A must read...

For anyone interested in education, my dad just gave me an amazing book that looks at the need for a changing landscape of schools. While I am only one chapter in, I felt compelled to post this quote because it is hugely in support of moving toward computer-based, technology driven learning in order to better reach different learning styles.


From Clayton M. Christensen's Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns

"Today's system [of education] was designed at a time when standardization was seen as a virtue. Much of the support behind...categorizing students by age into grades and then teaching batches of them with batches of material was inspired by the efficient factory system that had emerged in industrial America.. If the goal is to educate every student...we must find a way to move toward...a "student centric" model...Computer-based learning offers a way...Student-centric learning opens the door for students to learn in ways that match their intelligence types in the places and at the paces they prefer by combining content in customized sequences... As modularity and customization reach a tipping point, there will be another change: teachers can serve as professional learning coaches and content architects to help individual students progress- and they can be a guide on the side, not a sage on the stage."

The use of Applets and Video

Next fall I am going to attempt to combine the Khan Academy videos with GeoGebra Applets. While the website is still very much under construction, I'd enjoy some feedback from anyone, anywhere that seems at all interested or concerned.

To access the website, click here. Below are my thoughts on the advantages of this different way of teaching. (Many of the ideas are similar to my previous post on how rad Khan is.)

CALCULUS:

A video and applet approach to learning calculus, utilizing the Khan Academy videos and GeoGebra Calculus applets.

The traditional model of math education, presented rather perssimistically, is this: Teach a skill during class. Students practice it at home, oftentimes discouraged that they "got it during class, but couldn't figure it out at home." Consequently, teachers spend the majority of the next class going over the homework, usually rushing at the end to cram in the "new material." All the while, students who "get it" are bored; the middle students are receiving appropriate instruction; and the slower students are overwhelmed by the pace and do not have enough time to digest the new content.

The video/applet approach allows students to learn material at their own pace through online lectures. Then, using the applets as inquiry-based learning, students can make deep connections to the material. During the lectures, students can comfortably sit with a new topic. During the applets, the material comes alive.

Then, during the classtime, teachers can assist students in applying the newly learned skills. The classroom becomes a dynamic learning space. With the immediate help of the teacher and peers, students can grapple with much harder problems, while also ensuring that they have the basics down. With the teacher taking on the role of an "experienced learner/ problem solver," rather than the beacon of knowledge, students start to become more independent in the learning process. This truly sets them up to become life learners.

For this model to work most effectively, the role of the teacher in the classroom is to create opportunities for students to appropriately challenge themselves. It would be expected that the sharper students are working on more challenging problems on a daily basis. Equally relevant, weaker students -challenged at the right level- would develop greater confidence and their understanding and ability would grow exponentially.

The eventual goal is to allow students to move at their own pace on a weekly, monthly and even yearly basis. Why should two students of differing abilities both start and finish at the same place in an academic school year? By developing an ethos of independent, motivated learning, there is no reason to hold students back or inappropriately push students forward. Given this new model of class, students (ideally working in a small cohort) would move through the material at exactly the right pace for them.

Imagine that! Everyone appropriately challenged always, all year. That would breed intellectual excellence and excitement.

Summary of Daniel Goleman's "What Makes a Leader?"

As recommended by my Head of School, I am currently reading HBR's 10 MUST READS: ON LEADERSHIP. I just finished the first of ten: "What Makes a Leader?" While most of the research came from studying corporations and financial institutions, the findings certainly can be extrapolated to other areas, such as education. I think that Goleman's thesis- that EI is more important than IQ AND that it can be taught- has rippling effects into how we might think about teaching and assessing students. That being said, this is only a summary of his ideas:


Goleman states that while IQ gets you in the door, it is emotional intelligence, EI, that is the greatest factor for leadership. IQ and technical skills "are the entry level requirements for positions.... [whereas] EI is the sine qua non of leadership. "(p.1) He breaks down EI into 5 categories: Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, Motivation, Empathy and Social Skills. While EI is important for all levels, it becomes increasingly important at higher levels of management. Most importantly, Goleman believes that EI, through deliberate practice and feedback, can be learned. Being mindful, we can view "on-the-job interactions as opportunities to practice. (p.9)"

