The Key to Making Every Child’s Dreams Come True – Found at SAR Academy

~Guest post by Sharon Marson

Schoolwide Enrichment Program Coordinator, SAR Academy, Riverdale, New York

A teary-eyed parent says, "Now my child feels really successful. Thank you for what you are doing.” Another shared that Tuesday (the day our new program is scheduled) is “a day my child refuses to be absent. I'm not allowed to pull him out of school for a doctor's appointment and he has even tried pretending he is well when clearly he has fever, in order to not miss an E-slot." The children themselves ask, "How many days until next Tuesday?" and stop me in school regularly to thank me for "making" this program.  

 

What has brought such joy and excitement to parents and children? The Schoolwide Enrichment program. This has enabled me to bring to fruition the dream of providing every early elementary child with the opportunity to participate in an Enrichment slot (E-slot) during the course of their week. It has been an incredibly fulfilling journey. No longer are only a select few of those who are high performing in reading or math given the opportunity to participate in Enrichment. Now, more than 450 children are able to choose among seventy offerings that are aligned with their passions, strengths, and/or interests. The offerings, primarily facilitated by a talented faculty and parent-body, correspond with multiple-intelligence theory, engage children in project-based learning, and are built on the pedagogy of Dr. Joseph Renzulli, seminal thinker, innovator, and researcher in the field of Gifted Education.  

The program is based on the idea that we should apply the pedagogy of gifted education to enrichment opportunities for all students. The broadened conception of giftedness, allows children to explore an area of interest, talent, or passion in depth, while in a small multi-age group with other students and a facilitator who also shares this interest. Enrichment Clusters are a delivery vehicle for disseminating enrichment pedagogy to every student and is founded on the belief that everyone has the potential to demonstrate gifted behavior. They are organized around interdisciplinary themes and are built on inquiry and advanced content and methodology, which allow students to secure and then apply new skills to real-world issues that are personally meaningful. The challenging learning pursued is grounded in the production of a product, performance, or service for an authentic audience. Our ultimate goal with this broad enrichment initiative is to help children discover and take pride in the diverse gifts and talents with which he or she is endowed, develop their interests and strengths, and understand how they can share their gifts with the world.

What is success? 

Just ask the kids and you’ll find there isn't a child who can't tell you when he or she feels successful or which activity engenders a sense of accomplishment. That is what our program is doing for children. We are giving students the equal-opportunity to succeed. They are happy. They are defining themselves as gifted in multitudinous ways. They feel accomplished. That is why they can't miss a moment of it.

 

See what this looks like in action at the video below. You can help the school raise money to grow their endeavor to create life-long, impassioned learners with a vote for the video at this link.

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A Simple Ed Reform Solution - Connect School Life to Real Life

"Dennis Littky provides a setting where young people and adults can explore the world together, discover their passions and apply themselves to solving their own and the world's problems!"
- Deborah Meir

Many high school students complain they don’t like school for some very good reasons. They report it is boring, irrelevant, and disconnected from real life. They have a passion for life, but not for school. But it doesn’t have to be this way and there’s a place where it isn’t. It's called The MET and it is one of dozens of schools around the world that make up the Big Picture Company.

These schools are havens for public school students who have struggled in conventional classrooms. There is a waiting list to get in and once they do, not only do they have one of the highest attendance rates, but there is also a 98% college acceptance rate. What’s more, unlike many graduates of traditional schools, Big Picture graduates say they feel prepared for college and career success.

What’s their secret?
Connect school life to real life by doing things differently.

