Techno Constructivist

Twitter Book Club: Theodore R. Sizer (1984) Horace's Compromise - Part 2: The Program

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 18:17:00 +0000

Part 2: The Program

1. What High School Is

"Most Americans have an uncomplicated vision of what secondary education should be. Their conception of high school... http://tl.gd/bnfp7kless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The rhetoric of high school purpose has been uniform and consistent for decades...That agreement is convenient, bu... http://tl.gd/bnfs04less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Lets repeat that one again because it speaks to one of my pet peeves:

"The rhetoric of high school purpose has been uniform and consistent for decades...That agreement is convenient, but it masks the fact that virtually all the words in these goal statements beg definition...most leave the words undefined and let the momentum of traditional practice speak for itself." Sizer

This is why I think it is so important for schools to have deep meaningful and deliberate dialog about their purpose. This dialog needs to be ongoing and involve all parties: administrators, teachers, students, parents, community members, etc. Otherwise, tradition will dictate direction and we will go nowhere. It is how we have come this far without much true change in how we play the game of school. It is the fuel that drives Horace's Compromise.

"School is conceived of as the children's workplace, and it takes young people off parents' hands and out of the la... http://tl.gd/bnftculess than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"A high premium is placed on punctuality and on 'being where you're supposed to be.' Obviously, a low premium is pl... http://tl.gd/bnfv7dless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Obviously this also contributes to our current condition:

"A high premium is placed on punctuality and on 'being where you're supposed to be.' Obviously, a low premium is placed on reflection and response." Sizer

It's all about conditioning.

2. Purpose: Mind and Character

"Literacy means more than merely skills in decoding words. It means the ability to comprehend and to understand ide... http://tl.gd/bor382less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Compulsory attendance in an educational institution should cease when a young citizen demonstrates mastery of the ... http://tl.gd/bor770less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The key question is more often, 'What do we have to know for the test?' than 'What should we know?'" Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Just because the facts roll out, of course, does not mean that they are either understood or retained." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"It takes time to do things, to use them in order to know them. Purveying information takes a fraction of that time... http://tl.gd/born10less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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3. Skills: The Importance of Coaching

"An educated person knows the difference between observation and inference, and the uses of each...Sloppy people confuse the two." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The computer extends our memory to a wondrous degree." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Writing is not only an end in itself; it is a means by which a person can delve into his or her mind." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Nothing sets learning more firmly in our minds than its use." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Schools that always insist on the right answer, with no concern as to how a student reaches it, smother the studen... http://tl.gd/bpfo8pless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Schools that always insist on the right answer, with no concern as to how a student reaches it, smother the student's efforts to become an effective intuitive thinker." Sizer

Take note KIPP, Atlanta, Florida, Study Island, Arne Duncan, Michelle Rhee, and everyone else more concerned with the numbers than the process.

"Simply telling that person that he is wrong throws away the opportunity to engage him in questions about his logic and approach." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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4. Knowledge: Less Is More

"a course of study mandated as the result of decisions reached through special interest politics and unrelieved maj... http://tl.gd/bq2e5qless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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In this quote, the most interesting and important points are in the parentheses:

"a course of study mandated as the result of decisions reached through special interest politics and unrelieved majority rule—is both insensitive educationally (no one of us, including an adolescent, learns much from things that, forced on us, we resent) and un-American (the tradition of majority rights is an important aspect in American liberty)." Sizer

"No one learns much from things that, forced on us, we resent": Think about teacher professional development. How it seems a school can mandate all teachers to attend a training session then walk out and never implement a damned thing from that session. Perhaps Sizer's observation here has some evidence in PD. Perhaps it is also why I hear so many teachers say they hate tech training (or aren't given enough) at their school.

"most people want to be taken seriously and to enjoy the sweetness of success at something they believed they could... http://tl.gd/bq2hbdless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"teaching the fundamentals can be difficult, because their structure is often abstract." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Master plans for cities, states, and the nation that standardize instruction are certain to be inefficient: no one... http://tl.gd/bq2ktsless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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5. Understanding: The Importance of Questions

"Questioning is a far more difficult form of pedagogy for teachers than are coaching and telling, because it is the... http://tl.gd/bq2smlless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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6. Character: Decency

"it is difficult to find many schools today that both formally articulate decency as an aim and precisely outline h... http://tl.gd/bq30l0less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"I often started my own courses for high school seniors by telling them explicitly that my purpose was to make them... http://tl.gd/bq3292less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Lets all try this this fall:

"I often started my own courses for high school seniors by telling them explicitly that my purpose was to make them different, in effect to alter them." Sizer

"a wholly open mind is dangerous, and probably unattainable" Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Community 'values' usually boil down to pep rallies. We're number one. Fight, fight, fight." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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@anderscj you are pulling from all the ancient ones this summer - reincarnating voices of some lost to time - thank you-appreciating Sizerless than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet Replypammoran
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@pammoran I have wanted to read this one for a long time. So relevant. While he focuses on HS, so much of his wk applies to all levels.less than a minute ago via Twitterrific Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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@anderscj his perspective on compromise speaks 2 barriers we create at all levels- tcher 2 principal schls 2 district not just tchr-lrnerless than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet Replypammoran
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"The religious and, by extension, moral views of a well-organized minority (or majority) has substantial influence,... http://tl.gd/bq3ah4less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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7. Principals' Questions

