David is, I think, both right and wrong in his assessment of what is slowin=
g
our schools down from swifly advancing in the direction most of us on this
list-serve are headed. Certainly I wholeheartedly agree with him on the
goal: we should all be developing our educational program for the purpose o=
f
enhancing our students' (and our own) ability to solve problems.
And let's integrate digital tools, like the ones suggested (and I am
especially intrigued by smartphones), as swiftly as possible. And yes, he
is correct that critical to this equation is the leadership of heads,
division heads, deans and department chairs.
But here is where I counter David a bit, and instead embrace Ezra's point: =
I
think there are already many school administrators ready and eager to
embrace digital tools for authentic problem-solving education. I'd even
suggest that the average school administrator is ahead of the average schoo=
l
teacher on this front. But that is where the problem lies. Neither boards
nor students are posing obstacles to the swift advance in this direction--
but too many of our teachers are. I think faculty culture, in some places,
is still too set in its ways, too reliant on its longstanding norms and
routines. Of course I am not talking about all teachers-- and maybe I am
only identifying a minority of them. But it can be a powerful minority,
these teaching veterans with strong connections to alumni and parents and
board members, whom Heads or administrators can sometimes cross only at
their peril.
I think we need as a school leaders need to keep being loud and clear: the
21st century is a dramatically different era, and hence teaching and
learning need to change, and change swifly, not because the previous ways
were faulty or poor, but because they are no longer congruent with their
age. By helping our teachers recognize this, we then have an improved
conceptual framework for them to then understand why they need to do things
so differently from before.
This is why, I think, Pink and Friedman and Gardener and now Tony Wagner
(his new *Global Achievement Gap *is GREAT about this) are so helpful-- the=
y
help articulate the point that our teaching needs to change because the
times have changed.
--=20
Jonathan E. Martin, MA, M.Div.
(925) 286-5993 (cell)
www.21k12.net
www.goodhighschool.blogspot.com
On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 3:18 PM, David F. Withrow <
DavidWithrow@harfordday.org> wrote:
> Once again I am thrilled to be associated with the collective minds of th=
e
> listserv.
> Fred, Chris and Renee point the way forward towards education in the "rea=
l
> world." I
> quote the real world to highlight the essence of their points of view: ho=
w
> do we solve
> problems. Too often, way too often, way way too often, schools are the
> institutions of
> conservativeness reflecting old solutions to new issues. Until all of us
> have a model
> that reflects the approach that Rye Country Day School, Green Hill and
> Seven Hills School
> promotes educators are living in the past. There are few of us who do not
> understand this
> so ...
>
> So how is that accomplished? It must lay in the hands of leadership. Scho=
ol
> leadership:
> Division Heads. Deans. Heads.
>
> Any ideas how this can be the standard, not exceptional? The best I have
> heard from a
> significant leader of Independent Schools is that we have to wait until t=
he
> Heads are
> younger: five to ten years. I am too old to be comforted by this.
>
> Can this be true? Is this realistic? Is this viable? As a business model,
> can we wait
> that long?
>
> I believe we, independent schools, bring important thinking to education.
> High standards
> of content and the opportunity for adaptation to new ideas such as those
> espoused by
> Daniel Pink, Sir Kenneth Robinson and Pat Bassett. But, too often, we are
> too slow to
> react in a world where slow reactions cost significantly.
>
> While pencils are useful, so are PDAs, cellphones and wireless tools such
> as treos,
> iPhones, iPod touches, Blackberrys and the like. Why can't we adapt our
> instructional
> styles to reflect that?
>
> my 2=A2.
>
> David F. Withrow
> Director of Technology
> Harford Day School
> Bel Air, Maryland 21014
> voice: 410 879 2350 ex 33
> fax: 410 836 5918
> http://www.harfordday.org
>
> The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
> - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
>
> In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practic=
e,
> there is.
> - Yogi Berra
>
>
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