Here’s how

1. Instead of teachers… There are advisers who work with students making a multi-year commitment to serve as their coach, mentor, teacher, and friend who guide and supports them in managing their personalized learning plan and Learning Through Internship/Interest placement. Home visits are not only encouraged, they’re a part of the relationship.
2. Instead of grades… There are authentic assessments such as public exhibitions of work, check ins, reflective journals, portfolios, and feedback from their real world mentors at work.
3. Instead of desks in rows in classrooms where the focus is the teacher… There are chairs around a table in what resembles a conference room where the focus is each other.
4. Instead of bells and classes… There are meetings and appointments.
5. Instead of relegating all learning to be locked inside the school building... Students spend two days a week pursuing their interests and/or passions with mentors where they are learning through internships(LTIs)  that they seek out in the real world. Additionally, all learning that happens outside of the school day and year is captured and documented for in school credit.  
6. Instead of banning and blocking… Students are empowered to learn with the tools they own and choose. This means they can borrow or bring their own laptops, cell phones, etc.
7. Instead of administrative school policies that are handed down… Students are encouraged to take a leadership role in the school and student voice is valued in decision making processes.
8. Instead of starting the day in class... Students get: an early morning Pick-Me-Up. Blogger Ewan McIntosh explains it this way: Someone shares a story, what they've been doing: a student, a teacher, the Principal, an 'outsider'. They effectively give a face-to-face blog, where the comments come thick and fast and a dialogue begins.
9. Instead of only focusing on being prepared to work for someone else… Students can participate in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship program where they learn to run businesses, and the best are supported and funded. These students are provided with real offices in which to do run their real businesses.
10. Instead of standardizing to the system… Learning is customized to each student via their individual learning plans which look like this and this that are developed based on the student’s individual interests, talents, and needs. These are created and updated with the learning team which includes, but is not limited to, the student, parent(s), advisor, and internship mentor. Students share and celebrate their work via exhibitions.
11. Instead of grades and test scores as the primary measure of student success… The main goals of assessment are to help the student reflect on his or her work, create strategies to improve, and develop his or her own internal standards.  Evaluation processes should be learning experiences within themselves, strengthening the quality of students’ work and their understanding of themselves as learners.  The use of multiple assessment tools is vital to determine a student’s progress and finding creative solutions to help students build on strengths and address gaps.  The whole student must be addressed, looking at each project and activity in light of the student’s personal learning plan. MET students learn to reflect on their work with the question, “Is it good enough?” the work is measured against standards of the real world held by the mentor and internship worksite as well as the exhibition panel.  Everyone involved in the student’s life and learning – including their family, peers and mentors – is asked to participate in the evaluation process.  The MET’s key elements for student assessment include: exhibitions; digital portfolios; narratives; and, transcripts.
12. Instead of test scores as the primary measure of teacher and school accountability… The schools is held accountable to the students and parents via School Accountability for Learning and Teaching Surveys, which are the culmination of intensive surveys of parents, students, and teachers. When it comes to students, of utmost importance to school leaders are things like, that students feel respected, cared about, and inspired by their teachers, they feel comfortable talking to school staff, that staff keeps them interested and will work with students until they understand the area of study. When it comes to parents, school leaders want them to know that staff cares about their children, that the child is learning to their potential, and that they are safe.  At The MET school they had high parent engagement and the school scored highest in the state in most every category.

There is a method to their magic.  Here are some of the components that drive the work at The MET. Many of these practices are incorporated at varying levels at all Big Picture Schools.



Learning goals*
There are five learning goals for students which are guided by four arenas explained below. Learning goals are a framework for looking at real-world concepts and abilities necessary to being a successful, well-rounded person. The learning goals are not content-oriented curricula, nor are they completely distinct categories. Good project work incorporates many overlapping elements of the learning goals.

1. Empirical reasoning - How do I prove it?
   This goal is to think like a scientist: to use empirical evidence and a logical process to make decisions and to evaluate hypotheses. It does not reflect specific science content material, but instead can incorporate ideas from physics to sociology to art theory.
2. Personal qualities - What do I bring to this process?
   This goal is to be the best you can be: to demonstrate respect, responsibility, organization, leadership, and to reflect on your abilities and strive for improvement.
3. Quantitative reasoning - How do I measure, compare or represent it?
   This goal is to think like a mathematician: to understand numbers, to analyze uncertainty, to comprehend the properties of shapes, and to study how things change over time.
4. Social reasoning - What are other people’s perspectives on this?
   This goal is to think like an historian or anthropologist: to see diverse perspectives, to understand social issues, to explore ethics, and to look at issues historically.
5. Communication - How do I take in and express ideas?
   This goal is to be a great communicator: to understand your audience, to write, read, speak and listen well, to use technology and artistic expression to communicate, and to be exposed to another language.

