a view from the back row

The winter weather has plumeted  Swan River and the surrounding area into a deep freeze.  This morning it read -38 degrees on the outside thermometer and
-40 degrees in the truck, with the windchill it was -46.  C-O-L-D !   The buses aren’t running and I think I started the day with 6 students in my homeroom class.  So what are we doing at school?  “Study hall” for catch up work, extra gym time, reading, technology sessions, movies….what could be better?  For those of you checking this from where you are, what are you doing with your winter weather day?

Tags: 4Fun

“I think for most people, school is still seen as the (THE?) place where kids go to learn. I know that’s the way it was for me. Yeah, there was a lot of informal learning that took place on the playground, on Main Street, in the back of cars, etc. But the “real” learning, the important stuff happened at school. It was the center of learning in my life, though I never called it that, per se. But I know that’s how my mom saw it. You went to school to learn because that’s where the knowledge was. And if the teachers at the school were good, they helped you understand why that knowledge was important. And that “vision” worked pretty well for a lot of years. It was pretty easy and consistent.

Problem now is, it’s not working any longer. School isn’t the only place where the knowledge is. Knowledge is everywhere. You don’t have to go to school to get it. And now, because knowledge isn’t stuck to a time and a place any longer, knowledge is contextual. It’s not one size fits all. The whole idea that 30 kids in a classroom need to learn the same stuff at the same pace at the same time just makes no sense any longer. In this environment, we can’t keep thinking of schools as the center of knowledge and learning. Instead, we have to start thinking of schools as a part of a much richer tapestry of an individual’s learning and education. ”

By Will Richardson on The Shifts

Tags: 4Fun, ideas, learning, Technology

I am working hard getting your marks & comments together for your report cards.  It is a lengthy process, and as I am doing this, I wonder about how the students and parents are going to analyze the information.  What do report cards tell us?  What should they tell us?  What are your thoughts about report cards, do they tell you what you want to know?  Post your comments to the blog.

Tags: 4Fun, ideas