"What counts are positive answers to three questions: Can graduates of this high school teach themselves? Are they ... http://tl.gd/bql3illess than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Lets repeat this one too. It is quite important, especially the first question in the list:

"What counts are positive answers to three questions: Can graduates of this high school teach themselves? Are they decent people? Can they effectively use the principal ways of looking at the world, ways represented by the major and traditional academic disciplines?" Sizer

"teachers must focus more on how kids think than what they think." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"there is no One Best Curriculum for all schools. While we all have to agree on some general outcomes that give mea... http://tl.gd/bql5crless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"tomorrow's economy will be volatile and dependent on flexible workers with a high level of intellectual skills. Th... http://tl.gd/bqlbbrless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Not sure anyone really heard Sizer on this one. Seems the same message Daniel Pink has been trying to resurrect. At least we have the P21 folks fighting for this.

"One learns how to learn by experience, not by being told things." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"While we should learn to employ the products of the new technologies, we should keep in mind two crucial points: i... http://tl.gd/bqlg6kless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"If we want our well-intentioned plans to succeed, we'll have to inspire the adolescents to join in them—inspire ev... http://tl.gd/bqlmslless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Twitter Book Club: Theodore R. Sizer (1984) Horace's Compromise - Part I: The Students

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:13:00 +0000

Part I: The Students

1. Five Adolescents

"We adults too easily talk of these adolescents as an undifferentiated blob of people, as a Client Group or an Age ... http://tl.gd/blks9bless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"We should expect them to learn more while being taught less. Their personal engagement with their own learning is ... http://tl.gd/blku4iless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Lets repeat that shall we:

"We should expect them to learn more while being taught less. Their personal engagement with their own learning is crucial: adults cannot 'give' them an education. Too much giving breeds docility, and the docility of students' minds is a widespread reality in American high schools." Sizer

This pretty much sums up the problem with our traditional banking method of education. The teacher's job is not so much to cover content but to create the environment for students to explore and discover content, and environment where they can learn. Sizer acutely points to the counter-intuitive impact too much "teaching" does. This also lies at the heart of the high-stakes testing dilemma. The greater the pressure to teach to the test the greater likelihood content will be covered through telling rather than authentic learning. Telling takes the work away from the student who needs the work in order to learn, a truth easier to see when the high-stakes testing foot is not grinding down on your neck.

2. Diversity

"Listen to how staff responds to parents on the school's telephones: those of wealthier children are likely to be p... http://tl.gd/bll2culess than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Children who grow up believing from their experience that their families—their worlds—will protect them have an ea... http://tl.gd/bll3meless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The hard fact is that if you are the child of low-income parents, the chances are good that you will receive limit... http://tl.gd/bll6ttless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"One leaves visits to dozens of American high schools with the clear feeling, however, that race is a fixation of a... http://tl.gd/bll9usless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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3. Commonality

"To the larger world, one is what one appears, whether six, sixteen, or sixty. When teachers say, 'Act your age,' t... http://tl.gd/bm8fhsless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Can an ungenerous and irresponsible adult culture long get away with preaching virtue to its young?" Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Nope. But, it seems in the current climate many adults don't even wish virtue to be preached to their young. The impression I get sends the opposite message:

Sorry about that. Couldn't help myself. Do you think these children made these signs? I see this sort of thing everywhere.

"The attitudes of parents and their expectations for their children are very powerful influences indeed, far more p... http://tl.gd/bm8pqsless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"We should show them respect by expecting much of them and by being straight—and part of being straight is telling ... http://tl.gd/bm8rroless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"One cannot shield an adolescent from all risk and hurt; to do so would be to deny that young person the essential ... http://tl.gd/bm8stfless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"There is no more difficult teaching job than that of helping an adolescent into adulthood. Few jobs are more thank... http://tl.gd/bm8tmjless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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5. Incentives

"If a school awarded the diploma whenever a student reached the agreed-on level of mastery at the completion of a s... http://tl.gd/bmrsksless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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It seem like more schools are going this route now with standards-based assessments.

"Credit-counting may be financially cheap; educationally, it is very costly." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Get a person to believe in himself and give him a powerful incentive to learn, and the results can be striking." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"A school which assumes that students will respond to challenge, rather than shrink from it, will be effective." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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I couldn't agree more with these last two quotes. I hate when I am working with a group of teachers and hear things like, "My kids could never do that," or "You should see the kids I work with, they could never..." Always a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"None of us learns what we think we can't learn." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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And, if teachers believe their students can't, then they will send that message to the kids. Chances are most of them will believe it.

"Almost no school that I've seen gives mastery more prominence than it gives its routines." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Very few high schools ever give their students a clear long-term academic goal and an equally clear signal that it... http://tl.gd/bms585less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"We teachers are too nice: we test the kids, and take the blame if they fail." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Twitter Book Club: Aldous Huxley (1932) Brave New World

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 01:50:00 +0000

I don't normally read novels for Twitter Book Club, I usually read education related books. In fact, the only other non-education text I've read for TBC so far was E. M. Forster's (1909) The Machine Stops.

