I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately about School 2.0, Professional Development, Meaningful Integration of Technology, School Improvement, etc. I feel like Education in the United States is like The Long Tail that Chris Anderson wrote about where 80% of educators are tapping into 20% of children’s potential. Is there blame? Sure, but does that solve anything no! So lets look for solutions instead of examining the problems.
How can we shift teaching and more teachers so that we reach more of a child’s potential? Barry Bachenheimer talks about how we should look at professional development, 21st century skills and change. His conclusion is that everything you know is wrong but seriously read his post because there are a lot of great points. Clay Burell talks about getting back to teaching and making a true impact on students instead of teaching towards accountability (gradebooks, tests, homework, static curriculum, etc).
Clay’s thought got me thinking. If we could employ the Google mentality of the Power of 20% then we’re getting back to teachers teaching and students learning. The Power of 20% is the theory where Google employees are encouraged to take 20% of their work week where they can work on a project that they are passionate about even if it has nothing to do with their current caseload. Imagine if teachers were given the freedom to spend up to 1 day a week to teach something meaningful or constructive that might not be in the “curriculum”. Chances are this is an administrator’s nightmare because of the “accountability of NCLB and making AYP!”
At some point someone has got to be willing to break the mode and do something different (even if it means falling flat on your face). If continue to follow the heard are we ever going to be inventive and transforming? I think not! Isn’t it nice to be reflective at the end of the year?
tags technorati : school2.0 clayburrel barrybachenheimer