Here is what student learning looks like in these four arenas.

1) Real World Learning*
These are the core elements that make real-world learning work at Big Picture schools.

• Learning plans for EVERY student - There are neither formal courses nor a standard curricular sequence. Instead, with an advisor, mentor, and family, each student charts quarterly planned activities against the school’s five learning goals and a series of questions.
• Interest exploration -
  In a school that views students’ passions as the spark to deep learning, an early task facing Met students is to uncover their own interests.
• Learning through internships (LTI) - The primary vehicle for learning at The Met, LTIs push students to gain knowledge and skills in the context of authentic work and to develop one-on-one relationships with an adult professional—real world learning in name and practice.
• Making academics come alive - Advisors and LTI mentors work in concert to provide students with the academic content needed to complete project-based work, with advisors and other staff typically providing whatever tutoring or assistance is necessary back at school.
• Summer learning -
  Pursuing activities like travel, adventure programs, apprenticeships, or college classes is a requirement for every student. These summer experiences should push students into unfamiliar territory—teaching special needs kids in a camp or building a school in the Dominican Republic. Advisors help students find such opportunities as well as the financial aid or funding they may require.

2) Reflection and Accountability*
These are the key structures through which students demonstrate accountability for their learning.

• Narrative assessment - Narrative assessments take the place of grades and report cards. They document a student’s academic and personal progress, noting specific areas of growth and areas needing attention, and suggest revisions to the subsequent Learning Plan. At the end of each year, students use their narratives to prepare, with help from their advisor, a one-page transcript, an official and public document that records the year’s work and learning.
• Exhibitions -
  Each quarter students give a roughly 45- minute exhibition presentation of work to a panel comprising the advisor, mentor, family, peers, and other staff. Students present evidence of progress in all aspects of their Learning Plan and respond to questions and critique from panelists.
• Senior Institute Gateways - Tenth graders apply to the senior institute (11th/12th grade). In addition to a portfolio, they present letters of recommendation (from the advisor, mentor, family, and a peer), plus a written defense that shows they are ready to take increasing responsibility for their own learning and to play an active leadership role in school.
• Internalizing high standards - Students report that they work harder and learn more than they ever have before. The processes of giving and receiving feedback, collecting a portfolio of work, and making regular public presentations contribute greatly to a school culture that embraces high standards.

3) Voice and agency*
Students are encouraged to speak up, to find and tap their voice, to identify their strengths and pursue their passions.

• Journals - Journals help students express ideas and concerns that are still rough or not meant to be broadly shared. Students practice putting down on paper what they think, supported by an adult committed to listening.
• College portfolios - Students apply to college, even if they do not go—right away or ever. (Over three-quarters head straight to college.) The school embraces the college application process as a tool for helping students dream big, set high standards for their work, and hone their presentation of self.
• Public speaking and writing - Speaking and writing for public audiences are a constant.  Morning “Pick-Me-Ups” (the school-wide gathering that starts each day) provide a ready stage, as do “town meetings” and other school events. Internships offer another forum, as students make presentations to their adult work colleagues. Students are also encouraged to raise their voices as citizens.
• Success stories - The book-length autobiographies written in junior and senior year stand alongside the unwritten personal stories they weave, day in and out. As seniors receive their diploma, advisors deliver the “short version” of these success stories, an oral tribute to the graduate for all to hear.

4) Sustained relationships*
Relationships under gird all learning. Keeping adults and other students at bay is not an option. Students build close relationships with an advisor, community mentors, and other faculty, if they are to fulfill their personal learning plans. They must also commit to an advisory group made up of peers, plus substantial give-and-take with the larger school community and  students accept their parents as learning partners.

