What can one person do to make a difference? how will that difference make lasting change?
These two questions plague my thoughts every day. When I am working with students in a classroom it is easy to see and hear how they learn and get excited about new subjects. Just today I ran an activity based off Dan Meyer's Number Magic lesson plan and kids were ecstatic to make their own series of instructions to modify a number. It is a wonderful feeling and I should probably acknowledge it more often.
But what about the rest of the 151,000 in the School District of Philadelphia? And the tens of thousands of others in private and charter schools?
I want to be a part of a movement of change. One that will actually affect things for the long term. Former Philadelphia Schools' Superintendent Arlene Ackerman wrote yesterday that she thinks serious change can only come from the outside, and she points to voucher programs and charter schools as the solution. While I completely disagree with her solution, I think her premise does have some merit: inertia is a difficult thing to get past.
These two questions plague my thoughts every day. When I am working with students in a classroom it is easy to see and hear how they learn and get excited about new subjects. Just today I ran an activity based off Dan Meyer's Number Magic lesson plan and kids were ecstatic to make their own series of instructions to modify a number. It is a wonderful feeling and I should probably acknowledge it more often.
But what about the rest of the 151,000 in the School District of Philadelphia? And the tens of thousands of others in private and charter schools?
I want to be a part of a movement of change. One that will actually affect things for the long term. Former Philadelphia Schools' Superintendent Arlene Ackerman wrote yesterday that she thinks serious change can only come from the outside, and she points to voucher programs and charter schools as the solution. While I completely disagree with her solution, I think her premise does have some merit: inertia is a difficult thing to get past.
The only thing I (and maybe you) can do right now is model what I think needs to happen across the District and hope someone is paying attention. For me, that means engaging students with a curriculum that is relevant and interesting (translation: use up-to-date facts in my lessons and let students use modern tools to research things and create products).
What falls into that category? Here are some examples: using the NY Times census map to analyze statistics between neighborhoods; using Google SketchUp to design 3D models of your house and make sure you know how much it would cost to put paint on the walls; having students create and administer surveys on topics they care about.
What doesn't? Standardized tests whose sole purpose is to assess how you are doing for other standardized tests (ahem: Predictives); Posting objectives and agendas on boards around the room instead of allowing that space to be used for student's to put their work; creating a bureaucracy so vast it takes a Board Resolution to accept donated funding for technology.
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