5 components:


1. SELF-AWARENESS.
-You know your limits but challenge yourself
-"The decisions of self-aware people mesh with their values; consequently, they often find work to be energizing." (p.10)
-"frank in admitting to failure... [often possessing a] self-depracating sense of humor." (p. 10)
-because "they have have a firm grasp of their capabilities... they know...when to ask for help. And the risks they take on the job are calculated." (p.11)


2. SELF-REGULATION
-'People who are in control of their feelings and impulses- that is, people who are reasonable- are able to create an environment of trust and fairness." (p.12)
-"Self regulation... enhances integrity... Many of the bad things that happen in companies are a function of impulsive behavior." (p.13)
-unfortunately, "their considered responses are taken as a lack of passion." (p.14)


3. MOTIVATION
-"Driven to achieve beyond expectations." (p.14) Goleman makes a key point that to achievement for the sake of achievement is different from greed or a hunger for power. Motivated people just want to improve.
-these people "seek out creative challenges, love to learn, and take great pride in a job well done. They also display an unflagging energy to do things better...restless with the status quo...they are eager to explore new approaches to their work." (p.14)
-"People who are driven to do better also want a way of tracking progress." (p.15)


4. EMPATHY
-"...thoughtfully considering employees feelings- along with other factors- in the process of making intelligent decisions." (p.16)
-we need empathy because of "at least three things: the increasing use of teams; the rapid pace of globalization; and the growing need to retain talent." (p.17)


5. SOCIAL SKILL
-"...friendliness with a purpose: omving people in the direction you desire."
-it is important to build "rapport" with as many people in your campany as possible because, for change to happen, you will need advocates in all arenas
-"The leader's task is to get work done through other people, and social skill makes that possible."

Khan Academy's Approach to Education

Salman Khan just spoke my words. He beat me to it. I just learned about Salman Khna but, after watching his video, I realize that he and I are thinking the same thing: the current model of teaching mathematics should be flipped. Learning and traditional lessons should be viewed at home; the practice should occur in class where students are able to get help and work in groups.

As distance learning becomes more en vogue, and as schools continue to utilize the use of technology in the classroom, it becomes important for us to re-think traditional classroom experiences.

Take a typical math class experience, for example: Why does a classroom of 10-20 students start on the same topic at the beginning of the year and all finish at the same place at the end of the year? Doesn't it seem unreasonable that each individual student is learning at exactly the same speed? Is there a better method that allow students to learn at the pace that is right for them?


Here are two interesting clips looking at a the use of video to improve the efficiency of learning mathematics:

video 2
video 1

In a nutshell

Creating "Solutionaries"- A response to Zoe Weil's TED Talk

Zoe Weil, cofounder and president of the Institute for Humane Education, said in a recent TED Talk: “We need a bigger vision for the purpose of schooling... It should be this: that we provide every student with the knowledge, the tools, and the motivation to be conscientious choice makers and engaged change makers for a restored and healthy and humane world for all.” This is exactly what SEED will deliver its students. The thematic and interdisciplinary academic curriculum combined with the Experiential Program will produce graduates who are true “solutionaries.”

SEED academy will focus on issues of land use, the environment, social equity and global development. The emphasis will not merely be on debating ideas for an academic exercise. Rather, right from the start, students will be asked to decide on solutions for improvement. Most importantly, the students will need to engage in and implement these solutions. Weil professes: “We need to graduate a generation of solutionaries.” SEED will deliver just that.

As an anecdote, Weil describes a student who did a research assignment and after his presentation, he wanted to hand out leaflets. To Weil’s surprise, the student intended to hand the leaflets out onto the Philadelphia streets, not just in the classroom. Weil says: “He’d become an activist over night.” This is precisely what needs to happen. All projects should be public. Students must utilize social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube so that their ideas far exceed the walls of the school.

