daretheschool

I like to keep an eye on our shifting world and the way it is shaping our education system.

daretheschool has written 6 posts for Cooperative Catalyst

Cooperative Catalyst Presents: Kirsten Olson

Posted by daretheschool ⋅ November 8, 2011 ⋅ 2 Comments

Kirsten Olson is a leading writer in the U.S. describing education from a student’s point of view. Her recent book Wounded By School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up To Old School Culture(2009) was one of the ten bestselling books at Teachers College Press this past year, and was nominated for Book of the Year … Continue reading →

Cooperative Catalyst Presents: Dream School Commons

Posted by daretheschool ⋅ November 7, 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

Jaime R. Wood is founder of Dream School Commons, a nonprofit organization with the mission of starting innovative low-cost or no-cost schools that serve populations in need. She is also the author of Living Voices: Multicultural Poetry in the Middle School Classroom (NCTE 2006). She started her teaching career working with middle school students in an alternative charter school … Continue reading →

Occupy Wall Street: The Education Edition (Part 1)

Posted by daretheschool ⋅ October 10, 2011 ⋅ 17 Comments

I am very happy to say that I spent my weekend occupying Wall Street. During this time, I had the amazing opportunity to speak with people who are not only angry, but hopeful. They are individuals who protest our country’s economic policies not out of hatred, but out of love for our country. They see … Continue reading →

Places for Healing: Schools as Community Centers

Posted by daretheschool ⋅ September 10, 2011 ⋅ 4 Comments

“ Nothing in this universe exists alone. Every drop of water, every human being, all creatures in the web of life and all ideas in the web of knowledge are part of an immense, evolving, dynamic whole as old, and as young , as the universe itself.” -Symbiosis 1982 Schools are institutions of so much … Continue reading →

Open Education: learning is at our fingertips

Posted by daretheschool ⋅ August 23, 2011 ⋅ 15 Comments

Over the past decade, there has been a steady rise in Open Courseware programs. Open Courseware is the concept of college courses being offered to the general public free of charge via the internet. The pioneer of the Open Courseware movement was MIT, who began this initiative in 2002. Soon, reputable universities such as Yale, … Continue reading →

Free Schools Revisited: Revolution vs. Transformation

Posted by daretheschool ⋅ August 18, 2011 ⋅ 7 Comments

“The public school exists to turn out manageable workers, obedient consumers, manipulable voters, and if need be willing killers” -Jonathan Kozol author of Free Schools The most notable and recent movement for alternative education occurred in 1960’s to the early 1970’s, and was known as the “free school” movement. The free school movement was an … Continue reading →