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Self-directed Learning

This tag is associated with 36 posts

The future of big box schooling

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I recently posted my thoughts on Schooling the World, an important film that takes a look at the value of bringing Western-style education to sustainable indigenous cultures and beyond. I personally — and as I mentioned in my post, it seems Sir Ken Robinson too — believe the film raises many important questions which are … Continue reading »

Learning is (supposed to be) fun, no?

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My older daughter is a grade 1 student in a French Immersion school and this year the school emphasizes reading and writing basic sight words as one of the goals for the kids. While the first four months she brought no homework, starting this month, her class will do a regular dictation exercise at the … Continue reading »

Scream when someone takes your spoon!

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When I was invited to join this blog, I had lots of ideas what should my first post be about — death to subject silos, put a stop to age segregation, pull parents and even the community into the learning, etc. While I would still like to bring a parent perspective on these important topics, … Continue reading »

Oddness

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With 18 days off for winter break (16 in the calendar and 2 snow days at the beginning) I have time to take for just me. .. and today is one of those. I’m spending today tweeting, blogging,  thinking, reading, looking through the books I have stacked up, basically learning and reflecting! I have a … Continue reading »

Action Steps

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I know @colonelB (David Britten) asked us to post our action steps the last week of 2010, but we began our winter break early this year with two snow days right at the beginning of it–so I spent those two days sleeping and rejuvenating and I’m now solidly in the “catch up all the thinking … Continue reading »

National Day of Blogging for Real Education Reform

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November 22, 2010 has been declared the National Day of Blogging for Real Education Reform, promoted by AASA and ASCD. ASCD has gathered 10 articles, in advance of Monday’s Day of National Blogging, in The New Faces of Ed Reform that discuss reforming education with teachers as leaders and partners in meaningful, lasting change. I can’t wait to see … Continue reading »

Alternative Educational Models in the Wild

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Hi all.  I’ve been thinking a lot about the the model that Illich puts forth in “Deschooling Society” and wanted to open a discussion about technology-facilitated, student self-directed education.  Skip on down to The Thoughts if you’ve read “Deschooling” or want to skip my summary of his proposed school replacement. The Summary Illich advocates throwing … Continue reading »

You Want Ideas? We Have Ideas!

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The Day of National Blogging for Real Education Reform was an outstanding success in many ways, and it continues beyond November 22.  While this post was originally set up to archive the links, some organization quickly became necessary.  The links are now mostly alphabetical by title, but a few have been brought forward–the reflections on the … Continue reading »

Learn or be taught

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[Author's note: I don't cross-post often; I certainly don't cross-post lightly. However, I thought this post from Classroots.org would be of interest to the communities of both sites. Cheers, C] “…we are attempting to operate our society on obsolete code…. They are completely inappropriate to what it is we want to get done.” – Douglas … Continue reading »

Museums, Playgrounds or Something Else?

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I guess I’m a really lucky–or blessed–educator.  I’ve been afforded a ton of great opportunities throughout my career, and those experiences have not only helped to shape my beliefs and actions, but more often than not, reinforced them. You see, I believe in children’s abilities to think for themselves, and to a certain extent to … Continue reading »

“I’m going to be as forthcoming as I can be, Mr. Anderson.”

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Forget prison; school is the Matrix. When you look at a kid, what do you see? A genius? A business person? An artist? A leader? Someone to lift up? Someone who lifts you? Someone to limit? Someone to control? Someone you love? Someone who fills you with dread? Someone who could be doing so much … Continue reading »

Time to Explore Passions in School?

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Our county has this time in school in many of our elementary schools called Mastery Extension time or Extended Learning Time–a 30-45 minute time period in EVERY class where Title 1 pullout may happen, sometimes gifted pullout happens, remedial pullout happens and the idea is for kids to get extra time on something they either … Continue reading »

20 Year Old Dinosaurs

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Adam and Monika, this one’s for you, in response to your comment here and the ensuing conversation about learning. This is also cross-posted at Reflections of the TZSTeacher. When I taught kindergarten, I had a unit about dinosaurs. Young children are fascinated by dinosaurs.  I don’t know if it’s the “monster” connection, or the big … Continue reading »

Slow Down!

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I am going to exercise my autonomy this week and post again on the topic of “what must we do in order to transform our schools into places of authentic and democratic learning.” My last suggestion was one word-autonomy, my next one is two words-slow down. Our culture is moving too fast towards one thing … Continue reading »

5 Decades, 6 Schools, 1 Teacher Dedicated to Kids

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Work smarter, not harder! That’s what I’m doing here–this post actually is meeting a homework assignment for me, AND allowing me to write for the Coop Catalyst blog this week as well. The question in my class is: “Reflect on your teaching career and create a timeline of events that have had a significant impact … Continue reading »

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