We have shared the idea of SEED to many educators and friends. We believe that the more we talk about it and the more feedback we get the better. Of the concerns people raise about the curriculum, the most common concern is whether graduates will be prepared. I absolutely loved the way in which Weil answered this same question:

“What would our graduates go on to do? Well they would do the same thing that graduates do today. They’d be business people and health care providers and plumbers and engineers... and beauticians... The difference would be they would perceive themselves as solutionaries. They would know that it was their responsibility to ensure that the systems within their profession were just and humane and peaceful. Why? Because that is what they would have learned in school.”

I’d like to thank Zoe Weil for an excellent talk (see talk) and further inspiring me to re-think how we educate.

A Perfect Size of School

Dunbar's number- 150- is the largest number in which groups of humans can maintain stable social relationships. This is the number of students on campus at any quarter at SEED Academy.

In Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, he looks at the maximum size for any functioning group. He believes that at some number, intimacy and trust is lost, and thus the efficacy of the group diminishes. Supported by case studies and biological research, Gladwell explains that humans have the capacity to exist in groups of up to 150, citing numerous supporting examples.

Reading this in Gladwell's book was confirming. Envisioning SEED Academy, we want to have four sections of 10-12 students per grade level. Therefore the projected size of the 9-12 program at SEED academy is roughly 200. While at first this seems to have overshot Dunbar's number and Gladwell's finding, at any given quarter, 50 of the students will be off-campus in the Experiential Program. This leaves 150 students on campus.

Therefore, in a way by happenstance, we have envisioned a school size that will, according to Malcolm Gladwell, operate at maximum capacity without losing stable relationships.

Practical, Lifelong Skills

The EXPERIENTIAL PROGRAM at SEED academy teaches students lifelong skills, rarely taught in independent secondary schools. When teaching math, students often ask: "When will I ever use this?" While the answer I give- that students in high school are trained to think clearly and analytically- the truth is that I often wonder why more applicable skills are not taught.

Then I think: What are some things that an 18 year old should definitely know how to do? Speak another language. Change a tire. Start a good fire and be able to cook over it. Fix a leaky pipe and do basic home repair. Be alone, happily. Be honest with oneself. Grow food. Help others.

Freshmen Year: Students spend 10 weeks in the White Mountains, exploring watersheds and learning to BE in the woods. By the end, students will spend one week ALONE. With only a tarp, a lighter, access to a creek and some simple food, these students will live quietly by themselves for 7 days, developing a deep connection with nature and a deeper sense of self. They will come away from the program with an ability to be alone, with a love of (or at least an appreciation for) wilderness, and a resounding feeling of independence.

Sophomore Year: Students spend 10 weeks building simple homes in underprivileged communities. With a hammer as their tool, each student will learn about home maintenance and repair. More importantly, this altruistic endeavor will push students to think about what it means to give. Evening workshops will challenge students to consider their own privileges. The end goal is for students to become aware of disparities in opportunity and become committed to social equity.

Junior Year: Students spread their wings and spend seven weeks in a home-stay in either China or a Spanish speaking country. Students will learn to cross cultural bridges, challenge their view of the world, and come away fluent in their language of study. Then, students will finish the trip with three weeks on an organic farm. Learning about food production, students will have the chance to get their hands dirty while continuing to hone their language skills.

Senior Year: Students depart to the East, spending eleven weeks in the north of Thailand. Three weeks will be spent in a Buddhist monastary- living simply, practicing meditation. Three weeks will be spent at a UN refugee camp, helping indigenous groups who have crossed the Burmese border in refuge. Three more weeks will be spent teaching english in underserved schools. In the last two weeks, seniors will spend time processing their trip and their high school experience, as well as planning for their CAPSTONE PROJECT, where they will study, research, and then communicate on a topic

Graduating seniors will have spent 10 weeks in the wilderness, 10 weeks building homes, and 21 weeks out of the country. They will have lived in Buddhist temples and volunteered in UN refugee camps. They will have learned to build a fire and cook over it, and they will have grown their own food.

