Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Scraps from Chris Lehmann Keynote

I am spying on the Chris Lehmann Keynote at MSET via Twitter this morning. It's fascinating to pick up the fragments and imagine the whole. Here are some crumbs from "Building Schools 2.0" to work on, thanks to many busy Tweeters through the keynote. Great thoughts!
  • Test- focused schools create a culture of compliance, not independent thinkers
  • "How many of you think your schools get it HALF right?" Only about 10% raised hands. Yikes!
  • combine old ideas (Dewey) and new tools 
  • We are developing citizenry not a workforce
  • lousy data = lousy decisions -Use "good" data when making decisions based on data
  • Value the work students do every day, not just on standardized test day
  • "Deliver pizza, not instruction" "We need to reclaim the language." "We TEACH." 
  • "Don't ban cell phones. Why deny them the tools if you can't afford the tools?" "They're going to use them anyway." "[So teach them how to use them!]" 
  • Not changing how we teach is more about us than the students. Are we willing to unlearn and relearn?
  • We teach kids not subjects
  • "What are our own personal slide rules?" What are we teaching that is now outdated? 
  • Schools should be student centered. When you go into the classroom, you should play "find the teacher".
  • Education should be community based - "we can learn from many" Video Conferences - we are not bounded by 4 walls anymore
  • What if we challenge students - "High School is Real Life" What you do now does matter, your passions are what matters. 
  • We want students to think about thinking 
  • Project based learning - the end result is not a test but a product created by students 
  • "If you get 30 copies of the same thing you didn't give a project you gave a recipe. Let them own it."
  • technology need to be like oxygen. It should not be something special. Technology is like oxygen - ubiquitous, necessary, and invisible.
  • "When was the last time you took your kids to a pencil lab?" Tech should be everywhere.
  • What we Want for Kinds we MUST also want for teachers and the school. 
  • Problematize Everything - What is the worst consequence of your BEST idea? (Great way to think)
  • Empower Kids - It is their education and it will be THEIR world.
  • What do we teach kids? We teach them wisdom.