dennis littky

oh my - i love the man.
just finishing his The Big Picture, Ed is Everyone's Business.
i almost underlined every word. no white space left in the book.
interviews:

• Elliot Washor  
• Dennis
• both of them

resonated 99.9% with what we are doing in the lab. and the met opened in 1996? dang. where the heck have i been.
the blueprint,... perfect for dreaming with artspace - and ace-loveland

• i've ordered his movie.
• on his book and college unbound  -  i love the comment 

• his tedx nyed

they now have 73 schools around the world, and in aug 2009 started college unbound

more notes when i finish the book..

just finished. bravo Dennis Littky.
well - besides thinking everyone should read the book.. my biggest take-aways:

take away from these below - the saying that change is slow, just got changed in my head, it's been slow, it's been radically happening at the Met since 1996, Dennis has been at this 30 years, and in 1892 they were saying what we're saying now - nothing is for everyone -  (how can that be radical?)

• 1892: created secondary ed - and said it's not for all, p. 20
• 1993: Boyer, president of Carnegie Foundation that created seat time and carnegie unit, said that seat time is no way to measure how a kid learns, per minute?  p. 32
• 2000: Reich, us secretary of labor, says curriculum is not needed for everyone, (ie: science, math, etc) p. 34

the below, culture is huge. a culture of trust is huge. trust in each other, trust in the naturalness of learning.

• he says that the atmosphere, the culture, needs to be the main focus.  p. 45
• that the curriculum is inside each kid.  p. 81
• their goal: seek out whatever resources they can to help students bring their personalized curricula to life  p. 83  - help kids think
• on 1-1 mentors/internships/etc - in Providence, 500,731 adults in workforce and 40,651 hs students  p. 128
• found - it's even better for kids to find own mentors than to facilitate match up  p. 129
• the city is the floor plan of the school  p. 130
• from gang research: young people need to feel a part of a culture, part of something larger than themselves.  p. 194

and they remind themselves of it daily in their mantras below...

the Mets mantras: p. 190

• one students at a time - no agendas
  
• real work - not even fake real
  
• learning through interests - town is school, mentor up
  
• family engagement - best mentors 
  

how to live both in and out of the system:

• assess students by measure if they want to learn more -do they crave to share - look on real places, like in the community, on wikipedia, etc
• if at the end - kids want transcripted grades - do that p. 162
• use exhibitions and narratives and portfolios - always being there... curriculum changes daily - uses advisories/small hs's - 14 kids to 1 adult. every kids needs to be known.

here's authentic NCLB:

What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must be what the community wants for all its children.   - John Dewey  p. 145

Littky reads Dewey's Experience and Education every year.  p. 30



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