These graduating seniors are global citizens. They are worldly and self-sufficient. Their perspective is enormous, but not as large as their hearts.

Smart Presentation

These videos (the link is below) come from a presentation on Smart Use of Smart Boards. We looked at how Notebook Software interacts with SmartBoards and the use of Wikispaces for the presentation of class videos and notes.

In particular, we looked at how we might flip the notion of class time and homework time. In other words, we could create videos which students would watch at home. During class, after learning the skills at home, students would work on projects in groups to practice and deepen their understanding of the topics learned at home.

The role of the teacher becomes that of an "experienced learner," going from one group to the next, helping them consider the various problems, and making sure they understand both the theory and practice.

http://www.flipshare.com/viewFbReshare.aspx?i=b1fc9f15-541f-4689-a596-f2fbb7cd2a58&s=55896921&langmedia=en-us

SMART USE of SMART BOARDS

Tonight I'll be presenting on the Smart Use of SmartBoards to the NMH Math Department. A video of the presentation will be coming later. I see the use of SmartBoards not as flashy technology, rather a way to greatly improve the way in which we teach and structure the time in the classroom.

Please watch the video (which will be uploaded later) if you are interested.

Reading at the Coffee House

Tomorrow night I'll be reading this great poem at our school's "Coffee House."

The poem is called "Becoming Joey" by Paul Gorski.

It's incredibly powerful. I first read it in the book: White Teachers, Diverse Classrooms.

Teaching Philosophy

Statement of Teaching Philosophy

I believe that, while content is important, what we teach is often just a medium through which we engage teenagers in meaningful human relationships. While I want my students to learn Calculus, I equally want them to be compassionate and caring. While I want them to show their work and thought-process, I also want them to be creative and curious. I believe that the top priority of an Independent School is to promote conscientious and caring human beings with the academic prowess to become positive agents of change.

I believe in equity, first and foremost, and try to incorporate issues of equality in my teaching. I believe that my role in schools is to help chip away at the disparity between those with access and those without. I think it is imperative that we engage our students and teachers in discussions about race, gender, class, and other important diversity topics so that we can work toward understanding each other better.

I believe in inquiry-based learning. I believe that the teacher’s role in the classroom should be that of an experienced learner, not the one with all of the answers. I believe the focus of each lesson should be on “thinking” rather than “knowing.” This can be accomplished through projects which allow students to learn through discovery. That being said, I believe there is a place for more traditional lectures in a class.

In a math class, I believe that a teacher must strike a delicate balance between challenging a student and fostering self-assurance. The role of a teacher is to challenge each student appropriately. This, of course, requires the teacher to know each student substantially. I believe that confidence affects students’ performance in math more than in any other course. Recognizing that there are many different learning styles, and adapting our teaching style to reach each of our learners, allows each of our students to be more successful.

I believe that appropriate use of technology is one way to aid many of our students. I have recently been recording classes on the SmartBoard and posting video of each class and pdf files of the class notes. Students have been able to review old lessons or print out notes from the day. I have found this most helpful to students with dyslexia and dysgraphia. As teachers try out new methods of incorporating technology, we are reminded of what is like to be a novice. This is in and of itself an invaluable lesson.

Lastly, I believe in a strong sense of collegiality among the faculty. Independent Schools are inherently busy, and teaching is largely a solitary act. We need to create viable opportunities throughout the day and week for teachers to share ideas and work together. When we inspire and are inspired by our colleagues, we cannot help but create a vibrant learning community.

Some wisdom from a Zen Master

I just came off my hammock, which was slung between two mangrove trees on Playa Flamingo. My dog Omaha slept beneath me, in the shade cast by the hammock. My wonderful wife Kelsey read nearby, head resting on a fallen log.

I was reading an excellent book, Novice to Master: An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity, by Soko Morinaga. The following two pieces of wisdom, which pertain hugely to education, come from that book and I feel compelled to share them.

