Education Re-Imagined
This page is a composite of the notes I gathered from the presentation by Elliot Washor who together with Dennis Lipskey is the founder of the Big Picture Company, which started the Met School, a model for innovative education that is reaching out across the country and finding success for students, parents, schools and communities. The Met school model is the foundation of the High Schools New Face Conferences, held in Ellicottville, NY. Please reference posts on High Schools New Face. The presentation, Edcuation Re-Imagined occurred in Allegheny, NY, Tuesday Nov. 27, 2007 and was sponsored by the Cattaraugus-Allegheny BOCES. I represented Erie 2 CC Boces on behalf of Danielle O’Connor, Director of Alternative and Special Education.
We are educating students in a climate of uncertainty. Question that was posed to a scientist “Should we send a manned flight to Mars?” The answer: If you know what you are looking for send a computer; if you do not know what you are looking for send man. Humans are wired for uncertainty. Students know the difference between fake and real. We cannot separate tools from language. Schools do both with ineffective results.
If you ask astronauts who the most important person on the flight is they will reply – the handyman, the mechanic, the one who can work with his hands and head.
Disconnected Youth.
Performance – That’s not me. Cap Gras Syndrome – The Impostor. Real or Fake. There’s no juice in the work anymore.
The above is in reference to the fact that there is little capacity in the present educational system, to really connect students to families, the greater community and to themselves.
Quantitative literacy – Disengagement. 56% of students won’t do math. 54% cannot do math.
Eg. of Seymour Saranson. Schools are bad at Fast growth. Bad at going from the Center to the Periphery. Can’t cover the waterfront. ref. to Gates Foundation and the ties to the MET.
Hand and Mind Dichotomy. Hand informs mind and mind informs hand.
Education strives to relate Relevance, Rigor and Relationships. The Met model involves at its core an Advisor. The teacher is a crew leader. Mentors exist both in the school and in the workplace. 2 students from the Bronx Guild School. One is currently working with Mike Ecko, designer with his own company, started with clothes now Nissan designer, and the other is attached to a legal firm working with a criminal and a general lawyer.
I, THOU, IT. I- student, THOU-teacher, IT-object of learning. Three points of instructional relationship.
Intelligence – smart (knowledge) in context. Ref. Jay Leno Quizzes
Effective Strategies: Do and Know- Make and Know. Eg. Meccano Game Bill Gates – Microsoft, Mike Ecko – investor of Facebook , Michael Dell – Dell computers all left school to become very successful in the world of invention. Practice to Concept. Jerome Brunner and the 4 elements of the Narrative. Agent and goal.
If you are industrial rather than artisanal:
What is/are your edge to middle changes? What data are you going to collect? How does your staff learn from one another? “Common sense is a curious name for something so rate” – Mark Twain.
Big Picture Schools focus on Learning Interests of Students, incorporate Real World Projects and define Success by providing certificates and credentials.
Example of students who are disengaged. Joke told to Elliot Washor by 5 year old Irish Boy. Who keeps talking when everyone else has stopped listening? the teacher.
TACIT – interests. Kyle Lograsso. Golf prodigy. No experience with game or through family exposure. blind in one eye. Kyle Kirchbaum – 12 year old from Michigan Vacuum cleaner savant. JayBird – cello player at 2 yrs old. Now 15, quoted as being the most amazing musical composer since Mozart, now @ NY Conservatory.
Schools should consider cost per graduation rather than cost per pupil. As teachers how much time do we spend watching how students learn. LTI- Learning through Interests. Learning through Internships.
Efficacy, Variation – writing IEPs for all students , Novelty, Innovation – Artisanal, Improvisation.
Discussion/Possibilities. Small classes based on interest or need. One student at a time in the context of community. Heuristic behavior.
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