Wednesday, February 20, 2013

tweets feb 20 - trust & abundance



johnmaeda (@johnmaeda)
2/16/13 10:11 AM
Trust springs forth from the very moment one feels, and knows, and can say to oneself, "S/He [or It] *understands* me."




Institute of Play (@instituteofplay)
2/20/13 7:29 AM
"The purpose is to make & create bc this is learning" - students write what they learned playing@MinecraftEdu in class bit.ly/VvHWMR
By the way, this writing shouldn’t be viewed as the conclusion of our Minecraft project – the children’s work in Minecraft is ongoing and certainly hasn’t been conceptualised purely as a stimulus for a piece of writing, but as promoting learning in its own right.
love this.

Will Richardson (@willrich45)
2/20/13 7:12 AM
"We need to aspire to be first in the world in caring for our most vulnerable" bit.ly/YBbRkl Must. Read.#edchat #education #amen

I remember the teacher talking about phonics, having no clue what she was talking about, thinking that everyone else did, and not having any means to ask. I remember having the sense that the teacher did not like me
Let’s also make sure that a high school diploma puts our kids on a path to a good job.

oh my. .. even young kids see this as .. same song second verse.
perhaps no badge of any kind sets a person free to their art.

perhaps we make sure every person is valued..
by making sure they are known by at least one person... enough to lean in daily and listen to/for their very own curiosity/hunger 

In this context, the current intense focus on measurable academic knowledge and skills, competition for merit pay among teachers and competition with charter schools for students is appealing to many
unless we are bold enough to come clean.. and say.. you know... we may be wrong about that...
The U.S. Department of Education has used the economic downturn to drive a marketplace-based educational agenda in which test scores, merit pay and charter schools figure prominently.  States and districts, desperate for funds, quickly agreed to these requirements in the Race-to-the-Top and Title I School Improvement Grants.  Based on the same principles, private foundations have used their economic power to sway elections, sponsor and influence the content of administrative leadership training programs and fund the opening of charter schools that draw students and funds away from regular public schools.
With the recent release of new international assessment data from TIMSS and PIRLS there was a flurry of discussion about the relative standing of the United States.  Our national self-efficacy appears to rest upon whether we are first in the world. That is a shallow and insufficient goal for a great nation.
We need to aspire to be first in the world in caring for our most vulnerable, whether it is young children, the poor, the disabled, the elderly, or the physically or mentally ill.  We also need to give far more attention to the ways in which our lack of attention the social and emotional health undermines academic success. 
or perhaps we put aside the ..let's be first issue.. breathe more.. start listening to each other.
first doesnt matter quite so much once you grok how many people that mentality is killing.
or perhaps we could start caring less .. how all those worthy attributes to humanity.. vulnerability, empathy, paying attention.... etc, undermine.. or affect in any way...academic success 



Joe Bower (@joe_bower)
2/20/13 7:33 AM
@willrich45 Will, you might be interested in this new book that will be available soonradicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/in-… 


let's be bold
http://redefineschool.com/632/spinach-or-rock/
if we trust people to think for themselves, all this prep and training and managing is no longer needed.
imagine.. all the abundance...
blessed unrest.
happening.
a story about people grokking what matters.


johnmaeda (@johnmaeda)
2/16/13 10:11 AM
Trust springs forth from the very moment one feels, and knows, and can say to oneself, "S/He [or It] *understands* me."