Episode 1: Sam Chaltain
Josh Starr and Chris Lloyd sit down with DC-based writer and education activist Sam Chaltain
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/superintendent/podcast/
podcast of sam with superintendent - talking "and"-ing in city as school -
via Sam
problem with public ed:
figure a way to revise our system.. so that no longer child adjusting to system.. but system adjusting to child
we are in the midst of the largest change, we lack the collective imagination at this point
purpose of ed should be helping young people how to use their minds well -
up to this point - we've had the endpoint of equipping young people with a certain amount of knowledge
content knowledge becomes the means?
mcsqaured - curiosity and wonder - as one of main skills
nature of rubric - non-linear
11 min in - there are no basics.... no?
what really creates powerful learning - is the support of a facilitator
palo freire & parker palmer - not the adult just getting out of the way.. need facilitators
[all good - but what if it's not about the room - or subject]
question - measuring things - to be accountable for govt dollars
mcsquared - most data driven he's seen... 1/2 is qualitative... track a young persons development of habits, every day kids write a 10 min reflection, at end of week, teachers write to principal, weekend, principal writes theirs
dewey - was very data driven - in the original latin version - something given..
montgomery county - already asking the question - what if we had an entire district that were redefining data...
dr james comer
what would it look like if ed gradually moved toward developmental sciences and learning sciences, also in addition to their content..
the main thing we can do for hs kids - is help them get through it? - this time of figuring out who they are - rather than content
[27 min - not to get too out there? what if it is the there? - 10 years is your min number of years.. not if we set people free... no? we don't understand exponentiation]
josh - how any sort of meaningful change can occur outside model.. because it's a model to address changes at scale.
[hmmm. we just don't what scale could be. our scale now - is scaling what exactly?]
melding the absolute urgency around the change - and the molasses around what we have
how do you do disruption in the framework of a district..
communicated and measured?.... measured?...
montgomery - doing both - and -
31 - to monika's crazy idea...
[we've called that a connected adjacency - the and.. also - your school design it.
but see - it will happen more timely as a city.. because you need your people, you need the cross generational expertise. we've done what you described the last 4 years. so yeah... start again - and it will take 10 - 50 yrs. if we want to see it in an exponentiating way - we need to set everyone in a city free. not saying we choose a way for them.. but we make sure they know that thinking for themself... that becoming themself... is legal.. and we can call that school... without punishment or demeaning.
so then... what's crazy? perhaps not going too out there. perhaps staying close enough to not seem crazy is keeping us from us. no? it's hard learning to swim.. with just a toe in the water. jumping in helps. especially when it's something this important. and people are dying daily. urgent patience.]
question - what is the roll of the federal govt, ie: what about test scores
asked earlier on.. didn't get back to it.
perhaps there's a message. we just don't get back to it. test scores.
spaces of permission - with nothing to prove.
somebody's got to try that out. city-wide.
