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Schools plan curriculum overhaul - Parentcentral.ca
"Ontario's government is conducting a sweeping review of curriculum from Grades 1 to 8 to fix what educators charge is an overcrowded jumble of disconnected facts that fail to prepare the province's 1.4 million students for the future.
Based on tough input gathered this fall from teachers and school boards, Queen's Park says it will start clearing the clutter by the fall of 2011 with leaner guidelines, fewer checklists of facts and more time for deeper learning.
It is the first overhaul designed to weed out some of the staggering 3,400 "expectations" built into the new curriculum designed 10 years ago when Grade 13 was abolished.
A special advisory group is expected to propose a new blueprint by February, based on such input as a tough-talking missive from the Toronto District School Board that called the curriculum "a series of overly robust subject-based documents which are disconnected, overwhelming and full of content reflective of 20th century knowledge. "The curriculum does not engage students within their own realities, nor does it integrate the skills society hopes to see in a 21st-century learner," said the recent submission by a group of principals, teachers, superintendents and trustees. "
WatchKnow - Videos for kids to learn from. Organized.
"Imagine hundreds of thousands of great short videos, and other media, explaining every topic taught to school kids. Imagine them rated and sorted into a giant Directory, making them simple to find. WatchKnow--as in, "You watch, you know"--is a non-profit online community devoted to this goal. "
Student-led learning at Calgary school draws interest from Down Under
"There are no bells at Bishop Carroll High School ushering students onto their next class.
There are no classes, for that matter, no timetables telling students where to be and what to study.
For almost 40 years, the southwest Calgary high school has embraced self-directed learning by allowing its students to individually decide how they'll tackle their high school studies.
Bishop Carroll High School is one of six schools across the country that make up the Canadian Coalition of Self-Directed Learning."
BCDS mashUp
"The BCDS mashUp showcases Beaver Country Day School student and faculty work. The material is in different media (writing, photos, videos) that we combine (or mash up) on this site."
Social Media in Action at Beaver Country Day School - mStoner - Blog
"At Beaver Country Day School, an independent school in Brookline, MA, social media plays an increasingly important role in marketing and communications and in the classroom. Jan Devereux, BCDS director of communications, said that the school’s laptop initiative and significant investment in information technology and professional development has accelerated the momentum for these (and other) online communications. "
Educational Video Games With a Mix of Cool and Purpose - NYTimes.com
"KC is one of a growing number of children who are playing educational video games as part of their school curriculum, in after-school programs or via the Web from home. After years of watching technology transform the way children play, socialize and learn, a range of academics, foundations and now start-ups are working on games that will put the passion children have for the genre to good use.
Gamestar Mechanic, for example, is part of the curriculum of Quest to Learn, a New York City public school focused on game-based learning that opened in New York City this fall. A nonprofit group called the Institute of Play set up the school, and its executive director, Katie Salen, helped design the game with financing from the MacArthur Foundation. "
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KC is one of a growing number of children who are playing educational video games as part of their school curriculum, in after-school programs or via the Web from home. After years of watching technology transform the way children play, socialize and learn, a range of academics, foundations and now start-ups are working on games that will put the passion children have for the genre to good use.
Gamestar Mechanic, for example, is part of the curriculum of Quest to Learn, a New York City public school focused on game-based learning that opened in New York City this fall. A nonprofit group called the Institute of Play set up the school, and its executive director, Katie Salen, helped design the game with financing from the MacArthur Foundation.
Op-Ed Columnist - The New Untouchables - NYTimes.com
"Just being an average accountant, lawyer, contractor or assembly-line worker is not the ticket it used to be. As Daniel Pink, the author of “A Whole New Mind,” puts it: In a world in which more and more average work can be done by a computer, robot or talented foreigner faster, cheaper “and just as well,” vanilla doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s all about what chocolate sauce, whipped cream and cherry you can put on top. So our schools have a doubly hard task now — not just improving reading, writing and arithmetic but entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity."
If We Didn't Have the Schools We Have Today, Would We Create the Schools We Have Today?
Today’s model of schooling is to bring the learner to the knowledge—tomorrow we will bring the knowledge to the learners. We must recognize that schools and classrooms are becoming nodes in networked learning communities. We must begin to think about how to organize learning in networked communities and not limit learning within the boundaries of classrooms and school buildings—which would be to limit our thinking to what has been possible in the past in a single school or node.
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Add Sticky NoteAnd the trick is, if you
wouldn’t create today’s schools, what are you doing
about it? If we
continue to prepare teachers as we have always prepared them, we
are going to continue to recreate the schools we have always had.- Too true. This is a huge professional development undertaking. - on 2009-05-15
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Papert (1996) has suggested that another way to think about this
question is to ask, “If the changes in education over the
last 100 years had been as dramatic as the changes in medicine over
that time, what would our schools look like today?” - 33 more annotations...
Complexity and Humanity - Freesouls
The challenge of the near future is to build systems that will allow us to be largely free to inquire, experiment, learn and communicate, that will encourage us to cooperate, and that will avoid the worst of what human beings are capable of, and elicit what is best.
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The challenge of the near future is to build systems that will allow us to be largely free to inquire, experiment, learn and communicate, that will encourage us to cooperate, and that will avoid the worst of what human beings are capable of, and elicit what is best.
