chris lehmann

recording

the problem w/highschool.. we tell kids they have to do stuff
kids not wanting to go to school

why learn stuff - because told we had to
it doesn't have to be this way..

grant wiggins

purpose of hs - that kids don't suck quite so much at the things they are bad at.
at the end of the day school should be about metacognition
pbl isn't just giving kids instructions on how to do something - don't give out a recipe

the why is powerful

Joe Bower: If everyone is doing the same project, then some one isn't learning.

pammoran: what if we had an outcome that kids would leave each teacher with a sustained love of learning? how would that change the game? for teachers? for young people?

not just teaching kids how to learn - but how to live

pammoran: just saw today a study from William and Mary- torrence test of of creativity- "scores" have dropped from 1990-2008- among K-6th graders... test prep

oe Bower: "My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status." Sir Ken Robinson


pammoran: William and Mary study as reported in WSJ http://on.wsj.com/h98eQZ

biggest change - really have to work on  your listening skills (teacher)

sla is a magnet school - interviews - don't take top grades and test scores.. look for kids that need their model

ben wilkoff - how do you do this in elementary school, elem teacher always knows more than kid, one question: what do you think
don't care how much you know.. but what do you think... we don't know that...  (nice)

citizens vs. workers is kinda like wisdom vs. knowledge.

not about changing the curriculum but about ownership of the curriculum
teachers crafting curriculum in such a way that allows kids to their own decision making process

one of hardest things in 9th grade - teach kids to stop figuring out the game of school

DrTimony: I often find that when I give my undergrads and grads opportunities to create their own, relevant, project instead of what's in the syllabus, they are stymied.

Gordon D: Do you think you can work with M. Rhee's new initiative? http://www.studentsfirst.org
Chris said the conversation is about labor - and that's not the convo - it's not about bullying

dlaufenberg: common rubric http://drupaled.scienceleadership.org/wiki/assessment-sla

can't want one thing for students and another for teachers....
pd can't be lecturing on how to do inquiry

Joe Bower: I've come to see how delicate the climate for progressive education truly is. The potential for improvement can live and die with the principal.

Here's the Educon 2.3 website http://educon23.org/ happens Jan 28-30 in Philadelphia

one secret to sla - they built it together.. not riding on one person...
the system they built is available for others




Moderator (Kyle Pace): This is Chris' school: http://scienceleadership.org/

don't know if great teachers and great admin are it.. need a vision and an idea
great means something different. you need people to be in the right place for themselves..
this is where the unions need to get on board... and see change.. transfers are

Joe Bower: Progressive education is undermined by teachers who will talk all day about whether kids should be able to chew gum or wear hats, but won't ever engage in a conversation about pedagogy.

why would any school hire a teacher that wasn't interviewed by parents and students and peers...

if union could say - we will give up seniority and transfers for a great hiring committee
instead of a demo lesson, sla emails their parent guide... it ends up being the cheat sheet for the whole interview..
also ask them to create a unit plan that fits the vision of sla

nykat4: demo lessons don't show deep curric thinkers - shows can perform on spot

at sla - hiring is consensus

do you see sla becoming a franchise school?
Ann: I love that SLA is a district school

what would you do diff than new tech - we have more processes..

latest dream of a new school: middle high, kids are streamed, make everything built around math, logic, conrad wolfram,  - ok - i'm really liking chris.. bravo man

Moderator (Kyle Pace): http://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_wolfram_computing_a_theory_of_everything.html

Moderator (Shelly Terrell (@shellterrell)): That's Wolfram's blog with the TED Talk embedded http://blog.wolfram.com/2010/11/23/conrad-wolframs-ted-talk-stop-teaching-calculating-start-teaching-math/

@gcouros - George Couros: Here is my question Chris.  This is a great school that seems to be built from the ground up.  How do you do these same things in a school that is already established, already has its teachers in place, and needs change.  How has SLA impacted the different practices in other schools in your district?

http://budtheteacher.com/blog/2010/01/26/sla-isnt-the-promised-land-emphasis-on-the-the



if everybody talks about the ways in which we do things - talking the same language..

excellent -
you have great people,
yes - but we don't let people be great...

you can't hide at sla

sla is a hard place to teach, requires a complete paradigm shift.. can't rely on the things that work for them in the past

the kids are doing the butt kicking

trying to push kids to go to funky schools.. because some that have gone to traditional are struggling a bit.. they are doing ok - but struggling with traditional ways

big thing to tackle next year - front load essential questions... so that kids will organically come back to them..

every kid has an iep at sla
high tech high has own grad school of ed..
very similar

in kids' interviews - looking at - do you really need to be here..

quoted umair haque... love it.
we have to consider our footprint at all times

we just need to do...

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