• Advisors - Teachers are known as advisors and facilitate the learning of the students in their advisory group. They help students create learning plans, identify interests, find internships, develop projects, and manage their time. They also work closely with their advisees’ mentors. Advisors stay with the same students until they graduate resulting advisor-student bond runs deep.
• Mentors - Mentors guide and coach students in their Learning Through internships (LTI) work. As part of the student’s learning team, the mentor helps students develop projects that have real consequence and value—to the student, mentor, and workplace. Mentors stand as living examples of career possibilities and as role models of contributing community members.
• Advisories - Advisors and their students—are home base, the close-knit unit where students and faculty gather for an hour each morning to launch their day and where they return every afternoon for a half-hour before the day ends. Advisories give students a place to practice new skills and develop their identities with a safety net.
• Parents - Families, not just students are enrolled in the school. This means parents are essential “learning partners” who sign a contract agreeing to attend quarterly learning plan meetings and exhibitions.. Parents, teachers, students, and siblings frequently gather on campus for shared activities.
• The School as Family - Small size, intimate advisory system, and insistence on parent participation go far towards making the school feel like a family and several features extend these connections and family feel even after graduation.  

Thanks to the innovative leadership of Dennis Littky and Elliot Washor, Big Picture Schools are one of the few learning models that manages to get public funding despite the fact that they are devoid of the cornerstones that make up most schools such as classes, teachers, incessant testing, or grades.  They’ve been doing this for 17 years by helping student to capture real-world/real-life learning and translate it as necessary into the buckets required by the traditional public school system or transcripts required by some colleges…though in many cases colleges find the authentic and insightful portfolios and learning plans more useful than transcripts.

Unfortunately, due to the accountability movement as of late, the school has been forced to cut important services and programs, such as social workers, to increase spending on standardized test success. Despite this setback that limits choices and freedom, Dennis Littky advises that “We must determine that for which we will fight and never compromise those values.” In the case of Big Picture Schools that means they can still remain true to the core values that lead to real, relevant, and meaningful learning.



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For you visual and auditory, learners, this video from Big Picture Program Leader, Geoff Allmand, does a great job of showing what his school is like. Big Picture Education - Interest based learning by scratchie on GoAnimate

Create Video - Powered by GoAnimate.

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*Information excerpted from preceding links at the MET school site.

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What can we learn from Caine's Arcade?

Editor’s note: In yesterday’s post about Caine’s Arcade I shared several questions to ponder when watching the video.  Here is one reader’s insightful responses.

By Jo-Anne Tracy

Great post, (to both Lisa Cooley & Lisa Nielsen). It is very inspiring to come back from a week long internet hiatus and see this post. I will take a stab at answering some of the questions.

What subjects did Caine learn?
When looking at the 3Rs...

• Caine has mastered measurement, and spatial reasoning (math). I am certain he learned some basic physics in designing his games. (science).

I not only look at traditional 3R subjects but also look at the Seven Cs of 21st century learning as defined by Bernie Trilling of the Oracle Foundation.

• Critical thinking - Caine has shown abilities in critical thinking as he worked out problems to create a claw machine and to make the soccer game more challenging creativity and innovation. Caine has mastered this one!!!
• Collaboration - Perhaps, there was some collaboration shown, when Caine discussed his project with his dad and Nirvan.
• Cross-cultural understanding - not demonstrated
• Communication - Caine learned the power of this when Nirvan mustered a flash mob
• Computing technology - Caine learned the power of this when Nirvan mustered a flash mob. He also worked out an algorithm to verify authentic passes.
• Career learning - Spending time with his dad at work and developing his own brand show that Caine is well on his way to mastering this one.

What is the role of adults?

• His father was there as a facilitator, answering questions and allowing him space to work and develop his project
• Nirvan helped Caine assess his games. Nirvan’s enthusiasm encouraged Caine to explain his reasoning, showing his mastery and understanding of his critical process.

How much funding is necessary for such an endeavor?
As with other natural, passion led learning projects, there was little or no cost involved. Caine did rely on his father’s business for space. However, the cost of putting Caine into another summer program would definitely offset that cost.

What is the role of technology?
For Caine, he was able to learn the basics of algorithms when designing his pass verification system. Even though the system used very basic technology resources, the process to develop would not have changed substantially if he had used more sophisticated technology.

