Childhood is another country: they do things differently there.* Great researchers and thinkers about education (think Froebel, Piaget, Vygotsky and so many others) have always known that children are not miniature adults. Their work demonstrates basic truths about childhood development: While growth can be encouraged, supported and enriched, the essential developmental milestones and timetable for … Read more
I rewrote Seth Godin’s blog entry for today: Organizing for joy. I hope he doesn’t mind. The word “joy” made it irresistible. Traditional schools, particularly large-scale high schools, are organized for efficiency. Or consistency. But not joy. Traditional schools crank it out. Students show up. They pay attention. They get grades and awards to measure … Read more
Prior to the industrialization of education, the education model was centered around a single-room school house consisting of one teacher with many students throughout many grades. The teacher was a facilitator of an instructional design that had students teaching each other. The younger students benefited from the knowledge of the older students and the older … Read more
100% of PDS high school students agreed with all of these statements on the HSSSE : I feel safe in this school I am treated fairly in this school There is at least one adult in this school who cares about me I feel supported by the teachers in this school Adults in this school … Read more
This is the second post reporting on the results of the survey we administered at PDS last spring: The High School Survey of Student Engagement. The HSSSE has 34 main questions across key dimensions of school life and many are broken out in subsets making for many scores of questions in total. Number 35 allows … Read more
A colleague from a neighboring school has sent the following link from the New York Times. It’s a cautionary tale of just how much can go wrong when the political focus is test scores and not learning. On New York School Tests, Warning Signs Ignored. When New York State made its standardized English and math … Read more
We need a broader vision of success. We believe that real success results from attention to the basic developmental needs of children and a valuing of different types of skills and abilities. We support parents and schools who are willing to set the bar high for children, and who understand that real success encompasses: Character … Read more
A PATH TO COLLEGE, CAREER AND CIVIC SUCCESS Talents, when revealed, need to be celebrated. Challenges, when discovered, need to be addressed. Problems, when they arise, need to be solved. This is never so true as when we are talking about our children — their health, their growth, their education and their development. It is … Read more
The coffee houses of the Enlightenment; the Paris salons of Modernism – two examples of the spaces conducive to innovation and new ideas. Here’s Steven Johnson on how good ideas happen to good minds and how they are incubated over time and in spaces where intellectual diversity thrives and connection happens. Could classrooms be like … Read more
From the NYTimes Scientifically tested tests …there are few indications that the multiple-choice format of a typical test, in which students are quizzed on the specific formulas and bits of information they have memorized that year, actually measures what we need to know about children’s education. Susan Engel was also on The Academic Minute on … Read more
…what children want to learn to do.” Take a look at this from Sugata Mitra. There are some really important lessons here. Which one resonates with you?
The PDS faculty took The Marshmallow Challenge this morning. Using 20 pieces of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string and a marshmallow: Build the highest freestanding structure with the marshmallow on top. Time allowed: 18 minutes Here’s a glimpse of what happened: Here’s the background to the project:
This video was produced by the New Brunswick, Canada, Department of Education. It reflects their thinking about our rapidly changing world, the future of education and the needs of their students. At PDS we are always thinking about our students and how to serve them best. As you watch the film – what are your … Read more
Part two of: The Age of Bricolage: School in the Change Blender: Technology is always disruptive: Think of the introduction of the printing press, or the combine harvester, or the typewriter. Think of the mechanical looms and the factory system of the industrial revolution that destroyed a way of life for cottage industry weavers. Some … Read more
When everything around is changing so rapidly that it feels like living inside a blender on high speed, habits and traditions can be comforting. As the year rolls along in any school there are the dates on the calendar – love them or dread them, those ceremonies, and celebrations – that are familiar, anticipated and … Read more