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Tag Archives: learner-centered education
The Joy of Learning
“Educating the mind without educating the heart, is no education at all.” ~Aristotle Fifteen years ago, George Bush introduced No Child Left Behind, which increased pressure on children and teachers, with nationwide standardized testing. President Obama promised to change that, but instead … Continue reading
The Skills Required by Work (Which Common Core Ignores)
“Students leaving school must be able to do more than read, write, and compute as measured by standard assessment instruments. They must be able to apply those skills in real-life, authentic performance situations… Textbook-based training alone is insufficient for effective … Continue reading
How Children Naturally Learn
In order for educational settings to be successful they need to be aligned with how children naturally learn. Children’s innate curiosity, enthusiasm, creativity, playfulness, individuality, imaginativeness, resourcefulness, social intelligence, and love of learning need to be respected and supported. See: Aligning Schools With How … Continue reading
The Mastery Process: How Our Skills Grow
“Skills and abilities only develop when knowledge is applied directly and used creatively in meaningful situations, not on multiple choice tests. This is as true for basketball and piano playing as it is for cooking, reading, karate, mathematics, parenting, democratic … Continue reading
Posted in Learner-centered education
Tagged Growth Mindset, learner-centered education, mastery
12 Comments
Common Core’s Education Snake Oil
Those who are trying to sell us Common Core say that they have designed a new system of standards that will be able to predict and ensure the future college and career success of American students. This is a lie, … Continue reading
Our Children are Creative by Nature
Children have a natural curiosity and creativity- and express it freely when young. They are able to learn new things rapidly, becoming proficient at communicating in their native language in their first five years. For a child the way of … Continue reading
Schools for Democracy – Deborah Meier
I’d like to share some insightful observations from one of the “real” pioneers in education reform, Deborah Meier. In this presentation she made in Chicago, from 2006, Dr. Meier talks about how most of America’s schools function as authoritarian institutions, where democracy and collaboration are neither practiced, … Continue reading
Posted in Learner-centered education
Tagged learner-centered education, school reform, whole child
13 Comments
The Real Agenda of “So-Called” Education Reform
“What if I told you that the hidden agenda of those controlling public education policy has actually been… to snuff out young people’s natural creativity, curiosity, independence, freedom of thinking and love of learning?” For a long time now, we’ve been told by our leaders and the media … Continue reading
Posted in education reform
Tagged education reform, learner-centered education, love of learning
20 Comments
Ken Robinson – How Schools Kill Creativity
“My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.” ~Ken Robinson The following are excerpts from a transcript of Ken Robinson’s TED talk from 2006, “How Schools Kill … Continue reading
Ken Robinson: Government “Standardization” Blocks Innovative Education Reform
“I never blame teachers or schools… But there is this deadly culture of standardizing, that’s being pushed on them, politically. My core message here is that we have to personalize education, not standardize it. That all children are different, and … Continue reading
Creative by Nature 