Both Brave New World and The Machine Stops are distopian visions of our future and somewhat similar. Where Forster feared future man would place their faith in a grand machine, Huxley feared we would place our faith in industrialized production and consumption. Both stories have great relevance for education and both seem to be looking on our time (or our near future time) saying "I told you so." I highly encourage you to read Brave New World through the lens of what we are doing to public education today with common core curriculum, mood and behavior altering drugs, mindless entertainment, glorification of ignorance (both in entertainment and in politics), tracking students by age and ability, the roles of science & religion in education, etc.

This book didn't lend itself very well to my normal TBC method. There really were not very many quotable quotes. Most of the best stuff in this novel is situational and not very well represented in 140 characters (even with Twitlonger). Therefore, I've abandoned my normal routine of archiving by chapter. What follows are the few tweetable passages that really grabbed my attention:

"For particulars, as everyone knows, make for virtue and happiness; generalities are intellectually necessary evils." Huxleyless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Major instruments of social stability...Standard men and women; in uniform batches." Huxleyless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Isn't this what lies at the heart of the Common Core movement? Social stability by creating standard men and women? Of course, to have this view you must also see students as "adults in training" and the purpose of education as preparation for the future, not preparation for the now.

"All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny." Huxleyless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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This is exactly the problem I have with programs like Project Lead The Way. While I am a huge supporter of project-based learning, PLTW is kind of like the fast food version of PBL, what Gary Stager refers to as Ed Reform TM. While on one hand, PLTW is helping to introduce more constructivist pedagogies in places where they are not as likely to be tried, it does so in a very watered-down fashion. It also does so for reasons that completely echo this quote from Huxley. If you aren't familiar with PLTW, it is a scripted STEM curriculum written and funded by corporations for the explicitly stated purpose of getting young people excited about careers that these corporations project will be in high need in the near future. While student needs and corporate needs can sometimes be in conjunction they can also sometimes be in opposition. Either way, this kind of curriculum can only be described as conditioning. You have to ask yourself, is this OK?

"Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're frightfully clever. I'm really awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are so much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse." Huxley

This passage from Brave New World reminds me of this article I read this week http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/jul/25/secondary-school-streaming

"when you're not accustomed to history, most facts about the past do sound incredible." Huxleyless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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It is amazing how soon we seem to forget our past, even our recent past. That is why we need people like Ira Socol and Diane Ravitch. We need to be constantly reminded of our past and view present and future endeavors through a historical lens. I know it's a cliche but that doesn't make it any less true that, "Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it."

"Words can be like X-rays, if you use them properly—they'll go through anything." Huxleyless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"what would it be like if I could, if I were free—not enslaved by my conditioning." Huxleyless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The greater a man's talents, the greater his power to lead astray. It is better that one should suffer than that m... http://tl.gd/c5h4jhless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"You've got to choose between happiness and what people call high art. We've sacrificed high art. We have the feeli... http://tl.gd/c70ae4less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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It seems like this is a decision we are in the process of making for ourselves today. How much have the fine arts declined in our schools? How much have the fine arts moved to be something for the elite?

"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery." Huxleyless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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This idea really struck a cord with me. I've been thinking about it all day. I'm not sure actual happiness was what Huxley meant here, I think contentment seems like a better fit.

"we have our stability to think of. We don't want to change. Every change is a menace to stability. That's another ... http://tl.gd/c70jsvless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them. Finding bad reasons for what one believes fo... http://tl.gd/c7mdqcless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Getting rid of everything unpleasant instead of learning to put up with it. Whether 'tis better in mind to suffer ... http://tl.gd/c7mn5aless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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This reminds me of this TED Talk about "filter bubbles:"

Our Brave New World

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:36:00 +0000

Inspired by the countless references by Neil Postman and others I have decided to read Huxley's (1932) Brave New World. I've actually become quite obsessed with it these past few days and have gone so far as to watch both movie versions of the book. The older one, which I believe was originally a 1980 mini series, is probably closer to the book although neither stays completely true to Huxley's text. One scene from the film struck me as quite powerful, more so than it did in the text:

"Recent implies past. Improvement implies progress. And if the present is perfect then there cannot be any progress."

"Of Course."

"And even the word why--why, that's the most dangerous of all. It raises the whole question of purpose."

Does this sound familiar? Prescribed training sessions? Scripted lessons? Society which holds consumption up as the ultimate virtue? This is indeed where we are headed in this country if we let our current education policies run their course. In the book, the future "Other Place" is a place which has eradicated art, history, family, and emotion and replaced it with standardized people who serve one purpose, to drive the economy through consumption; and in so doing endlessly indulge themselves in an orgy of shallow pleasures. Isn't this the kind of values and ethic portrayed to us on television, in the movies, and on billboard advertisements. Have you watched much television lately? To what purpose is this reality TV but to condition people into thinking there is a different norm to which they ought to aspire to?

It is good to buy things:

It is bad to keep them:

So, it is better to just clean house and throw it away:

And it is cool to be promiscuous, uneducated, and just endlessly party:

I mean, don't those kids look happy? And to boot, they are all famous. They didn't get an education, what a waste of time. No, they are revered because they are good consumers and completely self-indulgent.

Besides, education will only bring you misery. Just look at how teachers are treated. Teachers have education and they don't get paid very much and are continuously being degraded. And besides, the news tells us that most teachers are ineffective and grossly overpaid for their work. No one likes that. Nope, you are better off trying to become famous like Snookie or the Situation and spend all your time having fun.

