Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Meeting: Oakland County Parks Tuesday, October 13, 2010 8:30AM-NOON

EDUCATION NATION! (Tuesday)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

STILL NOT A "DIME" FROM RTTT

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Practice: We’re in it together

Most of what we know, remember, and use, we didn’t learn by teachers and textbooks filling our empty heads, Marion Brady reminds us in an excellent recent blog post confronting current education “reforms.” Instead, we came to learning with our own ideas, opinions, explanations, beliefs and values. And then “we discovered real-world patterns and relationships — new knowledge that caused us to constantly rethink, reorganize, reconstruct, and replace earlier knowledge.”

That’s a very serious intellectual practice, worthy of 10,000 hours. (Translate: eight years of school!) And it takes a coach — someone to watch closely, suggesting just the next stretch a learner needs, at just the right moment. It’s a delicate business, not simple transfer of information– and it has everything to do with the learner’s motivation. As Brady puts it,

As is true of adults, kids’ ideas and beliefs become part of who they are, so attempts to change them may come across as attacks on their identity and be resisted.

That’s why teaching is such a complex, multi-step process, he says in this wonderful summary of what the good teacher practices every day. (Reminder: 10,000 hours is at least five or six years of teaching!)

The teacher has to (a) “get inside” that head to figure out what’s thought to be true, right, or important, (b) understand the kid’s value system well enough to offer ideas sufficiently appealing to warrant taking them seriously and paying attention, (c) choose language or tasks that question old ideas and clarify new ones, (d) get feedback as necessary to decide how to proceed, (e) load the whole process up with enough emotion to carry it past short-term memory, and (f) do this for a roomful of kids, no two of whom are identical.

The faces of students in our Practice Project lit up when they told me of the learning experiences that really stuck with them. Above all, it was hands-on projects, internships, and apprenticeships that led them to ask better questions, explore their subjects more deeply, and rise to the challenge of producing new knowledge.

Along the way, their level of engagement with adults also shifted in crucial ways. Learner and teacher were in it together. And it showed.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Movies and Education (RGB STUDIOS)

State’s film tax credit lifts small businesses, excites imaginations

When he sponsored the bill that would, when adopt ed in April 2008, make Michi gan the most generous state in the nation for movie pro ducers, Andy Meisner had three objectives: creating jobs as quickly as possible in the depths of our economic melt down; growing longer-term a new industry that could some day account for perhaps 5% of the state economy, and re taining creative, educated young people who were looking to pursue their fu tures outside Michigan.

And by those objectives, Meisner said, the movie tax credit is not only a success but a bigger one than most of the much less visible tax breaks and incentives the state provides for other busi nesses — about $36 billion worth last year, including the $37.5 million for the movie, TV and video industry.

A bipartisan idea

Meisner, now the elected Oakland County treasurer, was a Democratic state repre sentative in his final term when he worked with state Sen. Jason Allen, a Republican from Petoskey, to as semble the movie tax pack age, which passed the Legisla ture with only one vote against, from Sen. Nancy Cassis, R-Novi.

“We have literally billions of dollars in various tax ex penditures, exemptions and credits that have been grant ed, many of which do not deliver the desired outcome,” Meisner said. “While the state coffers may never be fully replenished from the film tax credits, this was never about making money for the state.”

But with the next governor facing a $1.6-billion budget hole and unemployment ex pected to remain well into double digits, can Michigan really afford to give away money to have movies shot here?

Cassis’ continuing skepti cism was fueled by last week’s report from the state Senate Fiscal Agency. The report asserted that the expenditure of $100 million through movie tax credits has generated less than $60 million in economic activity. But the term-limited Cassis is doubtful a lame-duck Legislature will do anything about the credits in the bal ance of this year. To next year’s incoming crowd, how ever, they may look like low hanging fruit to throw at that budget deficit.

I hope not. I prefer to see them as seeds that sprouted quickly but will never grow into sturdy timbers of the state economy without time and tending. Given the flighty nature of the movie business, just the chatter about chang ing the rules might spur pro ducers to seek a better deal elsewhere.

Infrastructure for films

Developers are working to build a foundation for the industry here, including the construction of studios and postproduction facilities.
Schools are getting up to speed on the education need ed for jobs in film, video and video game production. And movie makers are slowly get ting more comfortable using local talent. They are, by all accounts, enormously pleased with the locations and the work ethic here and, of course, the tax break.

