SBE Weekly Reader Oct. 23, 2008
We are to regard the mind not as a piece of iron to be laid upon the anvil and hammered into any shape, nor as a block of marble in which we are to find the statue by removing the rubbish, nor as a receptacle into which knowledge may be poured; but as a flame that is to be fed, as an active being that must be strengthened to think and feel–to dare, to do, and to suffer.
– Mark Hopkins, Induction address as president of Williams College, 1836.
Effective leaders
Memphis City Schools taps into students’ creativity.
Instead of continuing with the federal government deciding the consequences and the state governments dictating the standards (defining “proficiency”), how about reversing the roles? A radical flip of state and federal roles accountability and standards proposed:
Overview here and full op-ed here.
Effective teachers
Chicago to require up to 5,000 middle school teachers to have subject-specific endorsements.
Arkansas to require subject specific endorsement for 8th grade Algebra teachers.
Nashville mayor raising private money to bring Teach for America, New Teacher Project to town.
Alan November’s ITEC 2008 presentation - notes from Dr. Scott McLeod
Rigorous, relevant curriclum
A new report shows that American students are less likely to graduate from high school than their parents were. News story here, full report here.
Sufficient resources
Provocative discussion of how using online electronic resources can give teachers more time to do what they alone can do to facilitate student learning.
College Board to introduce 8th grade test.
K-12 Online Conference going on now.
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