After typing my previous post, Beyond Portfolios, two days ago, imagine my delight today, as I’m reading What Would Google Do? byJeff Jarvis, to realize that he is saying many of the same things:
“Should we be forcing people to go through 18, 16, or even 12 years of school — trying to get them all to think the same way — before they make things?
…We may want to creative a preserve around youth — as Google does around its inventors — to nurture and challenge the young. What if we told students that, like Google engineers, they should take one day a week or one course a term or one year in college to create something: a company, a book, a song, a sculpture, an invention? School could act as an incubator, advising, pushing, and nurturing their ideas and effort. What would come of it? Great things and mediocre things. But it would force students to take greater responsibility for what they do and to break out of the straitjacket of uniformity. It would make them ask questions before they are told answers. It would reveal to them their own talents and needs. The skeptic will say that not every student is responsible enough or a self-starter. Perhaps. But how will we know students’ capabilities unless we put them in the position to try? And why structure education for everyone around the lowest denominator of the few?” (p. 212)
Obviously, I agree, and I particularly like the ideas found within the two sentences I bolded.
May 16, 2009 at 10:25 am |
I love this idea of beyond portfolios. Today’s students become more engaged in the learning process when they are given the opportunity to think, plan, and execute a meaningful project. Project based learning is very effective and it requires that the teacher or professor be willing to look at different learning styles or a student’s individual multiple intelligences. This type of think tank based classroom will also require access to many resources because we want to ensure that all students have the tools they need to execute their project plans.
Our classrooms need some serious makeovers and we need to consider restructuring the school day in order to facilitate more active learning and also for the development of learning partnerships.