We Need Schools... Not Factories | Sugata Mitra Winner Of the TED Prize 2013 In a special edition of TEDWeekends, TED and The Huffington Post are partnering to co-premiere a talk by this year's TED Prize winner. The TEDTalk by the winner is accompanied by an original blog post, along with new op-eds, thoughts and responses from the HuffPost and TED communities. Watch the talk above, read the blog post and tell us your thoughts below. The Sole Of A Student From Plato to Aurobindo, from Vygotsky to Montessori, centuries of educational thinking have vigorously debated a central pedagogical question: How do we spark creativity, curiosity, and wonder in children? But first, a bit of history: to keep the world's military-industrial machine running at the zenith of the British Empire, Victorians assembled an education system to mass-produce workers with identical skills. Like most things designed by the Victorians, it was a robust system. But what got us here, won't get us there. Watch Sugata Mitra's interview with HuffPost Live here.
Genius Hour Resources | Engage Their Minds Genius Hour is a time given during the school day to allow students to follow their passions and learn about topics that interest them. My gifted 5th graders participate in this project, and present their learning when they are ready. This page is devoted to sharing some of the resources I’ve collected over the past two years with anyone else who is interested in starting a classroom Genius Hour. *As of 1/2/14, you can now download all of my current Genius Hour resources in a bundle on Teachers Pay Teachers for $5. Or, you can still download them separately (for free) by clicking on the links below. My posts on Genius Hour so far (in chronological order from earliest to most recent): The Twenty Percent Project 100 Minutes of Genius Genius Hour Update, Part I Genius Hour Update, Part II Genius Hour Update, Part III Genius Hour 2013, Part I Genius Hour 2013, Part II Next Year Will Be Even Better Blast off to Genius Hour! Genius Hour – Don’t Forget to Reflect! Genius Hour – Show What You Know! Make!
8 Ideas That Will Permanently Break Education As We Know It 9 Ideas Education Is Having Trouble Responding To by Terry Heick Ed note: This post has been updated from a post we published this summer. As education changes, it depends primarily on internal catalysts for that change. At some point, this will change. 1. Or rather usurping it in terms of sheer credibility. Businesses, education institutes, groups, organizations, people—everyone wants visibility and access. What do I know, and what should I do with what I know? How can I use those things I am connected to and with to live the kind of life I want to live? Knowledge will always matter, but in an economic sense of supply and demand, information is boundless. 2. It doesn’t mean they’re not worth knowing, but the mix of skills and understandings collectively represent an index of academic priorities that don’t directly speak to the human experience. 3. 4. Think about YouTube. What is the relationship between Walt Whitman and poetry and race and bullying and texting and smartphones? 5. 6. 7.
6 Principles Of Genius Hour In The Classroom Genius Hour In The Classroom: 6 Principles Of Genius Hour by Terry Heick Update: We did a t-shirt campaign of this graphic last year and it sold decently (if 13 t-shirts can be considered ‘decent.’). It’s still available if you wanted a t-shirt with a kind of learning model on it. Genius Hour in the classroom is an approach to learning built around student curiosity, self-directed learning, and passion-based work. In traditional learning, teachers map out academic standards, and plan units and lessons based around those standards. Genius Hour is most notably associated with Google, where employees are able to spend up to 20% of their time working on projects they’re interested in and passionate about. What’s The Difference? Genius Hour provides students freedom to design their own learning during a set period of time during school. Sense of Purpose Students must find their own sense of purpose in what they study, make sense of, and create. Design Inquiry & Navigation Create Socialization
How Teaching Is Changing: 15 Examples How Teaching Is Changing: 15 New Realities Every Educator Faces by Terry Heick It’s tempting to say that no matter how much technology pushes on education, every teacher will always need to know iconic teacher practices like assessment, curriculum design, classroom management, and cognitive coaching. This may end up being true–how education changes in the next 20 years is a choice rather than the inevitable tidal wave of social and technological change it’s easy to sit back and wait for. Think of the very limited change in education since 2000 compared to the automotive industry, computer industry, retail consumer industry, etc. But it’s probably going to be a bit different than that. We’ve written before about the kinds of “things” modern teachers must be able to do. (Hint: It’s no longer about classroom management, testing, and content delivery.) 1. The Old: Administer assessment, evaluate performance, report performance, then–maybe–make crude adjustments the best you can 2. Summary 3. 4.
Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB) So, why we are focusing on Blended Learning at HPSS? For many years now I have been championing the need for all schools and all students to engage in e-learning, and whilst I definitely sense there is a ground swell of support for this notion I am still patently aware that it is important to be clear about why this should be a priority. I initially trialed e-learning because I suspected it would engage learners and would provide an opportunity for students to continue learning and engaging in the work I set, anytime, anywhere. These continue to be compelling arguments for blended learning, however it is becoming increasing clear that this is in fact just the tip of the pedagogical iceberg. Firstly let's talk about the term e-learning. It is easy to write this term off as twee or outdated, and I agree that it should be about the learning full stop. There are a number of reasons as to why we have decided to make blended learning a non-negotiable at Hobsonville Point Secondary School. World Trends Research Findings
What Every Student Needs What Every Student Needs by Terry Heick There is no perfect lesson, unit, or school any more than their can be a perfect song, flavor, or shade of blue. Every student is different. So when we talk about student-centered classrooms, that too is a kind of generalization–more of an approach than a strategy. But what is universal? That can be added to everything–curriculum, frameworks, school design, instructional strategies, and anything else that touches the mind of students? What does every single student need–absolutely, positively have to have–to succeed inside and outside of the classroom? 14 Things Every Student Needs 1. Who am I, and how do I relate to the world around me? 2. Models offer ideas, can act as scaffolding, illuminate possibility, provide a pathway, and give students something to anchor their thinking to when everything else seems abstract and academic. Modeling–showing how, when, where, and most importantly why–matters too, bringing lessons from ideas to action. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Into the Future - Teaching and learning: Under the influence of Big Picture Education Last week I spent three days with my team at the Big Picture Conference in Wellington. To sum up, it was amazing, affirming, inspiring and challenging. Some big questions being asked were: Can we shift? The easiest way to sum up the Big Picture Education Model is that it is student centred rather than teacher centred, with a strong focus on relationships and building on learners’ interests and passions. The time at the conference made me feel immensely proud to be part of the team at Hobsonville Point Secondary School. “The 'plan' that was very firmly in place at the start of this term was the vision and values of our new school, Hobsonville Point Secondary, and all the supporting structures (or 'enabling constraints') that were so carefully built by the foundation staff last year; the learning hub model, the specialised learning modules and the big projects as well as our emphasis on blended learning. Tuesdays are ‘cool’ too. Macca’s summary of school: “Cool” – why? Can we shift?
Realising the Future of NZ Education - an open letter to all NZ educators (and Minister Parata) On Saturday I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at The Festival of Education as a supposed 'mover and shaker'. Here is an overview of my presentation on 'Realising the Future of Education' which endeavored to look at why, how, what, when we need to change education and what the government could do (IMHO) to support it. Okay, so not so humble...more righteous really. Why must we change education? As Ludwig Lachman stated, "the future is unknowable, but not unimaginable" and whilst we can't see into the future, we can look to a strong body of research to try and divine our present and future learners' needs. How do we need to change education? Firstly we need to change our focus. We also need to address our models of teaching practice. I would actually argue that self-direction and developing student agency and efficacy is the fundamental shift. How can we lead change in our schools So how can we all lead this change, particularly when not given the gift of a clean slate.
50 Crazy Ideas To Change Education 50 Crazy Ideas To Change Education by Terry Heick Below are 50 ideas for a new education. Note, most of these are about education as a system rather than learning itself, but that’s okay. It’s often the infrastructure of learning that obscures anyway. Few of them may work; even fewer would work together, and that’s okay too. Make connectivity and interdependence the catalyst for all learning.Stop claiming every child will be proficient. Image attribution flickr user daveparker; 50 Crazy Ideas To Change Education; 50 Radical Ideas In Education What Would Be a Radically Different Vision of School? There’s no shortage of different opinions about how the education system should adapt to a shifting world and a future with unknown demands, but for the most part, only two dominant narratives of education reform have emerged. “The predominant narrative is that schools are broken,” said veteran educator and author Will Richardson recently at a gathering of teachers at Educon. “Our test scores aren’t great and kids aren’t learning what they need to be successful.” This narrative is dominated by those who believe schools need to be organized and funded differently, but Richardson claims that the essential outcomes of improved test scores and other measurable results are the same as the current system. “Different isn’t really different,” Richardson said. The other dominant narrative holds that schools aren’t broken — they just need to do what they’re already doing, but better. But neither of these narratives frames the core goals and elements of a successful education differently.
My top 10 challenges to become an innovative school #revisited A couple of years ago I wrote a post about my top 10 ideas for an innovative school, its been the most viewed post. Although it’s not definitive, it’s helpful to have a guide that can shape strategy. This time I’ve added a few challenges. Revisiting the ideas, and updating for 2014: 1. What is your vision? Who are the keepers of the vision? 2. Shape the learning context for changeObserve the students, see how they work and communicate How can you have less fixed and more flexible features? 3. Once you have the vision – prioritise your steps. Do you have a shared language? 4. Put current practices through the ‘learning’ filter – do they still belong? What strategies will make learning relevant and authentic? 5. Vision + ‘Learning’ Filter = Regular PD to support through changeWe can’t change the way teachers teach until we change the way teachers learn How much teacher-talk is OK? 6. Is technology almost invisible? 7. 8. Are your teachers passionate and infectious about their subject matter?