There are countless stories of businesses that got a quick shot in the arm from having a movie company around — a coffee shop that was repaired and repainted for a scene, a secondhand store that had its best sales day ever when the wardrobe people came in to shop, a local bistro that got a boost from a movie star on karaoke night.

And there are the intangi bles — the movies have given our collective psyche a boost amid our economic woes, something to talk about, even participate in. They greatly expanded Michigan’s pres ence on the national and glob al stage, too. Nothing calls attention to your world-class airport quite the way George Clooney can.

Movies are never going to replace the auto industry as Michigan’s economic main stay. But if we stick with what we’ve started and allow it to grow, they can — along with batteries, solar shingles, wind turbines and biomedical breakthroughs — be a solid and exciting part of Michi gan’s future. We’ve spent a lot more to get back a lot less.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

THEY'RE READY!

Partnership for 21st Century Skills (Video Contest 2010 Winners)
https://thepartnershipfor21stcenturyskills238.eduvision.tv/Default.aspx?q=trkxL8LvXknf8kDDdmJdOg%253d%253d

Monday, September 13, 2010

FILM: Waiting for Superman

Waiting for Superman
http://film.waitingforsuperman.com/

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Robert Bobb on 21st Century Digital Learning Environments

National Education Technology Plan 2010 (NETP)

Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology
http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/NETP-2010-final-report.pdf

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

SOMETHING to Inform our Understanding (Self Organizing Learning Environments)

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

PODCAST (Student Engagement Through Partnership)

New podcast from Radio TICAL – bringing student voice into ed tech

Posted: 07 Sep 2010 02:42 AM PDT

Involving students as partners and co-learners in the educational process, rather than as consumers—or worse, as “objects”—is not a new concept but it is certainly gaining currency in the 21st century. With information exploding, teachers can no longer hope to know everything about their subject. With changes in student lifestyles, fewer and fewer of them are content to be passive participants in the classroom.

GenYES is remarkable in how it brings student voice into the learning conversation. In this episode, Sylvia Martinez, President of GenYES, describes the project’s original program for bringing students and teachers together to co-plan technology-infused lessons as well as a newer program, TechYES, which offers a unique project-based learning approach to certifying middle school students as technologically literate.

via Radio TICAL.

Yup, that’s me, in a podcast recorded with Michael Simkins of the Technology Information Center for Administrative Leadership (TICAL). It’s the “go to” place for California school administrators who want to understand how to integrate technology in their schools. TICAL offers resources and networking opportunities both online and in person.

Direct podcast link (MP3)

Sylvia

Model the Practice!

NONTRADITIONAL LEARNING IN MICHIGAN

KIDS’ CHOICES RULE SCHOOL

It skips preset curriculum, lets students be heard

By PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI

FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

When the Little Lake Free School opens today in Ann Arbor, it won’t be school business as usual.

Instead of administrators deciding on a curriculum and teachers telling students what they will learn, Little Lake students will tell their teachers what they want to study. It will be the teacher’s job to help the student find ways of studying that.

For example, a child interested in frogs may read about frogs, draw frogs, study the frog’s anatomy and so on. Instead of English, students could create their own magazine, write stories, poems, editorials — whatever they are interested in — and at the end of the semester publish their writing in their own magazine.

If there is a problem, such as students not getting along, there will be a school meeting and the entire school, including students, will discuss nonviolent solutions and vote on the resolution.

The school is Michigan’s newest nontraditional school, seeking to make interests of the student the driv ing educational force, rather than a preset curriculum. Interest in these types of schools is increasing alongside interest in schools of choice and charter schools.

Little Lake is among 40 nontraditional schools that have opened across the country in the last four years.

“These schools are based on the interests of the learn er, rather than on someone’s idea of what kids should be learning,” said Jerry Mintz, director of the Alternative Education Resource Organization, which helps these unique schools open. “Kids learn more from play than almost any other activity. The way things are being prescribed in schools now, there’s just almost no opportuni ty to play in school.”

| PARENTS SAY SCHOOLS REVIVE STUDENTS’ LUST TO LEARN. 4A

“THESE SCHOOLS ARE BASED ON THE INTERESTS OF THE LEARNER.”

JERRY MINTZ , director of the Alterna tive Education Resource Organization, which helps these unique schools open

Nontraditional schools help revive kids yearning to learn

Students set pace; teachers give options

By PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI

FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

If “school choice” are buzzwords in education today, schools like the Upland Hills School in Oxford offer the ultimate in choice. Upland Hills is a school where students, not teachers, drive the curric ulum and educators are passionate in their desire to avoid what many call one size- fits-all learning.

