Monday, January 25, 2010

who owns the learning...


ongoing conversations that relate to our innovation lab idea:
 


 Zander's book - a reminder of the places we could be ... going..



response to Deron Durflinger's post, We Have a Teacher for That.

I've got a group of 30 kids piloting ideas to make the 7 hour days more meaningful.
What we have come up with... is an innovation lab, where we connect students with an expert individual tutor (career person) and a pln - like you say.. not bound by geography but connected per passion. 

We think the career tutor and student design of curriculum brings in that intrinsic value. Which not only allows for great creativity on the student part, but also motivation to get what we call the *boxed content done in a most efficient way.
*content found on act/sat/csap, not bad, just fixed.
We see the face to face teacher as more a facilitator of these connections rather than a content provider.

Here's the plan we have.. http://docs.google.com/View?id=dd49zvr8_49cqgtfzff 
#1 speaks specifically to it.. #2-4 help make it happen.

Would love critique, insight,... hoping to make it happen next year.

 ____________________________________________


response to a great question posed by Stephen Downes on his site Half an Hour:

Excellent question.. I think kids owning the learning, (designing/creating the curriculum even)... is the only way this 7hr-a-day thing we call school could/should work. So asking - under what conditions is huge to making it happen.


My thoughts on those conditions... (and the only reason I'm writing here in your spot - is because I'm craving yours):
1) absence of standardized testing
2) until standardized testing is removed.. allowance of a more efficient, student owned way to learn the standardized content
3) once time is freed, by removal or by efficiency, access (via a facilitator of connections) to individual expert tutors and plns per passion, will become the conditions needed.

Here's the plan we're hoping will allow for kids to own the learning...
#1 speaks specifically to it.. #2-4 help make it happen.

_________________________________________________________