As for being original and creative, that's overrated and unnecessary because now we have talent shows and karaoke. Places where original work is not valued (skip to 0 min 47 sec):

or to put it more elaborately:

I think Huxley had us pegged.

In the book, the character Bernard Marx makes this statement, "what would it be like if I could, if I were free—not enslaved by my conditioning."

We should ask that of ourselves as well. First, we must become aware of our own conditioning (not an easy feat). Then, we must have the capacity to imagine life differently. But then, if we reject our conditioning we risk banishment, don't we?

Any ideas on how to do this?

SOLEs for Adults

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:42:00 +0000

It seems pretty clear that what kids need for learning and what schools can provide are often at odds with each other. Ted Sizer calls this Horace's Compromise. It is at the heart of the difference between what we call learning and what we call schooling. It is the source of frustration behind much of what is driving this weekend's #SOSmarch in Washington DC. It is also why I believe many good teachers leave the classroom. This compromise creates a barrier between the educator and the child development psychologist. It is also why I believe the work of Dr. Sugata Mitra is so captivating right now. What he is doing in Gateshead ought to be a wakeup call to all sleeping constructivists that we can still fight this fight. Perhaps we can reject this compromise.

The video above is a longer version of the talk Dr. Mitra gave at TED. In this video there is a Q&A after Mitra's talk where the question is asked, "Can this method (SOLEs) be used with adults?" to which Mitra replies that he thinks it can but it will be difficult because adults have the "problem of the ego." Being a technology integration specialist tasked with teacher professional development this dilemma is incredibly interesting to me. First, Mitra's methods are ones I want to promote with teachers. Teachers, who according to this "Ego" problem can't experience learning the way the children in the SOLEs are nor did they experience it in their own schooling, Horace's Compromise prevented that. Second, I want to find the same kinds of results with adults I work with that Mitra finds with the children he works with. Kind of a dilemma on two fronts.

Then today I read this article in the Huffington Post that Stephen Downes wrote last December that got me rethinking some things. Downes describes 23+ roles of the teacher and reflects upon what he has observed through all of his involvement participating in, designing, and studying online learning in various forms over the years. He proposes an interesting theory about what a student needs with regard to the role of the teacher(s). Rather than classify teachers according to subject areas, he classifies them according to the nature of their teacher-student interactions. He says that right now we are expecting all teachers to perform all of these roles but when you study learning environments that are essentially self-organized teachers tend to specialize in only one area.

When I read this article I started to think about Mitra's self-organizing learning environments. A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is a self-organizing learning environment and a PLN (or PLE) is the primary source of Downes' observation about role selection in the learning environment. This completely overlaps with Mitra's work on SOLEs. Mitra's method in many ways relieves the teacher from needing to play all of these roles by sourcing some to the Granny Cloud and others to the students through their peer-teaching. Then it struck me: Edcamp, Edubloggercon, and other unconference formats as well as organized online PD events that utilize the networks people have created for professional learning to add value such as #edchat, the Reform Symposium, or the K12 Online Conference act as SOLEs for adults. This works only when we apply Downes' roles theory to Mitra's SOLEs.

Downes proposes that we need to start thinking about education along these lines of redefined roles for educators. Mitra has defined one possible redefinition for the future education of children as SOLEs and SOMEs. Maybe we should call the future education of adults ROLEs and SOLEs.

Overcoming attitudinal, organizational, and knowledge barriers. #edcampmn

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:40:00 +0000

Earlier this month I had the great pleasure of hosting #edcampmn Minnesota at Hamline University. I felt the day went very well. People were engaged and eager to participate. In fact, we had a total of 41 session proposals for people to vote on. Unfortunately, we only had room for fourteen of them. Also, unfortunately, my hosting duties kept me from attending all the sessions I wanted to go to.

One session I wish I had been able to attend at but couldn't was, "Overcoming attitudinal, organizational, and knowledge barriers." Unfortunately it is also one session that doesn't have any notes. I hear this topic come up a lot when I attend conferences, read blogs, read my Twitter stream, listen to educational podcasts, etc. but something always seems missing. It seems there is great momentum to change education and these barriers are easily defined. In fact, it seems like when this topic comes up, 95% of what gets discussed involves identifying the barriers. But, what is less clear is what they are barriers to. I am really curious how people in my PLN and readers of this blog define this. What do you see as the end goal? When we talk about barriers to change, what are they barriers to?

Twitter Book Club: Deborah Meier (2002) In Schools We Trust - Part Three Chapter 10

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:23:00 +0000

10. Democracy and Public Education

"The teacherly instinct is also at times the dictator's instinct—to make everyone be like me." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"We need to accept the public responsibility of seeing all our children as our common responsibility, while at the ... http://tl.gd/bl35idless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"It is in schools that we learn the art of living together as citizens, and it is in public schools that we are obl... http://tl.gd/bl35kcless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Twitter Book Club: Deborah Meier (2002) In Schools We Trust - Part Three Chapter 9