Lesson #1: Teach Children to Understand their own Power

"School teachers often see it as their sole duty to entice children to take an interest in studying. Many parents believe the ability to parent lies in rearing children who cry out as seldom as possible, who chafe as little as possible.

I ask you to consider this carefully, though. Is our society, into which these children will eventually enter, an understanding society?... It is a society full of people who relish the failure of others, who savor the poverty of the next-door neighbor as they savor a tender morsel of duck... When children are brought up by teachers who seek always to entertain, to sympathize, and to allow their students to have their own way, and by parents who try in any way they can to prevent their children from knowing pain and inconvenience, what happens to them when they are thrown out into the kind of world we have?

I wonder why it is that parents, teachers, and other adults do not try to provide children earlier with the opportunity and the training to realize for themselves the power inherent within themselves, the power we all possess to stand up and work it out ourselves in times of trouble. Only when we taste frustration does the spirit of intrepidity, the resolution to rally and march on over every obstacle, arise from our innate force, from our inherent power."

Lesson #2: Having a Still Mind

"The truly still mind, with which you were born, is the mind that moves freely. Without ignoring anything, it reacts wholeheartedly to everything it encounters, to everything on which it reflects. And yet, for all that, it is the mind that is never seized by anything, but is always ready to react on the spot to whatever it encounters next. The mind that is still is the mind that never forfeits its freedom and is able to constantly keep rolling and rolling and rolling.

The mind that neither ignores anything nor attaches to anything is not something that is obtained through training. It is the natural "power" with which you entered this world. Those of us who are called Zen monks enter the monastery in order to awaken through practice to this power that we inherently possess, to freely demonstrate it, and to bring it to life."

On Creating the Schedule...

Three At Home, One Away

Did you know that when Dartmouth decided to go co-ed, in 1972, that they at the same time adopted their “Dartmouth Plan,” a year-round schedule broken into quarters. Dartmouth hangs it’s hat on this unique program. It is said that they created this to increase enrollment without increasing the facilities. However, the rumor is that they adopted this plan because it allowed them to admit women without reducing the number of men. The “Dartmouth Plan”, therefore, was apparently created as a way to assuage the resistance of losing the number of males enrolled, while allowing the school to go co-ed.

Sometimes, strange forces drive school schedules. The derivation of SEED’s Three at Home, One Away schedule came out of a brainstorm with Marco Morrone, a former colleague. We were working at a start-up school in Northern California, renting an odd space in a performance center. The school, at the time, was six years old. We had grown from 40 in the first year to 215, and we were busting out at the seams.

Marco and I shared the same free period, and without a classroom or office to work in, we sat on the floor of our reception area. We were told that soon we’d have our new campus: the money was there, the land was secured, the builders were ready. But, wary of the optimism, we would waste our entire prep period concocting wild ways in which to deal with too many students for too few classrooms.

We talk about the “Ah-ha” or light-bulb moment for our students. Well this felt like a full on electrical storm when we stumbled upon the rough draft of SEED’s year-long schedule. Like the Dartmouth Plan, we looked at a quarter system. Unlike the Big Green, whose students have one quarter of vacation per year, we recognized that we could use that quarter as an equitable enrichment time. Therefore, every quarter, one grade level is off-campus, involved in life-changing experiential education.

Many studies show that the education gap is more closely tied to disparate vacation experiences rather than differences in school systems. In other words, those students with access are able to do things over their breaks which keep their brains ticking; while many underprivileged students are unable to spend the time as academically productive. SEED’s schedule would give all its students the opportunity to enrich their studies with global and local exposure and experience.

Imagine the energy that this would create. Every quarter, a grade level is away, sending e-mails back to school and posting blogs on their experiences. Every quarter, a grade level has just returned- changed, enthused, motivated. Every quarter, a grade level is preparing for their trip- excited, anxious, curious. The schedule creates perpetual energy, curiosity, engagement and excitement.

On Travel and Experiential Education...

