochemistry, eco-sciences, and computer science. These subjects all interact with their STEAM partners-computer graphics and design, video production, animation, food science, various aspects of music and music making, dance, physical education, spatial relationships . . .the list goes on.

Students should have in-depth projects that relate to interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary curriculum. Let’s build a yo-yo. What are all the factors to consider? Design, shape, materials…display all the yo-yos and sponsor a project event and while students explain their design process.  Students can use power point or video and include music. Build a robot to do a simple task.  We need community partners and mentors. An engineer demonstrates his job. Another shows how to make something and how to make it the most efficient. Build things. Take machines apart and see how they work. Businesses should provide learning materials through their education departments. Include  Psychology. Learn the effect of color and light on productivity. DO a study. BUILD something. Study a subject in-depth and process that information to create something new. Study spatial relationships by experimenting and observing how your body takes up space. Be a live design or puzzle.

STEM and STEAM learning must be hands-on and experiential. Use real world tasks as the point of study. Learn through experimentation.

STEM disciplines identified by the National Science Foundation include engineering, mathematics, agricultural sciences, biological sciences, physical sciences, psychology, economics and other natural and social/behavioral sciences, computer science, and earth, atmospheric and ocean sciences.

STEAM with the “A” for the Arts includes Music, Visual Art, Video Production, Computer Graphics, Dance, Theatre and Physical Education.

Think about the possibilities. STEAM/STEAM is NOT learning about the ocean by counting and coloring  fish. Instead, make a mini-ocean in a bottle and learn about  how the ocean is a closed eco-system and how waves travel. Create shapes with your bodies and learn and understand spatial relationships. Make an instructional video. Use notes to understand rhythmic values as fractions. Make mayonnaise.

Integrate STEM/STEAM into the school curriculum.  These subjects relate to each other and that is why they are in a group called STEM or STEAM.  It is a puzzle and the picture is complete only with each piece.Education comes to life through hands-on learning experiences.  The integration of STEM/STEAM into the curriculum better enables students to be career and college ready.

The need for STEM education is clear.What will it be if implemented without the arts?

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” Albert Einstein

TIPS TO IMPROVE CRITICAL THINKING IN ARTS EDUCATION

Arts education is not arts and crafts. Arts and crafts may have a benefit for many–very useful for social/emotional wellness and special education, and fun too. Arts education is not learning lines or music by rote and performing it totally detached from what you are doing. It’s not tracing or copying a drawing or making things out of pipe cleaners. Draw what you see. Paint the vase of flowers. Copy my picture. Sing this. Repeat after me. Let’s make a macaroni picture. Play it like this. Don’t ask why, it goes that way. Arts education is not being a robot.

Arts education, according to Wikipedia( I know, not the most scholarly, but OK for this purpose), encompasses all the visual and performing arts delivered in a standards-based, sequential approach by a qualified instructor as part of the core curriculum. Its core is the study of inseparable artistic and aesthetic experience and learning. It can include music, dance, drama, theatre, culinary arts and visual art such as painting, sculpture, printmaking, pottery, design, clothing,  photography, computer graphics, and film making.

So where am I going with this? Arts education is often about performance; it is to do something or to make something, and perhaps interpret the works of others and express their feelings. Using critical thinking techniques and questions may have no immediate relationship to the subject matter as performance. Opportunities for enhancing critical thinking can be used in addition to performing and visual arts. I can ask a chorus inquiry questions about the meaning of the music, its history, the culture of the world when it was written. I want them to be thinking people who wish to express themselves, not robots who wish to reflect the expressions of others.

Let’s define what critical thinking is.  It is a an approach to student centered learning that allows the students to relate information to their own life and already existing knowledge. They can analyze new information, evaluate and  process it,  and then apply it to something new, or their own life situation.      

An example is to take a well-known quote: I  have used this one:

   All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. –Pablo Picasso

I ask: (and allow for every answer to stimulate another possible question)

• What does it mean?
• What does it mean to you?
• How does this apply to your life?
• What do you think Picasso was talking about?
• Can you give me an example of this?
• How were you artistic when you were younger that you aren’t now?
• All of the answers will relate to the student and their knowledge and experience directly.

