 For many decades education has been in a state of turmoil as we continue to seek ways to adapt education to life in the 21st century. A Hall of Mirrors is defined as "A carnival or amusement park attraction consisting of a maze or series of passageways lined with mirrors, especially curved mirrors giving distorted reflections. "A confusing or disorienting situation in which it is difficult to distinguish between truth and illusion or between competing versions of reality. Also called, in both senses, a House of Mirrors. Looking back over the past thirty to forty years alone, there has been much contention regarding the proper path forward, and a variety of programs and plans have been put forth to improve schools. Most of these have focused on one purpose: improving students' standardized test scores. And most have experienced dismal results. With the proliferation of the Internet, there was a virtual explosion of new programs, and suddenly it seemed that everyone was an expert or a consultant. Thus my analogy of the "house of mirrors". It must feel that way to so many educators who are being continually bombarded with new "tips, tricks and various programs" for improving student learning, i.e., test scores. These range from ludicrous to highly effective ways to improve student learning. Along with the Internet has been the surge of excitement surrounding efforts to get technologies into the hands of students. Unfortunately, technologies have not been implemented in a meaningful way in many classrooms. And, as I have written before, we simply replaced the paper/pencil worksheets and the printed textbooks with digital versions of the same. The pedagogy, practices and paradigms did not change at all. There are a few educators who are recognizing and calling for the need to make "real change". They also recognize that this real change is not going to be easy or simple. We cannot create real change by implementing a few "tricks and tips", we cannot do it by adding some 15-minute activity to the already enormous load of activities, standards, test prep which is overwhelming teachers and students every day. We cannot create the schools we need unless and until we make a true Paradigm Shift. For this reason, we at 21st Century Schools have created Paradigm Shift, which includes three distinct programs! For more information about 21st Century Schools and to receive details on the Paradigm Shift programs, please contact Anne Shaw, Director, 21st Century Schools! [email protected]
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 Watch the following video to see how you can transform your obsolete "cells and bells" school into a 21st century school. The Learning Environment is the place to begin when you are creating schools that will support 21st century learning! For more details and inspiration, please click the link below the video! Read the full article and see the wide array of fabulous learning spaces that can be integrated into a 21st century school!  In 2006 Sir Ken Robinson gave a TED Talk entitled "Do Schools Kill Creativity?"[1] The most popular TED Talk of all time, subtitles are available in 60 languages, and it has been viewed 44 million times, not including the entire groups that watch it. Sir Ken's message certainly resonated with educators, parents and others. Despite the powerful message, delivered over a decade ago, and lauded by educators around the world, schools have continued to kill creativity . . . as well as the other "7 Survival Skills of the 21st Century" as outlined by Harvard professor, Tony Wagner. These skills comprise one of the three compasses of Anne Shaw's Framework for Education in the 21st Century. In this holistic, integrated framework the 3 compasses are embedded with an intentionally designed Learning Environment - the Physical Environment (facilities, schoolyards), the Social/Emotional Environment and the Academic Environment. This article is about how schools are killing creativity - and the other seven survival skills - and what we can do about it. View the compass for the 7 Survival Skills below. Click the compass to read more about each of these skills:   Are you concerned about education? I am. One of my deepest concerns is that while education systems around the world are being reformed, many of these reforms are being driven by political and commercial interests that misunderstand how real people learn and how great schools actually work. As a result, they are damaging the prospects of countless young people. Sooner or later, for better or for worse, they will affect you or someone you know. It’s important to understand what these reforms are about. If you agree that they’re going in the wrong direction, I hope you will become part of the movement to a more holistic approach that nurtures the diverse talents of all our children From Creative Schools - the grassroots revolution that's transforming education by Sir Ken Robinson
 Schools and school districts around the world, as well as the educators within them, are each individually on a journey along a continuum from factory model to 21st century model education. One overarching obstacle is the assumption that we can "fix" students, learning and test scores from within the current structures. We cannot change and "stay the same" , i.e., maintain the same paradigms, practices and structures that have been in place for well over 100 years. The current education model is obsolete, a relic of a bygone era.