When I walked through the iron gate and into the front hall of our cozy house on the corner, the ripe smell and noisy crowd were unfamiliar. The house served as my safe zone - my mama’s huge and embracing arms welcomed me home each day and gave me the quiet I needed to process a day filled with Xhosa, lamb skulls, questions, smiles, and stares. That day, however, did not provide the quiet and warmth that I needed after a tiring day. Instead the warmth that filled the house was that of family coming together and slaughtered goat intestines being cooked on the stove. Were it not for the six goats, bare and legs flung up to the ceiling as if running in heaven, I might not have known the peculiar smell floating out of the kitchen area. That day the complicated and loving wide circle of family I was welcomed into rivaled the complicated family structure I had at home. The unfamiliarity was familiar at the same time - the two months I had spent living in Newanga Township, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, had made the feelings of unfamiliar and uncomfortable a way of life rather than an anomaly. As I wove my way through the crowd I found my mama and she gurgled a deep laugh and cooed “Oh Kelsey” in her loving and protective way. Her smile embraced me first, but the enveloping hug that followed was all that I needed to feel at peace.

I learned more from my Mama than I did from many of the teachers I have had in my life. It was not in a four wall classroom, but in our little home nestled among other homes on a small street, that gave me insight into the concept of Experiential Education.

A dear teacher to my heart and my ethos, my Mama will forever remain as a woman who guided me not just in the Xhosa language and culture, but in how to live in a diverse and complicated world.

-Kelsey Sullivan, Co-founder of SEED Academy

On Thematic Learning...

S.E.E.D. (Social Equity, Environment, and Development)

Yearlong Thematic Learning

A thematic approach to learning is by no means my idea, nor a new idea. Many schools use this approach to learning, understanding the value of approaching a topic from many different angles. This type of learning allows students to understand that ideas are multi-faceted; it turns the classroom into a more creative environment; and the learning becomes something real and valuable, not just an academic exercise.

SEED Academy, however, will re-invent Thematic Learning, pushing education in a critical direction. SEED has identified Environmental Sustainability, Social Justice and Global Citizenship as the most important issues for students to debate, understand, and appreciate. Recognizing this, SEED has set each of these topics to be the theme for the first three years of high school, respectively. Students will still learn the necessary skills covered in typical math, science, english, history and foreign language courses. However, they will do so through the lens of these major themes. What will this look like?

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: Freshmen will read Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and Bill McKibben’s End of Nature while also studying bio-diversity modeled with a statistical analysis of variation. This will be supplemented by 10 weeks spent in the woods, studying watersheds and investigating public vs private land use.

SOCIAL JUSTICE: Sophomores will research famous non-violent leaders and study the history of race, religion, gender, and class. An understanding of bio-chemistry and mathematical modeling will shed light on environmental racism and classism. Students will investigate issues of access and privilege that will be focused on heavily during the 10 weeks spent doing a service-learning program in an urban underprivileged school system.

GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP: Juniors will investigate global development, focusing on appropriate, sustainable growth. Students will examine global economic systems, food production, and water scarcity. The study of physics and mathematics will allow students to grapple with critical issues of thermodynamics, which drives global weather and climate change. Students will become global citizens after spending 10 weeks either in Central America or China (depending on their foreign language), which will include 3 weeks of work on an organic farm.

How will students be able to spend the 10 weeks of direct experiential learning?

And what about senior year?

More later...

The writing of the Mission Statement

Three days alone in New Hampshire, in the woods, in the White Mountains, in MARCH, in the snow. Ten days in total, backpacking with students. Spent much of the first two days alone sitting on a fallen tree over a bubbling winter creek. The third day it rained. 40 degrees. Cold. I sat under a tarp. Wood on one side, fire on the other. Writing. Thinking. Pondering education. Meditating on experience. Dreaming of my perfect school. Scribbling ideas down on paper. Rethinking. Revising.

When I finished, I stoked the fire. It burned bright and hot. I danced in the snow, barefoot, getting soaked by the rain.

Feeling very alive.