My personal vision for education

In an ideal world, students would be engaged all the time with problems that are real and relevant to their personal lives.  The curriculum would be rich with starting “big ideas” to get the kids thinking and then the students would be set free to explore these big ideas. Examples of big ideas include community, relationships, identity, fantasy, etc.  These ideas are cross-curricular in nature and all content will be explored through these big ideas.  Students and teachers would have access to all kinds of tools (including technology) to research and investigate the ideas further.  Students would then be able to share their ideas with others through video or blogs or animation, if they so choose. 

The teachers are well versed in technology and their own content area and serve as guides for asking good thought provoking questions, or elegant problems. The teachers work together and collaborate with each other to keep the problems interesting.  Teachers draw on the strengths of each other and teamwork this serves as a model for students.  The teachers are often posting new or related information about the big ideas to encourage further exploration by the students.   

Students spend a majority of their time testing their hypothesis and doing hands on work when they are in school. The big ideas encourage creativity, which is at the very top of Blooms Taxonomy.  Additionally, the arts are a big part of their day as they encourage the essential right brain kind of thinking needed in the 21^st century workplace.  Students are also encouraged to play with materials as a lot can be learned through the tactile experience of play. Very little time is devoted to traditional “sit and get” instruction.  Ideally, students are so naturally engaged in the “big idea” that they are driven to carry on learning at home through their own technological devices (laptops, phones, ipads, etc).   

Students self assess their own progress as they explore their big ideas.  The curriculum is very fluid, if the students are still engaged with content or a topic, they may continue working on it until they have exhausted themselves.  Ideally, students will discover that they will uncover more questions and will self select the next direction for their work (with some teacher guidance if needed).  Comfortability with making mistakes is essential in this new environment as it encourages creative thinking and problem solving.  Assessments are never “final”.  Students are encouraged to become life long learners and because of this, they are not bogged down with prescribed units that start and end at the teachers discretion.