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:20:00 +0000

Part Three: A Broader Vision

9. Scaling Up: Stacking the Odds in Favor of the Best

"The current bureaucratic ideal is a machine, not a messy human invention—the bigger, more centralized and more rul... http://tl.gd/bkdru1less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"In fact, there is remarkable consensus about what the major features of good schools are, and they clearly don't m... http://tl.gd/bkdt4cless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The schools that work best are small...think of themselves as self-governing...[and] are places of choice. They fe... http://tl.gd/bkduk8less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"the very idea that people can take a large existing traditional high school and successfully refashion it into sma... http://tl.gd/bke3orless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Smallness creates self-knowledge, self-governance allows for a range of voices now often missing, and choice permi... http://tl.gd/bke6b5less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

Twitter Book Club: Deborah Meier (2002) In Schools We Trust - Part Two Chapter 8

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:13:00 +0000

8. The Achievement Gap

"The gap between social classes is today somehow a somewhat more comfortable one for many Americans to accept than ... http://tl.gd/bjp3rvless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"the economic gap is rarely regarded as a serious concern for reformers and politicians." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Until the experiences of home and school were made more continuous and natural, and parents had reason to trust th... http://tl.gd/bjpatqless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"There are children who arrive in school unsure of what the routines are for being good and bad, and thus they retr... http://tl.gd/bjpdoiless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Schools tell kids what they value and treasure, and what it is they don't, in ways they do and don't intend." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"(1) the tests aren't measuring what we think they are, and (2) as long as we focus our attention on that one gap, ... http://tl.gd/bjpmqqless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"the test score gap is one we've invented, and could uninvent." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"As long as tests must rank students, it is naive to imagine they are going to rank on criteria that won't give the... http://tl.gd/bjpp7tless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"As long as tests must rank students, it is naive to imagine they are going to rank on criteria that won't give the current 'haves' advantages over 'have nots'" Meier

"Kids who score poorly, whole communities of them, are given a less demanding education. They spend more tine on re... http://tl.gd/bjps1jless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Kids who score poorly, whole communities of them, are given a less demanding education. They spend more tine on remedial tasks, are taught in a more rote fashion, and are far more likely to be held over in grade, an experience that itself depresses their academic achievement and increases the gap in white and black graduation rates." Meier

"High test scores, whatever they might predict, are unable to predict teamwork abilities, perseverance, risk taking... http://tl.gd/bjptnnless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"I'll believe money doesn't count the day that the rich stop spending so much money on their own children." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

I'm waiting to see that day too.

Twitter Book Club: Deborah Meier (2002) In Schools We Trust - Part Two Chapter 7

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:06:00 +0000

7. Standardization versus Standards

"But the trouble is that such measures, while they spot where there's trouble, don't at the same time solve the tro... http://tl.gd/bicig5less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"The popular new drive to hold schools and school reform accountable to test scores has many appeals. It's built ar... http://tl.gd/bicl1qless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"These tests are intended to show whether teachers and kids are doing their prescribed jobs: teachers teaching to t... http://tl.gd/bicomeless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Reading the California art standards for kindergarten, one is inclined to think that test makers had in mind the s... http://tl.gd/bicrsmless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"It is important to note that because the idea in many states is to at least appear more and more demanding, there ... http://tl.gd/bicvqrless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"While this new breed of tests is remarkably similar to the old one, we are no longer warned against teaching to th... http://tl.gd/bid94eless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Some districts mandate scripted lessons only for low-performing schools. This system makes it easier to standardiz... http://tl.gd/bidbp5less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

And herein lies the key reason why NCLB does exactly the opposite of what it is designed to do.

"Some districts mandate scripted lessons only for low-performing schools. This system makes it easier to standardize the textbooks used (ones that conform to the state's frameworks) and the preparatory material to order (testing companies now have both hard copy and on-line material for virtually every state test). And it simplifies as well the designing of teacher training." Meier

"unless tests are devised for all subject areas, everything not being tested—like music, dance, the visual arts—is ... http://tl.gd/bidd54less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"unless tests are devised for all subject areas, everything not being tested—like music, dance, the visual arts—is driven out of the curriculum." Meier

And in many places they have been driven out.

" Even before the standards movement attacked so-called social promotion, half the young black men in America were ... http://tl.gd/bidgg0less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"It may be that the implicit degeneration of the common sense human judgement of the adults in kid's lives will be,... http://tl.gd/bidi4dless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The art of good teaching begins when we can answer the questions our students are really trying to ask us, if only... http://tl.gd/bidma5less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"What worries me most is that in the name of objectivity and science—two worthy ideas—the testing enterprise has le... http://tl.gd/bidqdoless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

@DebMeier reading your book 'In Schools We Trust.' Your words resonate with me on so many levels. Wish you would Tweet more.less than a minute ago via Twitterrific Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

