Monday, February 11, 2013

What books made a difference for you? Perhaps some of those books and blogs will help parents, students, teachers and principals switch to the "Interactive" Mindset...

I'm on a quest for useful books, blogs, videos, ebooks...

The rear of Dennis Littky's book The Big Picture lists such classics as: 
Flow by  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 
John Dewey  Democracy and Education  download
www.DanPink.com
Carol Dweck  Mindset book (summary on Wikipedia)
Test your Mindset   

Can we get parents to move partly toward the Dennis Littky mindset by asking them to read wikipedia summaries of books that Littky used to write his book?

Can we get some sort of agreement if we read the same materials?

How much does a typical person need to read to "get" the mindset of Flow?
...To "get" the mindset of "Drive," "A Whole New Mind" and "Free Agent Nation"?
...To "get" the mindset of "Blink" and "The Tipping Point"?
...To "get" the mindset of Dennis Yuzenas, who created WhatDoYaKnow.com?
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Here are some of the books that helped me move from "sage on stage" to "guide on side"...



Books

Brainsmart.org has excellent materials for engaging students... and the tips help their "metacognition" (they will observe better how they think).


ASCD.org, publishers of The Big Picture:  Education Is Everybody’s Business (2004) by Dennis Littky and Samantha Grabelle, ISBN 978-0871209719

EdReform.com, Center for Education Reform
EdReformer.com, Tom vander Ark’s blog
edSpresso.com, newsletter, served hot with a twist
emaginos.com, Jack Taub’s site
RevLearning.com, vander Ark’s investment group
EssentialSchools.org, Coalition of Essential Schools, formed by the late Ted Sizer
GatesFoundation.org, funding for education reform
GuideontheSide.com, Steve McCrea, teacher training workshops
PZ.harvard.edu, Project Zero, Harvard University, teacher training
QBESchool.com, Will Sutherland, innovative curricula
QualifiedByExperience.com, Sutherland's consulting site
Cofradiaschool.com, Ben Udy's English school in Honduras (using John Corlette's educational philosophy, JohnCorlette.com)
StudentsFirst.org, Michelle Rhee (former superintendent of Washington, DC schools)
theLearningWeb.net, Gordon Dryden, New Zealand, author of The Learning Web with Jeannette Vos: How to quit school at 14 and eventually write a top-selling book about learning.


JohnCorlette.com for
some philosophy of education

TheStudentIstheClass.com, Dr. Abraham Fischler
2mminutes.com, Two Million Minutes, Robert A. Compton’s project
WhatDoYaKNow.com, Dennis Yuzenas, master teacher and trainer, developer of workshops integrating digital portfolios



Schools  

San Diego. A visit to the school's channel at youtube.com/HTHvideo gives a sense of the intense focus on blending technology and projects.

Philadelphia. The Charter High school of Architecture and Design welcomes visitors, blending a curriculum with remarkable projects: I enjoyed the manga books that the students produce.

New York. Student work and photos cover 80 percent of the walls. Hallways display framed photos and posters, signs, artwork and announcements. Learning by walking around.

QBECADEMY.NET. Their curriculum puts academics at about 25% of the focus of the school. Spirit, intellectual development (lateral thinking, which is often overlooked in schools), social skills and emotional intelligences, and physical development are four other areas of focus.


Quotes

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Her are some links that I got from Gordon Dryden


On books: daily blog by long time friend Graham Beattie:  http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.co.nz/
His biog is on the right of his web home page.

On education: a daily summary of new education experiences from around the woeld.  Better layout than Graham Bettie’s blog, because of the excellent opening summaries.  Read only what you want to read.   www.smartbrief.com/ascd/

The Learning revolution blog (not started by me):  http://www.facebook.com/groups/TheLearningRevolution/

Books that changed me: 
Australian author L.A. Larkin
London Underground By Design by Mark Ovenden – review
Bring back shushing librarians
Furore as Sylvia Plath novel branded chick lit
Anton Chekhov on the 8 Qualities of Cultured People

What lies beneath – National Library Auckland Event
Amit Chaudhuri: my new perspective on Calcutta
Why We Write
Boozy, Graphic Book Covers for Bukowski’s Italian Backlist
John Cheever, The Art of Fiction 
Twitter Takes On The Hidden Truths Of Book Blurbs
Dave Barry: By the Book

GPs to prescribe self-help books for mental health problems
Templar Publishing Buys Piccadilly Press
Dan Stevens takes the helm at literary magazine
The Top Ten Mistakes Writers Make When Self-Publishing a Book
10 New Must-Reads for February
Worlds Collide in New Rick Riordan Short Story
Warsaw Ghetto: The story of its secret archive
IBPA Launches Benjamin Franklin Digital Awards

The first word on the New Zealand book scene.

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How do we deliver these readings to parents, students, principals and teachers?
USB or DVD in one batch?
EMAIL in a message a week to parents and students?

How much of each reading do we share?   

Does it make sense for a teacher to offer excerpts from 20 books and hope for the "penny to drop"?  Or is it better to offer three complete books?   What is the best use of a teacher's time (spent as a curator of useful readings to stimulate a shift of a mindset)?

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Add David Kirp to the list of "follow this guy's blog":




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