Michael Wacker's List: * Starting a School

Spent some really good time today with a friend unpacking ideas and "mission/visioning for a charter school. I've realized that a big focus of what I envision, is really dependent upon the core of the school community being agile and developed enough to best meet the social and emotional needs of our children.
"Cooperative learning and character development supports the social and emotional development of students"

Same story, but at least to me, the voices seem to be getting louder and louder and outside of the traditional echo chamber many edu-pundits live and work.

I especially love this quote below, as a cage-rattling conversation starter, but it truly must expand past the taffy pull, and move to actions.
I've found myself asking myself "So, what are YOU doing about it, Michael?"
I know it is not enough, not at least enough to save my kids from this current and tired iteration of school.

"Take a look at the typical American classroom, public or independent, urban or suburban, and what you will see looks very much like the classrooms of the 19th century. Yes, slates have been replaced (in most places) with digital tools, but the structure signals the musty past: teacher as authoritative source of knowledge, student as tabula rasa. Or take the structure of the school day itself, typically divided into seven 45 minute classes. Believe it or not, that schedule derives from Victorian factories where industrialist Frederick Taylor concluded that workers were most productive when they changed stations every 45 minutes"

Looking at standards based, multi-age classrooms and grouping in a school, it only makes sense to incorporate game design and "level-up" in to the mix in different forms. Thinking through the idea that each level builds upon the previous, while offering multiple modes of delivery and output, driven or designed by the learner independently, in a small group, or in concert with a teacher's support and scaffolding.

Excerpt below

http://www.instituteofplay.org/wp-content/gallery/pro-quest-to-learn/1-game.jpg

"Quest to Learn re-imagines school as one node in an ecology of learning that extends beyond the four walls of an institution and engages kids in ways that are exciting, empowering and culturally relevant. Quest to Learn’s unique standards-based integrated curriculum mimics the action and design principles of games... Each trimester students encounter a series of increasingly complex, narrative challenges, games or quests, where learning, knowledge sharing, feedback, reflection and next steps emerge as a natural function of play."

I have tremendous respect and admiration for Steve Hargadon (http://stevehargadon.com) the times I've had a chance to sit and talk  with him, I have always found him to be level headed, conscientious, and extremely intelligent. Now, this means that when Steve says he is "hitting the road" and looking for kindred spirits along the way, I want to take notice and contribute.
The conversation with Howard this morning (http://connectedlearning.tv/steve-hargadon-changing-education-hacking-roots-not-branches) should be refreshing and for some a mirror and gut check on what we mean by "reform" and how we can play in the sandbox a little nicer and more productively perhaps.

I always enjoy reading this list or others like and thinking about how it may or may not mirror the education market in the coming year. 
That said, I am pretty excited about a handful of these trends not the least of which is "BYOD" from "bring your own device" to "bring your own ID" to log in, this will be huge and something that makes the chromebooks so appealing. Regardless of device, it is personal and seamlessly integrated into your workflow.