Another example:

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. President John F. Kennedy, Houston, TX 1962

This quote stimulates many questions:

• What was President Kennedy talking about?
• Why do you think he said that?
• What does that mean to you and how can you apply it to your life?
• How can we apply that to our society?
• How do you think those words affected the history that we now know and understand?
• Will those words affect the future?
• Does it affect your future?
• Does it affect the future of anyone that you know?
• How does this affect your ability to understand your own goals and artistic expression?

TIPS:

~ Ask questions and lots of them.

~Let the answers stimulate more questions.
~ Ask a knowledge based question and the expand from there to questions that ask students to use what they have learned and apply knowledge or make inferences.

~ Good Questions:

• Are Age appropriate.
• Have no right or wrong answer and may prompt other avenues of discussion.
• Ask to synthesize information and APPLY WHAT YOU KNOW to a new scenario.
• Demonstrate an understanding of how multiple pieces fit together.
• May have a deeper meaning.
• Relevant to the students’ lives in the future.

~ Give them some introductory phrases that will help them direct their thoughts.  “I agree with you because…” I disagree because…”

~ Discuss how the subject may be relevant at home or in other aspects of their lives.

~ Discuss how this subject relates to other academic subjects and how it is used in other subjects.

~ Step back and let the student be responsible for his own learning. Don’t be a knowledge fountain. Teachers must use their words selectively – don’t talk too much.

~ Critical thinking can relate to high stakes standardized testing. Take the content knowledge and have students evaluate and analyze it. DO research.

~ Model what you want them to do and HOW TO THINK.

~ Allow for differences of opinion and encourage discussion. Students will learn from each other and get to know each other.

~ Be sure to have students validate their information. Use research tools and Socratic discussions. Challenge each other.

~ Use writing as a tool for evaluation to assess what students have learned.

~ Use self-evaluation and peer evaluation (through teacher provided rubric) as learning tools.

~ Use the New Version of Bloom’s Taxonomy

A few more words about Tests. . .

The  standardized tests themselves ask straight forward questions for the most part. Currently, there is little use of critical thinking. It is good for students to be able to reason. If they cannot remember a fact, perhaps they can use reasoning abilities and get the right answer. Tests will evolve to something better, I believe they have to.

Students must understand that critical thinking and lifelong learning is not just memorizing a bunch of facts. The facts must relate to a deeper meaning. They must use the facts to do something larger.  Why do we have three branches of government? What are their purpose? What would it be like if we didn’t? What is successful about this type of government? What does not work so well?

I know the Arts do not have high stakes testing. If we ask critical thinking questions about things such as the meaning or style of Mozart’s music, the expression in a Van Gogh Painting, and how past culture relates to life today, students can learn to make these associations.  In art class, they can build, design and question why to do things a certain way. It expands the mind and the realm of possibilities. Critical thinking stimulates the imagination. Not only should students learn to imagine, but also they should learn to follow through. Dreaming the ridiculous has no purpose. Dreaming with the intention of making reality does. Creativity is only real if it can be realized.

From the National Art Education Association: 10 Lesson the Arts Teach:

http://www.arteducators.org/advocacy/10-lessons-the-arts-teach

Ready for Takeoff…It’s Launch Time! No More Excuses! Quality Education Only!

Okay!  We are ready. I am not listening to any more excuses. I don’t want to hear “This is not the way we do it.”   Or, “We have always done it this way…”

Likewise, those who don’t want to ante up for education because they don’t have kids need to reconsider. This world is the one in which we all live. All citizens partake in the benefits of society–services, roads, health care and EDUCATION, and all of the people who provide all of these things must go through the education system. Do you want someone to service your furnace who really doesn’t have literacy skills or mechanical ability? Do you want surgery from a physician who may have graduated high school with a 5th grade reading level? Everyone loves their technology–instant entertainment with hundreds of cable channels. How does all of this happen?

Those who are short-sighted enough not to understand how our world is a community to which we all contribute in some way need to wake up. It is the responsibility of citizens to give back. How can you complain if you don’t contribute to making things better? I have said this before: They may not be your children, but it is your world.