How can teachers bring the stories of the Caines in their classroom to the world?
The Vimeo video would be a great place to start. Then allow interested students to develop a website looking for other stories of success, such as Adora Svitak, Eva Ridenhour, Line Daile, Taylor Wilson (nuclear fusion generator)

What would have happened if there were texts? teachers? tests?
Caine would likely have lost interest, had testing been inserted into the process. He would never have achieved the level of creativity, if required to find textbook sources.

How should parents and teachers be empowering young people to use the power of social media to help them pursue their dreams?
The power of social media in this situation was great. It did help him achieve his dream, as he had refined his arcade. However, if pushed to use social media prior to the refinement, Caine may have been discouraged from negative reaction to his incomplete designs. The timing of the use of the media, must take into account the readiness of the child for the authentic assessment that comes from using these media.

How can we fight against school policies that try to limit the ability for young people and their teachers to harness the power of social media?
We can use Caine’s story, and that of other successful children to show the power of social media to administrators and legislators. This may encourage them to look at the benefits of authentic assessment. (However, I think, their reasoning against it is firmly entrenched. That is a different matter altogether.)

I think that this is a great example of the power of natural passion led learning. Caine likely learned more useful skills in completing this project that he would in an entire year at school.

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Jo-Anne Tracey was a classroom mother who became a passion-led learning advocate, when the school system decided her 9 year old son did not have the ability to learn to read and write.  So, the Tracey family left traditional schooling behind and became homeschoolers.   After 9 years of a passion-led, unschool education, her son is now studying geoscience at university.   

Jo-Anne, now advocates for passion-led learning.  Recently, she created an online learning community, Discovery Portal Active Learning Community, www.discoveryportalalc.com offering homeschoolers the active learning challenge program that she designed with her son and other virtual learning opportunities.    

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Nine Tenets of Passion-Based Learning

The Schoolwide Enrichment Model is Alive at The Island School

MindShift, a site that explores the future of learning, recently provided an overview of the passion-driven learning talk I gave with other esteemed panelists (Angela Maiers, Amy Sandvold, and George Couros) on the Future of Education. Steve Hargadon moderated the conversation during which we discussed “passion-based” learning. 

Mindshift pulled together nine key points we discussed during the talk along with some additional thoughts from John Seely Brown, co-author of A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change, and educator Jackie Gerstein.

Here are the nine tenants of passion-based learning

1. REACH OUT TO THE DISENFRANCHISED.
2. SHOW RELEVANCE TO LIFE OUTSIDE SCHOOL.
3. INDOCTRINATE PASSION INTO THE SYSTEM.
4. TRY USING THE SCHOOLWIDE ENRICHMENT MODEL.
5. DIGITAL MEDIA IS KEY.
6. TAP INTO THE WISDOM OF YOUR TRUSTED PEERS.
7. BECOME A DIGITAL CITIZEN.
8. PASSION IS INFECTIOUS.
9. CONNECT WITH PARENTS.

Now if these were the guidelines we used to drive public education, many innovative educators would feel a whole lot better about their work.  


To read about each idea and the rest of the article visit this link. 

You have read this article #passionbased / #passiondriven / passion based learning / passion driven learning with the title #passiondriven. You can bookmark this page URL https://machining33.blogspot.com/2011/07/nine-tenets-of-passion-based-learning.html. Thanks!

Connecting School Life to Real Life

I will be speaking to educators at The 140 Character Conference on August 2nd about connecting school life to real life.  In the talk I ask the question, "If school should be preparing young people for the world, why does the world behind school doors look so different from the world outside those doors?" I explain that if we want students to be successful in the real world, schools need to get better at connecting school life to real life and give students the freedom to learn.

Here is the presentation I will use as I speak.  It was created so others can download, copy/edit and share.  I invite others to take and share these ideas. 

Click on the picture and the presentation will open in a new window.

I'm thrilled to be joined by some of the most influential members of my PLN on this day including Chris Lehmann, Tom Whitby, Steve Anderson, Christian Long, Adam Bellow, Shelley Krause, Dale J. Stephens and others!!!!

