This article shows the challenge for distance education: Can we offer services to students in war-torn areas and in neighborhoods that are cut off from schools?

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/26/syria-children-learn-to-code-raspberry-pi



Here is an example of distance education and hands-on learning.

Leaders in Distance Education can use this example to build programs for children who are not able to attend a traditional school or for students who need additional courses.   See the mission of www.UDEeewana.org

Learn more at EdutechFoundation.net and Transform-Education.com and www.TransformTeaching.org

CLICK HERE

Procedures learned in a boarding school have applications in schools. Join me in applying these procedures in your classroom...

I received a comment from a person who went to a boarding school.  She has noticed a change in the policies of her old school....  

I teach college and I too use many of the techniques described in the list you had. Most of those techniques were not as a result of research or pedagogical learning but seemed to be intuitive. Yes, probably internalized from many experiences at BCD Boarding School. It seems just common sense to know that people/students want to be treated with respect, that they want to know that they are cared about and that as in anything when people are allowed to participate/contribute they have some ownership in the outcome and with ownership one starts to care more.

Anyway, that’s another discussion. Regarding BCD Boarding School, I must say that I have long ago given up on the school today. It is not the same school that I attended in the early 90s, even given societal changes etc. It is regrettable, but I do not feel the same compunction as you do to ‘make the administration see/understand what they are missing’.  It seems that the main aim today is to run a competitive and profitable school. BCD Boarding School’s original  objective was different. It was driven by the vision of educating the whole person. I doubt that is the current (real) objective. 

I think the efforts to preserve what we had is useful and that such a store of memories/knowledge might guide people when they are ready to be guided.

my comments:  BCD Boarding School is located in North America.  Its identify is obscured to make the discussion generic.  It doesn't matter what school it is... the point is that schools go through changes... Any school that goes through a change has this sort of discussion, where new management misses the opportunity to listen to the alumni and former staff.

The key issues here are related to "how does the system get improved"?  Dr. Deming had some comments about this process of innovation.  SEE "14 Points Dr Deming" -- I post these comments here to ask teachers to share their perspective about "how do you find good procedures"?   The writer and I both pull many of our procedures from "what makes sense" and procedures that we internalized from our boarding school days.

Where do you get your procedures that work (to building character in students)?  send your comments to TheEbookman@gmail.com 


The list of procedures...

From the core guidelines of "delayed gratification" and "planned hardships," we can derive values and procedures:

1. What do we value? Learning to appreciate nature. Procedure: Reward the students with points for spending time in nature.

2. What do we value? Teenagers who know how to make conversation and see the good in each other. Procedure: Ask teachers to eat with the students, preferably lunch and dinner.

3. What do we value? Time spent by teenagers thinking about big issues and important ideas. Procedure: A Thought for the Day. The entire school sits to listen to a short talk, usually given by a teacher, and then the group ponders the words for at least three minutes in silence.

4. What do we value? Time spent by teachers and other adults with students outside the classroom. Students can see their teachers following passions away from academics. Procedure: The teacher leads an activity, usually an extracurricular club (chess, fencing, cultural expedition, field trips, weekend trip to another city, hike in nature).  

5.  What do we value?   What a gift it would be to see ourselves as others see us.  Procedure:  A system to tell students what we see in them and underscore their moral evolution with awards.  Labels like “standard bearer” and “standard bearer candidate” communicate the level of responsibility that the student has achieved in the school community.

SEE THE SITE

www.YourNetImpact.com can assist teenagers in using social media to "have an impact"

I posted a series of photos and someone clicked "LIKE"... so I should return the favor.  I bumped into a website of appreciation:

a blog called http://ilikephotoblog.wordpress.com/

So -- of course -- I clicked and left a comment on one of the photos that caught my eye.   Thank you, Mac (the author of the blog).

Then I wrote to the person the following note:

If you have a particular type of travel you like, let me know.   

I'm a high school teacher and I have a website called  WWW.YourNetImpact.com and I'm trying to get my students to realize that they have impact with their facebooking and tweeting,  social and political impact...   so why diminish themselves by limiting their social media time?   Some of my students say, "I have only 5 minutes to check on what my friends are doing and to upload my photos, then I have to get back to homework."  or  "Social media is a real time drain.  I don't have time to be in virtual worlds, there is so much to do in the real world."

but what about getting important videos and websites more visibility?   A click on Jennie Hinde's A-newdawn.org could highly her organization's efforts to improve the lives of orphans.    By not clicking, "LIKE", my students are denying their friends (who are on facebook) the privilege of learning about Jennie's group.  When the friends of my students hear about Jennie's work, won't they want to click LIKE , too?    and that's the cycle of "Your Net Impact."   The impact of students on the Internet can add klout to people like Jennie in addition to Justin Bieber and Ellen degeneres and Lady Gaga.    

anyway, i greatly appreciate seeing your LIKE and I hope I can return the click ...  tell me a LIKE that I should do in return.