Everyone needs to speak up to get schools on board to launch our children into the world.  In your town or city, on your block, there may be children who have unknown potential. We will never know their potential if the doors are not open.  We don’t know who may get the next spark of innovation or creativity, or what may inspire it. It is not serendipity or luck, it must be purposeful.

High quality instruction is the key. There can be no excuses. Higher education must re-evaluate their educational programs and create new ways to educate those who will educate. K-12 schools must revamp curriculum and the way it is implemented and assessed to suit the needs of TODAY and the needs of the FUTURE. We must create life long learners so that when our children go out into the world, they have tools to continue their quest for knowledge, education and improvement.

Why would we CENSOR Certain Works from Education? Stifle Critical Thinking?

I found this article quite disturbing.

http://fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com/post/19950269903/how-to-get-your-book-banned-in-arizona

Article in the NY Times:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/education/racial-lens-used-to-cull-curriculum-in-arizona.html?_r=1

How to get your book banned in Arizona? The first answer is to write about people who aren’t white.  This book has been banned in schools in Arizona. Does it contain pornography? Does it have foul and unacceptable language? Does it have drug use as appropriate?

THE ANSWER TO ALL IS NO. IT IS SIMPLY ABOUT PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT WHITE.

OK. I can’t let this go. We have the shooting of an innocent teenage black youth in Florida and now books banned because they are stories about non-white people. So we don’t need to become more tolerant, more understanding. Children should not learn about other cultures and lifestyles. REALLY? Why can’t we celebrate diversity?

NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!

It is first about the first amendment. This is just censorship, denying artistic license and free speech. Should we consider how to improve racism in America? Is it not positive to enhance education through critical thinking skills and learning about others who may be different from you? Isn’t that what education is?  Learning about something you don’t know?

What exactly are those in Arizona afraid of? I can’t even write what I fear they think. In the guise of doing “what is right” for kids they are doing them a disastrous disservice.

Literature can teach us so much about life. It is not exactly like experiencing things, but remember all of the great stories you have read in the past, Little Women, Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, The Grapes of Wrath and on and on. You get my point. Whatever your favorite stories are, how would you feel if someone had denied you this?  Moby Dick? A Tale of Two Cities?  What we learned from these stories! Literature is multicultural. It’s past time to bring it on.

One final thought since the focus is on critical thinking in education. Even if the story were a bad story in which a boy used bad judgment and as a result, there were consequences. Wouldn’t this be a good exercise for critical thought?  For applying what you have learned to real life circumstance? Art is not always beautiful and actually life is not always beautiful. To appreciate the good we must experience what is not so good.

Not only do you take away free speech but also you deprive our children of the chance to live. This craziness, which seems rampant in many parts of our world right now, has to stop. What exactly are you afraid of?

Are We Ready for Blended Learning? Time to CHANGE “What to Learn?”

Picture this:  Students sitting on the floor in groups in a classroom. Everyone is busy and engaged. Many are using computers or ipads. The teacher is circulating answering questions, giving guidance and most of all, stimulating creative ideas.

I just love this idea. Students learn what they need to learn through their own motivation and natural affinities. It will not leave gaps as there will be thought and problem solving and researching the necessary information for all of this learning. The new focus is HOW TO LEARN . . . SOLVE PROBLEMS  . .  FIND ANSWERS.  OUT WITH WHAT TO LEARN. That will happen as a by-product. No more memorizing stuff by sucking it in and then spitting it back out.

I love this. I must admit it excites me to think that all students can and will learn and they will experience knowledge is power by being able to learn anything.

Am I wrong?  Is this not going to work?  Do we need to live in a world where the teacher still stands up in the front of the room and talks, talks, talks and then shows everyone how to do “it”, everyone does it together, and then homework is assigned, understanding is assessed. I want kids to move around, have conversations and experience learning.

I envision the teacher as the true nurturer! The helper who guides the way but never dictates. The mentor who shows by example how to learn and asks questions that students are excited to answer. How? Why?

Am I wrong?  Is this dream possible to be reality? In my heart I believe it is best for learning. It will create life long learners with students who care and are responsible for their own improvement. It opens the door to creativity and innovation and as a result, mastery.

I am reading about it. I see signs of encouragement. Please tell me I am not dreaming.