Twitter Book Club: Deborah Meier (2002) In Schools We Trust - Part Two Chapter 6

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:59:00 +0000

Part Two: Testing and Trust

6. Why Tests Don't Test What We Think They Do

"the increasing use of standardized tests both undermines achievement and increases the distrust we have for teache... http://tl.gd/bgfdlpless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"What if—in addition —what is being measured on reading and math tests (or any of many other standardized achieveme... http://tl.gd/bgfj89less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"[IQ tests] depend upon a consensus about what is reasonably part of every testee's culture and prior understanding... http://tl.gd/bgfp0hless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Demanding that more kids get higher scores on standardized tests—be they IQ tests or achievement tests—is, under t... http://tl.gd/bgfu7kless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"By design, 50 percent of the students' scores will fall below the median—and 50 percent above." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Isn't it amazing that we have for nearly a half century been promoting a way of measuring school success with an i... http://tl.gd/bgg1o3less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"standardized tests are utterly counterproductive for the educational purpose of seeing what kids have learned in s... http://tl.gd/bgg2fdless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"These are tests designed to sort people, not to evaluate how well the teacher has taught or how well the students ... http://tl.gd/bggc66less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Test reliability requires a fairly clear preconceived idea about who the good students are—those likely, all else ... http://tl.gd/bhnnmaless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"At any age, being outside the culture the test is designed to tap imposes a handicap." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"If all testees responded the same way, the question would be a bad item; if the 'wrong' people got it right, that ... http://tl.gd/bhnu1jless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"For children, as for adults, not knowing what others take for granted is embarrassing, and silencing." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"To organize schooling around tests is a blow to serious intellectual work; given that no particulars are likely to... http://tl.gd/bho657less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"If the tests are bad indicators, it follows that the pedagogy and curriculum designed to raise scores are bad peda... http://tl.gd/bho9s4less than a minute ago via Twittelator

"To be well educated is to become more sensitive to the kind of data we ought to trust, to how much reliability we ... http://tl.gd/bhod1gless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

Twitter Book Club: Deborah Meier (2002) In Schools We Trust - Part One Chapter 5

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:11:00 +0000

5. Trusting Each Other's Agendas and Intentions: The Dynamics of Race and Class

"When racial tensions combine with class distrust, their ferocity is terrible to behold" Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Empathy never requires that we actually be alike in every way; in fact, it is based on the assumption of difference." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

@anderscj like Meier's empathy quote ... is it about the challenge of being different from another but still understanding?less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet Replypammoran
pammoran

@pammoran exactly. This chapter is about race and class issues in the classroom.less than a minute ago via Twitterrific Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"what our students and families, and the public, need from us is not for us to overcome all our biases but for us t... http://tl.gd/bgeu9qless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"There's more danger in avoiding sensitive subjects than in occasionally making blunders." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"As Theresa Perry, a noted African American educator and author, noted in a talk she gave at Mission Hill, there ar... http://tl.gd/bgf6prless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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@anderscj After reading your excerpts. I need to read @DebMeier 's book "In Schools We Trust"less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyRobert Hunking
yesknowno

Twitter Book Club: Deborah Meier (2002) In Schools We Trust - Part One Chapter 4

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:50:00 +0000

4. Teachers Trusting Teachers

"it's not self-evident that trusting someone at the other end of a rope translates into trusting one's colleagues i... http://tl.gd/bf8d4lless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

Last fall, at the start of the school year, I was working for a school district going through some major changes including, among other things, administrative restructuring. Our superintendent planned and mandated one of these rope course retreats for our staff. I have to say that I agree with Meier on this one. I really don't think building trust among colleagues and among our new administration in these team-building exercises translated to building trust in the workplace.

"the kind of trust that fosters productive collegiality is critical not just to schools like ours, but to any schoo... http://tl.gd/bf8f7uless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

This kind of trust is something I have trouble with. I have had too many people I have worked with in the past, especially administrators, violate this trust. It has led me to often times be guarded in my interactions with colleagues. I suppose this is also one major reason I support teacher-professional partnerships. It certainly is a huge reason why I desire to have control over and ownership of my own career.

"Many teachers have been happy to work in isolation in part because it makes it easier to be supportive of each oth... http://tl.gd/bf8i71less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Since making sense of and dealing with differences is a central task of schooling—part of the meaning of being wel... http://tl.gd/bf8jelless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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@anderscj Re Meir - talking about abstractions, as he does much of the time, is much easier, cleaner, and neat than talking about specifics.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyDan McGuire
sabier

@sabier that is one beautiful thing about this book. She moves back and forth btwn abstraction & real experience. I'm just tweeting the abstless than a minute ago via Twitterrific Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Much as kids think it fair to hide their mistakes from their teachers, so too do most teachers hide theirs from th... http://tl.gd/bf8si6less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The ubiquitous public mission statements schools and districts now publish are generally bland and full of interch... http://tl.gd/bf9mmbless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The ubiquitous public mission statements schools and districts now publish are generally bland and full of interchangeable cliches for a good reason." Meier

This has become a huge pet-peeve of mine lately, especially since I have started this ongoing "purpose of school" project. My most dreaded question in job interviews has been the one most schools ask about their mission statement. You probably know this question. It is the one where they show you their mission statement and ask you to say what it is about that statement that catches your attention, that you most like, etc. I suppose in that context answering the question honestly has not boded well for my job prospects. I usually respond by asking how often staff at the school spend time reflecting on the mission statement and how much time they spend in meaningful dialog about what it really says. I always find about 4-6 words in these statements that have lost their meaning in their acquisition of "buzz-word" status. What do you mean by child-centered? What do you mean by life-long learner? What do you mean by 21st century? What do you mean by productive citizen? What do you mean by ...?

