RattleBag and Rhubarb, The Sex Wars

Progress is a Myth: We Live in Regressive Times

I’ve chuntered about progress as a myth for years now. Mostly – it has to be said – out of a contrarian instinct not to get caught up in the mainstream notion of things are always getting better – when clearly – some things certainly are not. But it’s not something I’ve really given a lot of thought to or…

Continue Reading

RattleBag and Rhubarb

What if…? Part two.

This is second half of  the #Educon inspired What if?  conversations recording the jotted notes of  faculty and staff sharing and learning from last Friday. The first question and our responses are here. The second question was: 2). What if students were able to choose what demonstrations of learning they shared with the public and/or their parents? And the responses: Own choice…

Continue Reading

Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Baby, bathwater, freshwater

Joe Bower teaches in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. And he is on a personal mission. His blog For the Love of Learning takes on the traditional model of education and challenges its assumptions and practices. His latest post is a passionate call for action for educators everywhere. It opens with Ken Robinson’s latest TEDTalk (see below). It’s a follow up…

Continue Reading

Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

“The death of education as we know it may be the birth of learning as we need it”

I’m more than a bit late with my NAIS annual conference round up but then …excuses, excuses…what with returning to Poughkeepsie with a rotten cold,  the remaining effects of a  mega storm that closed school for three days (ably dealt with by Steve Mallet and the division heads) and then all the catching up…. So – a few random and…

Continue Reading

RattleBag and Rhubarb

Turning Learning Right Side Up

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth learning can be taught. — Oscar Wilde Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track – is the title of a book Russell L. Ackoff and Daniel Greenberg Read this extract The Objective of Education Is Learning, Not…

Continue Reading