If you are a 21st educator, this is one event you should attend.  There is a special rate of only $1.40 for educators.  Shhh...don't tell.  Regular folk have to pay like $140 bucks.  You can find the educator application here.  I hope you'll be able to attend.  If you have any presentation feedback, please share.  

You have read this article #passionbased / #passiondriven / passion based learning / passion driven learning with the title #passiondriven. You can bookmark this page URL https://machining33.blogspot.com/2011/07/connecting-school-life-to-real-life.html. Thanks!

Join The Innovative Educator in a Passion Driven Summer Book Club

I bought The Passion-Driven Classroom last month and regrettably I didn't finish reading it. Here's why.  For me, with the internet, reading has become a conversation.  I love to read, discuss, and write. Lately, I have found I'm less likely to finish books when I can't discuss it with others like I can online.  It's just not as much fun as the conversation that can happen when reading on the web.

Well, I'm soooo excited to share that Heidi Hayes Jacobs and her leadership team at The Curriculum 21 Ning have selected the The Passion-Driven Classroom for their summer book club study.  How awesome is that???!!!  I'll be able to read the book and have conversations with amazing educators like Heidi as well as the authors of the book.  I'm so excited.

It is free to participate in the book club.  It begins on June 14th, with a discussion about the Preface and Chapter One. I hope readers of this blog will join me in what promises to be a powerful conversation about the role passion plays in teaching, learning, and student achievement.


You can click here to join the group (and join the Curriculum 21 Ning) to take advantage of the reading and discussion opportunity! If you haven’t purchased the book, Eye on Education is giving book club members an exclusive 10% discount. Enter this code and it will enable you to purchase the print book, eBook, or the bundle pack. If you’re interested in multiple copies of the print or eBook, please contact Jon Rothman at rothman@eyeoneducation.com for multiple copy discount information.

If you want to know more about the book, check out this review from The Blue Skunk Blog.

Note: Membership in the Curriculum 21 Ning is moderated. To become a member, you must register with a clearly identifiable education or education-related e-mail domain.

You have read this article #passionbased / #passiondriven / pass / passion based learning with the title #passiondriven. You can bookmark this page URL https://machining33.blogspot.com/2011/06/join-innovative-educator-in-passion.html. Thanks!

What we need is not evolution, but a revolution in education

Sir Ken Robinson followed up his 2006 TED talk with another genius speech that captures so much of my thinking and writing here on The Innovative Educator blog.  Not much has changed for the better in schools since Sir Ken Robinson convinced us that schools do indeed kill creativity.  In this speech he makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning. This does not mean everyone achieves the same personal mastery for the same standard tests and outcomes. Instead it means creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish.

Robinson explains that education dislocates many people from their natural talents. He goes on to say, what many of us working in schools already know. Reform is of no use anymore, because that’s simply improving a broken model. What we need is not evolution, but a revolution in education. It has to be transformed into something else.

He recognizes that innovation is hard because it means doing something that people don’t find very easy for the most part. It means challenging what we take for granted, things that we think are obvious. This is difficult to do when school systems dictate that all their employees implement the one vision handed down to them by the suspect Common Core Standards. Suspect because these standards, being adopted across the nation, stand to make the testing and publishing companies that created them billions of dollars.  They also promote college for all which ultimately lines the pockets of many, leaving behind as carnage the graduates known today as generation debt.

Robinson points out that many of our ideas have been formed, not to meet the circumstances of this century, but to cope with the circumstances of previous centuries. He says that our minds are still hypnotized by them and we have to disenthrall ourselves of some of them.

He gives these examples.

Linearity

He says one such example is the idea of linearity, meaning that it starts here, and you go through a track, and if you do everything right, you will end up set for the rest of your life. He shares that the pinnacle for education today is getting into college. Recognizing that we are obsessed with getting people to college he responds with this.

I don’t mean you shouldn’t go to college, but not everybody needs to go, and not everybody needs to go now. Maybe they go later, not right away.

Conformity

Sir Ken says that we have sold ourselves into a fast food model of education. And it’s impoverishing our spirit and our energies as much as fast food is depleting our physical bodies. He suggests we recognize a couple of things.