@anderscj @DebMeier... http://t.co/psisFOh ... To be remembered as we update ours this fall. http://t.co/8Cclq4b #AMDSBless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyRobert Hunking
yesknowno

"Schools that brag that they are a replica of a standardized model—one more McDonalds—are less able to powerfully i... http://tl.gd/bf9qtdless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The central purposes of schooling are deeply embedded in learning how to do exactly what it was we were struggling... http://tl.gd/bf9v8eless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Taking responsibility for oneself and one's ideas is not a bad shorthand definition of being well educated." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

Twitter Book Club: Deborah Meier (2002) In Schools We Trust - Part One Chapter 3

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:43:00 +0000

3. Parents and Schools

"openness to a family's questions and concerns—even about what makes us trustworthy—is a constituent part of being ... http://tl.gd/bf7gdaless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"I feel more, not less confident that being a 'difficult' patient is not such a bad thing...The same holds true gor... http://tl.gd/bf7gjvless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"some parents, with more time, expertise, and a sense of entitlement, will garner disproportionate resources for their kids." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Although many opposed the tests, some parents also feared for their children's futures in a society that would jud... http://tl.gd/bf7g2lless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

And so, we end up with the same conclusions Herb Kohl came to with/for his students:

"The children agreed to be dull for the sake of their future." Herb Kohl (1967) 36 Children

"Parental 'involvement,' in so many ways critical to good education, can, in other words, potentially increase existing inequities." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

A point Craig S. Watkins makes about the digital divide regarding social capital.

"schools need to be clear about their agenda—how they define what they mean by being well educated, how learning be... http://tl.gd/bf7h30less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"schools need to be clear about their agenda—how they define what they mean by being well educated, how learning best takes place, and what they think learning looks like at age five, ten, or eighteen." Meier

Note she says, "What learning looks like," not "What should be learned." Big difference.

Twitter Book Club: Deborah Meier (2002) In Schools We Trust - Part One Chapter 2

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:37:00 +0000

2. Experiments in Trust: The Mission Hill School and Others

"If trust requires accountability, accountability requires time." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"In a school purposely designed for falling in love with new experiences and people, the odds of each student findi... http://tl.gd/bf7fssless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

Twitter Book Club: Deborah Meier (2002) In Schools We Trust - Part One Chapter 1

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:02:00 +0000

Part One: Trust and the Culture of Schools

Chapter 1. Learning in the Company of Adults

"It is a striking fact that kids don't keep a lot of company these days with the kinds of adults—in or out of schoo... http://tl.gd/bf7c8iless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

A little over a year ago I visited a middle school and sat in on some classes. This was a good school, beautiful building, friendly staff, and well articulated program. My purpose this day was not to observe the teachers but to observe the students. What struck me was how disconnected many of them seemed to any adults in the room. In one classroom the teacher tried on multiple occasions to talk with her students who blatantly ignored her. After many minutes of frustration at the lack of responsiveness they displayed toward her she transitioned into a punitive mode, scolding students, writing referrals, generally falling on the authoritative power she had license to yield to mandate behavior. After some uncomfortable moments the classroom was sufficiently "managed" and on-task. The students were asked to do some group work. I took this occasion to try to join in on some groups. I was initially treated with the same kind of disregard even though my interactions were merely conversational in nature and lacked the "authority" of the teacher. With some of these students it seemed as if they lacked any experience in talking with adults.

"Children once learned the arts and crafts of being a grown-up by belonging to a community whose habits and rituals... http://tl.gd/bf7cflless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"In seeking a substitute for the natural learning communities of yesterday, we invented schools and then systematic... http://tl.gd/bf7ctbless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"In seeking a substitute for the natural learning communities of yesterday, we invented schools and then systematically began to downgrade anything learned in nonschool ways." Meier

How often do we tend to downplay credentials of those who are self-taught?

"The older they get, the less like 'real life' their schooling experience is—and the more disconnected and fractionated." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

When was the last time you had to go somewhere where every fifty minutes a bell rang signaling you to drop whatever it is you are doing, pack up, and move to another location where you start something completely unrelated? How many projects do you get involved with that operate on this kind of schedule?

"We are—in short—perhaps the only civilization in history that organizes its youth so that the nearer they get to b... http://tl.gd/bf7damless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

@anderscj those quotes so on target...less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet Replypammoran
pammoran

"The key was that we risked showing ourselves to be learners alongside the student. We teachers made it acceptable ... http://tl.gd/bf7dn1less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

I cannot over-stress how important I believe it is to model learning for students. This is what Ted Sizer calls giving students their learner's permits. By modeling our own learning, by asking questions we do not know the answers to and letting students see us struggle to answer them, we are issuing learner's permits for our students.

"the willingness to take risks, ask questions, and make mistakes is a requirement for the development of expertise." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Learning happens fast when the novices trust the setting so much that they aren't afraid to take risks, make mista... http://tl.gd/bf7e4jless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"It's not just that kids have a hard time believing their teachers use the bathroom, but that their teachers learn ... http://tl.gd/bf7eaeless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Sharing expertise—copying—is viewed not as cheating but as a useful way of learning." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"For many teachers of tenth graders these days, changing the course outline in light of the changed course of histo... http://tl.gd/bf7eqdless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"For many teachers of tenth graders these days, changing the course outline in light of the changed course of history is literally to risk children's educational futures—and their own—in light of state exams." Meier

How many classrooms in the US last spring followed, discussed, and/or studied the events in North Africa? I suspect very few. And, those classrooms where these current events were discussed I suspect they were not given the levity they deserved. I suspect they were simply brought in as a course "add-on." Am I wrong in my assumptions?

