If you haven't heard (or seen) the movie "Most Likely to Succeed," you may be in the educational minority today. The documentary highlights the problems of traditional schooling through the eyes of students, parents, and teachers who are seeking, and in some cases participating in a very different education, and it's become one of the most watched (maybe the MOST watched) film about education ever. Millions of people around the globe have seen it, and now, you can even rent your own personal screening via the film's website. While the movie takes it's cues from Tony Wagner's book of the same name, it's producer Ted Dintersmith has been doing the yeoman's work in getting the film out to global audiences and in pushing the conversation around change to state legislatures. And Ted is our guest in our 40th episode of the Modern Learners Podcast. Our conversation runs the gamut from what the change narrative is evolving into, to places where change is happening at high levels, to the … [Read more...]
Modern Learners Podcast #37 – Revolutionizing Education Through Student Empowerment
Templestowe College, or TC as we call it in Victoria, Australia, was built to accommodate 1,000 students. At the start of 2010, those numbers had dwindled down to just over 200. Peter Hutton took on the challenge of rebuilding the school, despite severe challenges. Today, you will get to hear the story of the past 7 years, and how Peter revolutionized one school by testing assumptions and changing the way they thought about education. TC desperately needed a new brand and a new vision. Peter was longing to see how a school could actually nurture their students while also instilling in them the skills and knowledge they will need to succeed in life. Peter will describe for you today how those logistics play out for TC students today. We will also discuss how the students, parents, and staff have all responded to the changes over the past 7 years. TC is producing committed, happy students with impressive work ethic and a thirst for learning. Peter claims that culture was built from … [Read more...]
Modern Learners Podcast #35 – The Answer to How is Yes
Today’s show is another one of the “thought exercise” episodes, so get ready for your thinking to be challenged! We’re discussing a book that came out about 20 years ago, The Answer to How is Yes, by Peter Block. This book twists the way we think about how change happens and explores the relationship between HOW and WHY regarding the work we do in schools. Most often, we go for predictability and control rather than risk anxiety and adventure in pursuing our educational goals. Block explains how we look for external validation of our work instead of defining ourselves by what WE say matters. So, the bottom line may be to define what really matters to us in education. We are taking a brief look at a brand-new book, The Case Against Education, by Bryan Caplan. He states that we need LESS education, not more. His premise is that our educational system wastes much time and energy, teaching skills that don’t really help students in real life. The answer, according to Caplan, is to offer … [Read more...]
Modern Learners Podcast #34: Are We Doing the Right Thing in Schools?
In today’s conversation, we take a deep dive into a recent article in The Guardian by Cathy Davidson, a professor at City University of New York. Cathy says we have to “reverse the outcome-oriented educational monster we have unleashed . . .” We also are discussing Peter Gray’s article in Psychology Today, “The Joy and Sorrow of Re-reading John Holt’s How Children Learn”. In considering these articles, we step deeper and ask the question, “Are we doing the right thing in schools to begin with?” In higher education, we keep doing more of the same, but aren’t we just creating robots in classrooms? We are critical of students’ skill sets, but what are we doing to prepare them for the real world? Do we value the skills that children learn outside of school? Do we allow them to create with technology? We have to take an honest look at these questions and more about what we are doing in schools because we can’t assume that change in schools is coming in the future. Sadly, the bottom line … [Read more...]
Modern Learners Podcast #33: Mastery Transcripts to Replace Grades?
Scott Looney talks to us about grades We are thinking outside the box today about the foundational elements of grades and high school transcripts in the US educational system. Scott Looney is the Headmaster at the Hawken School in Cleveland, Ohio, and the founder of the Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC). He discusses his attempt to get schools together and on board with a totally different way of assessing what kids do in school and how they achieve. He uses a transcript that has no numbers, but is all about competency-based achievements. Mastery Transcript Consortium Goal Scott explains what MTC is all about and how it came to be. The goal is the mastery of real-world problem-solving skills and the development of assessments based on competency and proficiency, all driven by the interests, abilities, and individual strengths of each student. Scott calls the traditional high school transcript model “a broken instrument that’s only grown more corrupt.” Colleges are … [Read more...]
Modern Learners Podcast #28: Rethinking Math Class With Conrad Wolfram
Why is the current state of math education not suited for the modern world of computers and phones and other devices? That's the bigger question that Conrad Wolfram answers in our 28th Modern Learners podcast. Bruce and the founder of the amazing Wolfram Alpha have a wide ranging conversation around the state of current math instruction, the impact of technology on learning, and what we need to do to move in a more relevant, engaging direction for our students. Some of the highlights from the conversation: Wolfram talks about the four parts of using math in real life: Define the problem Can we turn it into a symbolic representation? Take the question to an answer What does it mean? Is that right? He points out that Step 3 is where technology can be most useful, yet we spend 80% of our math time in schools on that step by teaching hand calculating. Instead, he says, we should be focused on steps 1, 2, and 4 which are what people really need to be good at … [Read more...]