One is that human talent is tremendously diverse and people have very different aptitudes. Forcing someone to take a subject like Algebra isn’t going to make them good at it.  Instead it will enable you to see who has an aptitude for it.  He shares a great example stating that he was given a guitar as a kid at about the same time Eric Clapton got his first guitar. As we all know, it worked out for Eric. For Sir Ken, not so much.  I had the same experience with a piano.  Despite years of lessons I can’t read music and can’t play the piano. 

Another is a favorite topic of mine: PASSION, or that which excites our spirit and energy. He shares a point he makes in his book, “The Element” that often, people are good at things they don’t really care for. For instance, I may be very good at cleaning and doing the laundry, but I just don’t care for it.  However, when I’m doing something that I love like reading, writing, talking to friends, or playing volleyball, an hour feels like five minutes.  On the other hand if I’m emptying the dishwasher, five minutes feels like an hour. 

Opting out of school

He goes onto explain the reason so many people are opting out of education. I was so excited to hear him use that phrase.  When I created the “Teenagers Guide to Opting Out of School,” I wasn’t aware Sir Ken was using this language.  It’s encouraging to learn that Sir Ken and I are on the same page here! He says kids are voting with their feet and leaving education because it doesn’t feed their spirit, it doesn’t feed their energy or their passion.  These are exactly the reasons the guide was written.  To provide teens with alternatives that do just that if traditional school is not fulfilling that need.

The change we need

Sir Ken explains that we have to move

from

An industrial model of education, a manufacturing model, which is based on linearity and conformity and batching people.

to

A model that is based more on principles of agriculture. We have to recognize that human flourishing is not a mechanical process, it’s an organic process. And you cannot predict the outcome of human development; all you can do, like a farmer, is create the conditions under which humans will begin to flourish. It’s about customizing to your circumstances, and personalizing education to the people you’re actually teaching.

Doing that he says is the answer to the future because it’s not about scaling a new solution; it’s about creating a movement in education in which people develop their own solutions, but with external support based on a personalized curriculum or what I like to call a “Personal Success Plan.”

Check out the video below to hear Sir Ken Robinson share these ideas in his latest TED Talk.

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Why I will no longer work to differentiate instruction!

I used to be a big fan of differentiated instruction.  It all came together for me when I learned about the Schoolwide Enrichment Model at ConFratute and then helped schools use Renzulli Learning which is a terrific differentiation machine.  A couple years later Marc Prensky’s book Teaching Digital Natives---Partnering for Real Learning was released and he even acknowledged me in it!!  This also became part of the differentiation game to me.  I began speaking and writing about differentiated instruction more and more and explaining to teachers that this really wasn’t that hard.  Especially if we focused on student centered learning like the teachers I wrote about in my post, Student Driven Learning = Passion-Based Classrooms.


I realized that when teachers gave up control an empowered students to use the tools they want and meet learning goals in the way they choose, then true differentiation could begin and it wasn’t all on the shoulders of the teacher to figure out how to do this.  So you might be wondering why, if I’m such a big fan of differentiated instruction, I have decided it’s not something I am willing to do any longer. 

It was Tom Welch who reached out and asked me to join him in abandoning the term differentiating "instruction". He explained, it this way:

What we really need to help occur in classroom is differentiated "learning". This accomplishes the student ownership of the learning, allows for a passion-driven approach, shifts the responsibility for the learning to the learner (where it belongs) and changes the teachers role to what you consistently advocate. There also also many other reasons -- like the elimination of the typical classroom culture of dependency, and the way this allows learning to go viral by removing artificial timelines that ignore individual learner needs, passions and differences.

He goes on to recognize that many teachers groan when anyone talks about differentiated instruction because it just makes them feel inadequate. He shares however, that when he speaks about differentiated learning, and shares the way this shifts responsibility, etc, they begin to look at many elements of the learning process in a different way. 


Tom is right!  The conversation must evolve from “Differentiating Instruction” to “Differentiating Learning.” Our students will thank us!

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