Although there are a multitude of obstacles in our path, there are things that that can be done to overcome these obstacles and make time for what matters most. Continue Reading Here  In this post I am offering my perspectives on how education today remains firmly entrenched in what is often called the Factory Model, which was designed for the Industrial Revolution. The majority of students at that time were educated to prepare for work on farms on in factories. This is an obsolete model of a by-gone era. But it is still with us today, well into the 21st century:   When it comes to education, we somehow threw out the baby with the bath water when:
I. Test Prep & Standardized Tests Replace Learning  This transformation was not initiated by educators, it was not approved by educators and it has been strongly resisted by many educators. However, between the forces of the federal government and the corporations who stood to make massive profits, education lost. Educators lost. Worst of all - children lost. Many of our finest teachers left the profession. They knew that what this was doing to children was wrong, and they had no intention of participating in this process.  “The Blob” is a 1958 film starring Steve McQueen in his first leading role. Click here to watch the trailer! Note: this post is a bit of a rant expressing my observations and frustrations over the continuing, and to me, inane, practices plaguing education since the inception of NCLB. The purpose of this article is not to denigrate educators, although I realize it sounds like that sometimes. I can say that the classroom teachers are not responsible for these practices; they were forced upon them. For several years now I have been equating a film, in which a monster called "The Blob" threatens to destroy all life on Earth, to the ongoing standardized testing mania that has been spreading, growing and destroying education. It began in the United States, in Texas to be exact (where I live), and this monster which I have named Standardized Testing Mania has spread virtually all over the planet - like the Blob or a pandemic. The definition of genius is taking the complex  More than a rant, though, this is an invitation for you to reflect upon the damage this situation has done to students, educators and parents. And an invitation to begin a conversation - here and at your school or in your community. I offer some questions to spark your conversations.  The "cemetery method" is a reference to the practice of arranging classrooms that is similar to cemeteries in that the students are in rows, very still and very quiet.
That may have been acceptable decades ago when schools were designed on the factory model. During the Industrial Age factories needed workers who were on time, obedient and able to perform standardized tasks. They did not want workers who were creative thinkers.  This TED Talk by Shawn Achor and his book, The Happiness Advantage, has excellent tips for how be happier, which is turn increases productivity, energy, creativity, innovation and learning. The book is packed with research-based data. I recommend this video for students, educators, parents, and business and community leaders! An excerpt from this TED Talk, including some specific actions I would incorporate into my class. You don't NOT have the time! If you can raise somebody's level of positivity in the present, then their brain experiences what we now call a happiness advantage, which is your brain at positive performs significantly better than at negative, neutral or stressed. Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise. In fact, we've found that every single business outcome improves. Your brain at positive is 31% m ore productive than your brain at negative, neutral or stressed. You're 37% better at sales. Doctors are 19 percent faster, more accurate at coming up with the correct diagnosis when positive instead of negative, neutral or stressed. . . . . . * Write down three new things that they're grateful for for 21 days in a row, three new things each day. And at the end of that, their brain starts to retain a pattern of scanning the world not for the negative, but for the positive first. * Journaling about one positive experience you've had over the past 24 hours allows your brain to relive it. Exercise teaches your brain that your behavior matters. * We find that meditation allows your brain to get over the cultural ADHD that we've been creating by trying to do multiple tasks at once and allows our brains to focus on the task at hand. * And finally, random acts of kindness are conscious acts of kindness. We get people, when they open up their inbox, to write one positive email praising or thanking somebody in their support network. And by doing these activities and by training your brain just like we train our bodies, what we've found is we can reverse the formula for happiness and success, and in doing so, not only create ripples of positivity, but a real revolution. Please see a related post in this blog on Meditation in School - completely amazing! |
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