Upland Hills, like Little Lake Free School opening in Ann Arbor today, of fers teachers options in instruction. These schools have less structure and allow students more freedom in choos ing what and how they learn. They also usually shy away from grouping chil dren by age and grade, and instead, stress allowing students to learn at their own pace.

“There are many ways of learning and children need to have a number of opportunities to receive information and then integrate it,” said Phillip Moore, director of Upland Hills. “Essen tially the idea is that every child is born a genius, and the true function of educa tion is to draw out those gifts.”

Jerry Mintz, director of Alternative Education Resource Organization, calls this “learner-centered” education. The organization lists 12,000 such schools on its Web site.

Some parents who send their chil dren to nontraditional schools said they realized their children had lost some thing — namely their lust for learning — when they attended traditional schools. Beth Tanenhaus Winsten’s 13-year old son, Max, was bored at school.

“My child tests off the charts, but he does not like rote learning,” said Tanen haus Winsten of Ann Arbor. “There are wonderful public schools and wonderful public school teachers, but for a kid like Max, he just needed more.”

She enrolled Max in the Clonlara School in Ann Arbor. At Clonlara, rules are made by the students, with guidance from adults, said Martha Rhodes, Clon lara’s campus administrator. Students understand what they’re supposed to learn, but it’s up to them to decide how to learn it. For example, a student could give a speech, instead of writing a paper. “Our teachers want the students to demonstrate they have learned the con cept,” Rhodes said. “So long as they can meet the objective, we don’t necessarily tell them how to do it.”

The approach worked for Max.

“Now he’s interested in school again, he likes learning,” his mother said. “For his independent project, he built his own computer.”

Not all children learn the same way, and if the first step in learning is enthu siasm and engagement, these schools can be the right fit for students who are not engaged by traditional education, agreed Carol Swift, associate professor of education and chair of the Depart ment of Human Development and Child Study at Oakland University.

“One of the things we need to focus on is learning how to learn. Some of the alternative schools do this better than the traditional schools do,” Swift said.

Since many of these schools allow students a great deal of leeway in what and when they learn, parents enrolling their children in these schools need to monitor their child’s studies to make sure they are learning the material needed to reach their academic goals, Swift said.
Rating these schools’ academic suc cess is difficult because they tend to be private schools, and therefore do not have to give state tests such as the MEAP.

The school providers, however, say their students have no problem transi tioning to high school or to college be cause they are self-motivated.

Carla Grayson of Dexter is enrolling her 10-year-old son, Noah, in the Little Lake Free School, which costs $6,000 a year in tuition.

“We felt like he was getting less inter ested in learning at his old school,” Grayson said. “He wasn’t asking us as many question about the world around him.”

At Little Lake, “He can really pursue his own interests, get to know himself and the world, which would ultimately be more useful than learning a bunch of facts that some other person decided he should learn,” Grayson said.

Little Lake is the decades-long dream of former Detroit Public Schools teacher Melissa Palma.

“I really loved teaching the kids but otherwise felt fairly disempowered with the school system and wanted to see more involvement with the student voices and parent voices,” Palma said. “I think learning should be about listening to children. Hear what they’re passion ate about, and use those topics to help them learn.”

Monday, September 6, 2010

Student Voices on School Engagement and/or Lack Thereof

High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE Report)
http://ceep.indiana.edu/hssse/images/HSSSE_2010_Report.pdf

Oakland Community Greenhouse

Ernst Community Classroom located @ 1580 Scott Lake Rd in Waterford, MI 48328

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Meeting: Oakland County Parks Tuesday, October 13, 2010 8:30AM-NOON

EDUCATION NATION! (Tuesday)

A RECIPE for SUCCESS!

Practice: We’re in it together

Sunday, September 26, 2010

The NEXT CONVERSATION (PART of UN-VARNISHING the TRUTH)

THE LARGER CONVERSATION (NOW IT is EVERYWHERE!)

PART of the LARGER CONVERSATION! (Zuckerman-Facebook)

Waiting for Superman (Education and Movies)

Movies and Education (RGB STUDIOS)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

THEY'RE READY!

Monday, September 13, 2010

FILM: Waiting for Superman

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Robert Bobb on 21st Century Digital Learning Environments

National Education Technology Plan 2010 (NETP)

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

SOMETHING to Inform our Understanding (Self Organizing Learning Environments)

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

PODCAST (Student Engagement Through Partnership)

Model the Practice!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Student Voices on School Engagement and/or Lack Thereof

Contributors

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