"One teaches best by listening and learns best by telling." Meierless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

I absolutely love this last quote. Reminds me of this one by John Holt:

"Bill Hull once said to me, 'Who needs the most practice in talking at school? Who gets the most?' Exactly." John Holt (1964) How Children Learn

Twitter Book Club: Seymour B. Sarason (1996) Revisiting "The Culture of The School and the Problem of Change" - Chapter 21

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:19:00 +0000

Chapter 21: Postscript

WTF Who writes like this? "I had the occasion to read a chapter in my 1972 bool The Creation of Settings and the Future Societies." Sarasonless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Creating and sustaining contexts of productive learning for students never has been the school's bottom line." Sarasonless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Passing tests and being awarded a diploma should never be regarded as adequate criteria of productive learning." Sarasonless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

Twitter Book Club: Seymour B. Sarason (1996) Revisiting "The Culture of The School and the Problem of Change" - Chapter 20

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:12:00 +0000

Chapter 20: The Culture of the School and the Problem of Social Change

[John Goodlad] noted that it made no difference whether he was in a good, bad, or indifferent school—elementary, mi... http://tl.gd/bche4sless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Generally speaking, school personnel are amazingly insensitive to the anger and resentment that different segments... http://tl.gd/bchq3tless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"We lacked the barometers to tell us about truly sea swell changes in people's thoughts, attitudes, feelings, hopes... http://tl.gd/bchrriless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"What I find discouraging and even frightening is that school personnel rarely (if ever) raise and seriously discus... http://tl.gd/bchtuoless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"...it is both surprising and inexcusable that those questions are not center stage in the education community" Sarasonless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"What Dewey did not grasp were the implications of the fact that he had created his own school. He did not have to ... http://tl.gd/bci17uless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The general public, no less than educators, have been socialized to accept the system as it has been and is." Sarasonless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

Twitter Book Club: Seymour B. Sarason (1996) Revisiting "The Culture of The School and the Problem of Change" - Chapter 19

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:06:00 +0000

Chapter 19: Two Basic Criteria for Social Change

"The fact is...that children, even very young children, have minds that are organized, stamped with purpose and curiosity." Sarasonless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"if you intellectually engage and hook them—you can then, and only then, help them want to acquire knowledge and sk... http://tl.gd/bbsvpnless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Nothing is more revealing of the failure to take the big but simple idea seriously than the inability, or reluctan... http://tl.gd/bbt3apless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"There is a world of difference between wanting to learn and having to learn something." Sarasonless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"The difference between productive and unproductive learning is the difference between teaching children and teachi... http://tl.gd/bbt4b8less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Teachers cannot create and sustain contexts for productive learning unless those conditions exist for them." Sarasonless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"If you knew that your physician, or lawyer, or tax accountant read next to nothing in his field, would you not con... http://tl.gd/bbt6peless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

Twitter Book Club: Seymour B. Sarason (1996) Revisiting "The Culture of The School and the Problem of Change" - Chapter 18

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:01:00 +0000

Chapter 18: What Constitutes a Change

"In Washington's highly politicized world, the greatest risk is not that a program will perform poorly, but that a ... http://tl.gd/bbrupaless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"By its very nature, innovation requires a departure from standard operating procedure. In the federal government, ... http://tl.gd/bbs28vless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"When faculty and school communities begin taking the improvement of student learning as central to all decisions, ... http://tl.gd/bbsaknless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Funders have trouble with an application that contains the realistic possibility that the direction of the project... http://tl.gd/bbshi9less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"the list of burned-out school reformers is long" Sarasonless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"existing power relationships are part of the problem and can never be part of the solution" Sarasonless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

Twitter Book Club: Seymour B. Sarason (1996) Revisiting "The Culture of The School and the Problem of Change" - Chapter 17

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 03:57:00 +0000

Chapter 17: Changes in Power Relationships

"You cannot engineer a school change the way engineers build bridges, roads, dams, and much more." Sarasonless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"There is a difference between doing what you know you can do and doing what needs to be done, between shadow boxin... http://tl.gd/bb91hvless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"To feel powerless is to feel your ideas, opinions, and interests do not deserve a hearing; you are the object of t... http://tl.gd/bb97b9less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Twitter Book Club: Seymour B. Sarason (1996) Revisiting "The Culture of The School and the Problem of Change" - Chapter 16

anderscj@yahoo.com (Carl Anderson) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 03:52:00 +0000

Chapter 16: Are Schools Unique Organizations?

"The frequency with which we hear the words founding fathers is a way of telling us that the past is still in the p... http://tl.gd/bb7n51less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"In the ordinary course of our days we are not aware of culture. Indeed, we take it for granted without examining i... http://tl.gd/bb7qfvless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Not only were educators influenced by the industrial model but industrial leaders made clear that schools should t... http://tl.gd/bb80o1less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"you cannot achieve your goals unless all members at all levels of the organization meaningfully participate in som... http://tl.gd/bb84d7less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"If schools remain what they are, the puzzlement of the general public, especially its tax-paying segment, will tur... http://tl.gd/bb86bdless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"if an organization considered unique is failing of its purposes, it says a lot about leadership and a faulty ratio... http://tl.gd/bb8blhless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"With the usual few exceptions, school personnel hardly read books, journals, and similar periodicals that could ma... http://tl.gd/bb8gcvless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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