Learning Space

So we began work on the new PK Yonge today.  It will be interesting to say the least.  I'm ready to build this thing!   There will definitely be some work to be done, though.  It is a scary thing to envision something that isn't.  It isn't like we are just plopping down a new configuration of an old floor plan.  We are completely redesigning what it means to be at school. 

Of course, none of this is new.  One of the quotes that Prakash (Nair...the lead President of Fielding Nair International) shared with us tonight was from John Dewey - "Schools should not be about preparation for life, the should be about life itself."  I really think this is right on the money.  One of the analogies used was that of a "committed sardine".  Apparently, scientists have done research on how humongous schools of sardines are able to turn so quickly.  What they found is that it is not really all that quick.  There are always some sardines swimming against the rest.  Those around them start to turn.  Eventually, when there is a critical mass, they all turn.  John Dewey was the first sardine to start swimming the other way.  Prakash feels that we are about to hit critical mass where all the sardines are about to turn.

One of the ways he helps people see that they are ready for the change is by showing them what they already believe about life, their own health and well-being, and what we say we want our schools to accomplish.  When we really look at this, it becomes completely obvious that how we design our schools does not accomplish this mission.

One of the other quotes he shared which hit home for me is from David Orr:

The goal of education is not mastery of a subject, but mastery of one's self.

It is a myth that we can adequately restore in life that which we have dismantled in school.

This are the kinds of thoughts I have behind my paradigm in my classroom.  I really want to be teaching these kids what it means to be in the world, not just in school.

It doesn't appear that you can post a youtube video inside of a blog, so I am putting two links to some youtube videos that I think probe a lot of this kind of stuff and really make you think about what we are trying to prepare students for.

Shift Happens - this is a video we watched in a faculty meeting last Spring.  This version has been update.  I think the question at the end is really good.

Students Today - this one came up as a related video when I searched for the other one.  I think it has some other good points.  The two videos are complimentary.

Also, here is the Fielding Nair International website.  You can see the kinds of schools they design.