Students as 'Free Agent Learners' : April 2009 : THE Journal
What this year's survey found was that "there continues to be a digital disconnect, shall we say, between the way students are learning and living outside of school and the way they're interacting with technology inside of school," said Evans. "In fact, students tell us that they have to power down to go to school, and then, at the end of the school day, they power back up again--a real disconnect in the way students are viewing technology from the adults in their educational lives."
For one, students see significant obstacles to using technology in schools. They reported that school networks block sites that they need to access, that teachers specifically limit their use of technology, and that there are "too many rules," preventing students from using their own devices, accessing their communications tools, and even limiting their use of the technologies that the school provides.
For another, teachers and students do not view the value of various technologies in the same ways. Students place a much higher value on technology than teachers, according to the research, and do not agree on which technologies would have the greatest impact on learning.
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What this year's survey found was that "there continues to be a digital disconnect, shall we say, between the way students are learning and living outside of school and the way they're interacting with technology inside of school," said Evans. "In fact, students tell us that they have to power down to go to school, and then, at the end of the school day, they power back up again--a real disconnect in the way students are viewing technology from the adults in their educational lives."
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Add Sticky Note
For one, students see significant obstacles to using technology in schools. They reported that school networks block sites that they need to access, that teachers specifically limit their use of technology, and that there are "too many rules," preventing students from using their own devices, accessing their communications tools, and even limiting their use of the technologies that the school provides.
For another, teachers and students do not view the value of various technologies in the same ways. Students place a much higher value on technology than teachers, according to the research, and do not agree on which technologies would have the greatest impact on learning.
- Obviously, students don't know what's good for them. ;0) - on 2009-05-05
- 5 more annotations...
Education Week: Don't Just Rebuild Schools—Reinvent Them
Let’s start with the fundamental building block of almost every single school in this country: the classroom. Who seriously believes that locking 25 students in a small room with one adult for several hours each day is the best way for them to be “educated”? In the 21st century, education is about project-based learning, connections with peers around the world, service learning, independent research, design and creativity, and, more than anything else, critical thinking and challenges to old assumptions.
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Let’s start with the fundamental building block of almost every single school in this country: the classroom. Who seriously believes that locking 25 students in a small room with one adult for several hours each day is the best way for them to be “educated”? In the 21st century, education is about project-based learning, connections with peers around the world, service learning, independent research, design and creativity, and, more than anything else, critical thinking and challenges to old assumptions.
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student-centered approach
- 5 more annotations...
Report Envisions Teacher Shortage Looming - NYTimes.com
Over the next four years, more than a third of the nation’s 3.2 million teachers could retire, depriving classrooms of experienced instructors and straining taxpayer-financed retirement systems, according to a new report.
The problem is aggravated by high attrition among rookie teachers, with one of every three new teachers leaving the profession within five years, a loss of talent that costs school districts millions in recruiting and training expenses, says the report, by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, a nonprofit research advocacy group.
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Over the next four years, more than a third of the nation’s 3.2 million teachers could retire, depriving classrooms of experienced instructors and straining taxpayer-financed retirement systems, according to a new report.
The problem is aggravated by high attrition among rookie teachers, with one of every three new teachers leaving the profession within five years, a loss of talent that costs school districts millions in recruiting and training expenses, says the report, by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, a nonprofit research advocacy group.
Most Students Bored at School | LiveScience
School can be a real yawn. Two out of three high-school students in a large survey say they are bored in class every single day.
It might not seem startling to learn that kids don't like school or that they are bored sans computer games, text-message time and freedom to roam the Internet. But the underlying reasons for the boredom are significant and troubling, according to a report released today.
About 30 percent of the students indicate they are bored due to lack of interaction with teachers and 75 percent report material being taught is not interesting.
Education Leaders Regret Reduction in Stimulus Funding for Technology-Rich Classrooms
Two leading education associations today expressed concern over the reduction in funding for technology-rich classrooms included in the conference report of the economic stimulus bill. The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and the International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) released the following joint statement:
"We are deeply disappointed that funding to create technology-rich classrooms has been significantly scaled back in the compromise economic recovery bill. The funding provides a much-needed down payment toward meeting President Obama's vision that all students receive the benefits of 21st century learning environments, but the final level of investment falls short of funding in the House and Senate bills, and far short of what is needed by our students to compete in today's digital age.
Weblogg-ed » So What is the Future of Schools?
All the *buzz* words become *authentic* when education is modeled on LEARNING rather than TEACHING. In the future, I see *student-centered* environments in which learners pursue their *passion-based* areas of interest by *constructing* knowledge needed to
Looking for Common Ground as More Schools Share a Roof - NYTimes.com
Similar dramas are playing out across New York, where 42 percent of 1,577 traditional public and charter schools, with more than a quarter of the city’s 1 million-plus students, now cohabit with at least one other school, and as many as five. And througho
Stumbling Blocks: Playing It Too Safe Online Will Make You Sorry | Edutopia
Like Garcia, teachers across the country sometimes must travel circuitous paths to use online resources in the classroom. In the interest of child safety, individual schools and entire school districts often install content filters that aggressively block
NEA: Technology Not Being Used Effectively In Schools
Educators say they don't feel adequately prepared to integrate instructional software into their classrooms and are not receiving the technical support needed to fully impact student achievement, according to a joint study by the National Education Associ
The High School Dropout's Economic Ripple Effect - WSJ.com
According to one study, only half of the high school students in the nation's 50 largest cities are graduating in four years, with a figure as low as 25% in Detroit. And while concern over dropouts isn't new, the problem now has officials outside of publi
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