"The Future Will Not be Multiple Choice"

TED Talk - "The Future Will Not be Multiple Choice"

This is a fascinating TED talk by a designer and educator about how we can make education more meaningful, relevant and powerful for our students.  As they point out, the opportunity for choice, investment, and problem-solving is inherently appealing to children, in a way that , for example, rote learning to be assessed by multiple-choice questions is not.  Here at Friends, we are constantly working to incorporate this approach to learning in our classrooms.  As the presenters in this talk point out, this is unquestionably the best way to prepare students for the world in which they will be living once they move on from our campus.  The traditional model of education was, they argue, developed to prepare children to work within the industrial-age system of its time.  New approaches such as the ones they describe foster in students the qualities will need to thrive in and shape the future.

The Relationship between Technology and Teaching

http://chronicle.com/article/Dont-Confuse-Technology-With/133551/

This thoughtful article from the Chronicle of Higher Education makes the important distinction between technology and teaching.  As the author says, "A set of podcasts is the 21st-century equivalent of a textbook, not the 21st-century equivalent of a teacher."  She goes on to equate educators with "coaches, personal trainers in intellectual fitness. The value we add to the media extravaganza is like the value the trainer adds to the gym or the coach adds to the equipment. We provide individualized instruction in how to evaluate and make use of information and ideas, teaching people how to think for themselves."

As we at Friends continue to embrace the ever-expanding technological developments in the field of education, we will need to keep this relationship between teaching and technology in optimal balance, for the good of our students.

The Flipped Classroom

This article from TechCrunch.com argues that, while the much-heralded launch of online access to Harvard and MIT's lectures and supporting materials is both positive and laudable, it misses the point.  Effective education, in this author's (and my own) opinion, takes place not through the passive absorption of instructors' words, but rather through students' active engagement in applying their knowledge, thinking critically, and solving problems.  This explains his excitement about the proposal by two Stanford professors to move to the "flipped classroom" model at Stanford Medical School.  For those who've never heard of this approach, it involves using existing or teacher-created materials (often online) as homework assignments to provide students with the kind of background information that is, in traditional classrooms, transmitted by lectures.  Having this information digitally rather than orally allows students to view and review it as often as they need to.  The greatest benefit of "flipping," though, is that students can then use class time to apply the knowledge they have gained from these sources, in collaboration with classmates, and with the supervision and feedback of their instructors.

Our teachers at Friends have begun to make use of this model to enhance their students' learning experiences, and it is sure to become even more prevalent in the years to come.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/09/move-over-harvard-and-mit-stanford-has-the-real-revolution-in-education/

Dr. Tony Wagner on the "Seven Survival Skills" for the 21st Century

http://bit.ly/HJ3Kzc

This YouTube video features Dr. Tony Wagner, author of The Global Achievement Gap, sharing and elaborating on the "survival skills" he outlines in that book.  The skills he enumerates bear important similarities to the qualities we've identified in the Teaching and Learning at Friends School paradigm http://bit.ly/oQ6dsJ that guides our program.  This video is 29 minutes well spent. http://bit.ly/HJ3Kzc

Study Proves that Students Benefit when Teachers Collaborate

The link below gives a brief overview of an important - if unsurprising - finding from researchers at Stanford University.  The article (also linked below), entitled "The Missing Link in School Reform," states that students gain when teachers are given the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from each other.  Close collaboration has always been part of the professional culture at Friends, but we are taking an important next step towards this goal by introducing 8 PLUSS days into the calendar for the 2012-2013 academic year.  On PLUSS (Professional Learning to Uphold Student Success) days, faculty will have 2 hours to collaborate in a variety of ways, all with the goal of enhancing student learning.  We'll share more about the plans for and results of these days in the future.

Overview - http://bit.ly/y5EqNd
Article from Stanford Social Innovation Review - http://bit.ly/wPgPqN

A Marvelous Animation about the (Never-Ending) Learning Process

If you haven't yet seen any of the "Born to Learn" animations that have appeared online, here is a great place to start.  http://vimeo.com/20924263

The thinking that, well, animates this video is at the heart of the evolving paradigm of teaching and learning at Friends.  The ongoing and accelerating breakthroughs in brain research have helped us to understand the learning process in new and exciting ways, and it is incumbent on all of us as educators to put these new understandings to work in our classrooms.  This is just one of the factors that makes this such an exciting time to be a teacher and a learner.

A Fine Overview of What We Mean by "21st Century Skills" - http://bit.ly/qFROP3

This article (from The Intelligencer in Wheeling, WV) nicely captures the essence of the somewhat elusive term "21st Century Skills." The goals and approach that the authors describe in this piece are very much in line with the work we've been doing in the classroom at Friends and through our Teaching and Learning Committee.  Authors such as Daniel Pink, in A Whole New Mind, Tony Wagner in The Global Achievement Gap, and Tom Friedman in That Used to Be Us have echoed the need that these authors describe for a different set of outcomes than traditional education has produced.  Our Teaching and Learning at Friends School paradigm ( http://bit.ly/oQ6dsJ ) is informed by the research and thinking found in these and other considerations of the way that our educational system will need to change in order to adapt to the world in which our students will live.

http://bit.ly/qFROP3

Some Articles on the Case Against AP

Below are links to some representative articles about the increasing movement in public and independent schools away from the AP program.  At Friends we are pleased and proud to have always remained independent from the AP program, because of our belief that that we could offer students a more powerful and productive educational experience than the constraints of AP classes mandate.  

NY Times Article - "Rethinking AP"

"Advancing Beyond AP" from the Chronicle of Higher Education 

Independent School Magazine - "Changing Course for the Better" 

Predictions for the Future of Education - http://bit.ly/nDhmdD

I found this article on the Getting Smart blog.  Its predictions are thought-provoking, and utterly within the realm of possibility, even likelihood.  Fundamental shifts in the educational landscape are happening, and the rate of change will only increase with time.  These are exciting days in our field and a willingness to explore and adapt are essential for any school that aspires - as we certainly do - to providing its students with world-class preparation for the lives they will lead.  Many of the changes predicted in this article are underway, in one form or another, at Friends, as our teachers expand their repertoires and reimagine their roles in the classroom.

http://bit.ly/nDhmdD

The Dawning of the "Flipped" Classroom

The link below is to an interesting article that appeared recently in The Boston Globe about the "flipped" classroom phenomenon.  This relatively new approach to education has the students doing the passive work of listening to an explanation of (in this instance) a math problem and formula at home, where they can rewatch the explanation as often as needed to understand the concept.  The application portion, where students are solving problems that require the use of the formula takes place in the classroom where the teacher can be of active assistance and can gauge how well the concept is sinking in for each child.  Khan Academy, which is mentioned in the article, is a major source for educational resources such as this, but by no means the only one.  We've begun to use the "flipped" approach here at Friends in some innovative and fruitful ways.

http://bo.st/rmiQ3U