Where can I put my next LIKE to have some net impact?

Thanks for your list of interesting photos   nice blog .. it's an example (for my students) of having "net impact" and sharing what you think is significant with others.   bravo

If you would like to see Mac's photo blog, click here

macatwp@gmail.com and write to mac.

What's your philosophy of education? I've got more than four points. (part 2)

See Part 1

The difficulty comes when i find out the current goals instead of the long term goals.

At some schools  where I've worked, the policies are convenient to the administration and the studernt is expected to adapt to the situation.

Students ask me, "Why can't i get what i want?  Why does the school offer only one way to do [this] or [that]" and I make the mistake of asking the student to look at the situation from the school's point of view and then the discussion expands and I usually ask the student to think outside the box.   "What are your options?"   That's a question that many school administrators don't want students to explore.

5.  I also arrange to meet the students after school sometime during the week, i make it optional, i try not to force the idea and I try not to exclude anyone.  

6. I also try to go on an afternoon or evening trip... $40 limosouine tour of miami beach.   oh?     why not rent a van and go together?

it's often a long night but memorable.

i say, "Why should we end at 4 hours?   after the obligatory tour of 6-10 pm, i'm off the clock but I'm happy to see that the student has good memories.   We often return after 1 a.m.

I take a longer view than some school administrators take.   Tom Peters says "one size fits all?   One size fits one or often few or none"

The policy at some schools is to keep teachers separate from students.  "Teachers deliver a lesson and then leave the school."  When the school stops paying, at the end of the class, the teacher is expected to leave the building.

Flexibility

Those are some of the procedures that I use.   

7.  The student sis the center of my classroom.  I use the CELTA technique of arranging the room so that the students see each other's faces when talking and every moment as an opportunity to practice speaking and listening.  

8. teachers speak less than 20% of the time and students are engaged -- well, they are invited to be engaged in a range of activities.

9.  The aim is to build a portfolio of experiences and a record of examples of students' work.  The portfolio shows the students what they have learned.

10.  There is a balance between (a) evidence of actual work (that is real work) and (b) getting "something" flashy produced and physically in the hand of the students within two weeks (such as an audio CD or DVD or some videos) which is like a yearbook

The "flashy" or techie item might never be looked at, but it is a sense that "I did that" and the student carries something -- perhaps a memory -- of a procedure that had real change in the brain, even if the vocabulary is forgotten.

11.  Students remember how they were treated long after they have forgotten what was actually taught or presented or practiced or produced or discussed in class.

12.  very few worksheets = "shut up" sheets

very little busy work

13.  Some students have a mindset that they want to study grammar and i'm happy to give them what they want.   I know that the level of each student is different, each has different holes, so I ask them to participate in the swiss cheese approach.  find the holes and plug them.

14.  my philosophy is one student at a time

treat all the student the same differently

(give every student some amount of attention, but the type of attention will be adapted to the expressed or anticipated needs of the person)

find their goals

build individual personal learning plans

15.  Use numbers in lists so that people can discuss the point in class "I want to talk about point number 4" and everyone in the room knows what part of the board to look at.  

www.BigPicture.org

16.  use dennis littky techniques

Click Here 

My technique is "open the book somewhere and use that quote to stimulate a discussion in class."

Here's an example of some Internet materials that might be introduced in class.

Search Results

1. 
   CNN Student News - CNN.com
   www.cnn.com/studentnews‎
2. 
   National and world news with background material, activities, discussion starters and teaching guides. USA.

CNN Student News/Quick CNN Student News/Quick Guides & Transcripts. FOLLOW THIS ...	Student News A to Z with Carl The weblog of CNN Student News.
CNN Student News (video) CNN Student News utilizes CNN's worldwide resources to bring	CNN iReport Welcome to the CNN Student News iReport assignment group
Daily Discussion CNN Student News/Daily Discussion & Newsquiz ...	April 16, 2013 CNN Student News Transcript - April 16, 2013. updated 7:13 ...
More results from cnn.com »

3. 
   iTunes - Podcasts - CNN Student News (video) by CNN
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cnn-student-news.../id179950332‎
4. Download past episodes or subscribe to future episodes for free from CNN Student News (video) by CNN on the iTunes Store.
5. Carl Azuz - CNN Student News Official | Facebook
   www.facebook.com/CNNStudentNews‎
6. 
   Carl Azuz - CNN Student News Official. 89866 likes · 715 talking about this.
   
7. 
   CNN Student News | Facebook
   www.facebook.com/pages/CNN-Student-News/223024161084827‎
• 
  
8. 
   CNN Student News (CNNStudentNews) on Twitter
   https://twitter.com/CNNStudentNews‎
• 
  
9. 
   CNN Student News - 2/15/13 - YouTube
   www.youtube.com/watch?v=alEQN6GX2-Q‎
10. Friday's edition of CNN Student News covers everything from a damaged cruise ship to an asteroid passing ...
    
    

See Part 1 and find Mary Finocchiaro's 12 points