The Lovett Middle School: A 21st C. Learning Community » Learning http://msresourcenetwork.edublogs.org Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:43:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Developing a 21st Century Middle School: The Vision http://msresourcenetwork.edublogs.org/2008/08/28/developing-a-21st-century-middle-school-the-vision/ http://msresourcenetwork.edublogs.org/2008/08/28/developing-a-21st-century-middle-school-the-vision/#comments Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:14:52 +0000 msresourcenetwork http://msresourcenetwork.edublogs.org/?p=68 “The question before all educators is how and how quickly we change, not whether we’ll change.”-Pat Bassett

Last February NAIS president Pat Bassett challenged independent schools to change. Referencing work by Thomas Friedman, Mel Levine and Howard Gardner, Bassett outlined the need for revisioned schools and retooled students. Why? This new global knowledge-based economy and society requires more creative, collaborative, and networked people who can critically think and communicate innovative ideas. As Gardner writes in his book Five Minds for the Future, “[s]tudents may have accumulated plenty of factual or subject-matter knowledge; but they have not learned to think in a disciplined manner.”

Beginning in the 2007-08 school year and continuing in earnest this year, the Lovett middle school faculty is focusing on what a 21st century learning environment looks like and what outcomes we should expect from our students. As we develop a more ubiquitous computing environment and navigate a networked world of information abundance, we are examining what we teach, how we teach, and how we assess the work. What demonstrates learning? What is the role of the student? The teacher? Technology?

Check out the following video, produced by a small team of faculty along with Owen Matthews, Middle School Technology Coordinator, and Laura Deisley, Technology Consultant. Presented to a group of 20 leading independent schools in the Southeast-including Trinity, Westminster, Woodward, and Holy Innocents- the video demonstrates the hard work our faculty and students are doing to “understand the shift” and begin the process of learning to thrive in a highly networked culture.


Find more videos like this on Lovett Video Archive

]]> http://msresourcenetwork.edublogs.org/2008/08/28/developing-a-21st-century-middle-school-the-vision/feed/ 0 October’s Virtual Classroom: K-12 Online Conference http://msresourcenetwork.edublogs.org/2007/10/09/octobers-virtual-classroom-k-12-online-conference/ http://msresourcenetwork.edublogs.org/2007/10/09/octobers-virtual-classroom-k-12-online-conference/#comments Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:34:22 +0000 msresourcenetwork http://msresourcenetwork.edublogs.org/2007/10/09/octobers-virtual-classroom-k-12-online-conference/ k12onlineflyer_letter-1.jpg

I don’t have any excuses this time like “I’m too busy,” “The time doesn’t work for me,” or “I’m not interested.” This month my personal learning space is delivered to me–any time I want–and I can join in the conversation or I can just soak it all in. And, it’s FREE.

The K-12 Online Conference is a month long exploration of 21st century learning with great presenters and a worldwide audience. This week, October 8-12, is “pre-conference” led by David Warlick, an educator and consultant from Raleigh, NC. His keynote address from Monday morning, “Inventing the New Boundaries” is available here. Educators around the world are so jazzed up about this conference that they lined up in queue to listen to David “real time” and then ran a back-channel chat during the presentation!

I listened to David’s podcast yesterday (a few hours after the mad rush) and I’ve just spent an hour with another 100 educators in a “fireside chat” on Elluminate this evening. What impresses me the most is the passionate desire these educators have to understand what is going on “outside the classroom,” identify how students are learning in this age of vast information, and incorporate the tools (connective, collaborative and creative) to “put kids in contact with the world they are learning about.”

David is a great storyteller, and I value the emphasis he places on telling stories-sharing stories-in our process of learning. In particular, David reflects on watching his father “work” when he was kid and what his kids now see when they watch their father work. David said that watching his father modeled for him what his future would be like. However, our children will not have that luxury because it is really unclear how they will be making a living in the future. “We are preparing our children for a future we can’t clearly describe.”

The keynotes and some 40 presentations will be available throughout the month of October and archived for later use. I encourage everyone to join us this month and be a part of the conversation. I’ll attempt to cull some of the highlights and blog them here as well.

Laura

 

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]]> http://msresourcenetwork.edublogs.org/2007/10/09/octobers-virtual-classroom-k-12-online-conference/feed/ 0 The 21st Century Values the Network Above the Node http://msresourcenetwork.edublogs.org/2007/10/09/the-21st-century-values-the-network-above-the-node/ http://msresourcenetwork.edublogs.org/2007/10/09/the-21st-century-values-the-network-above-the-node/#comments Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:37:44 +0000 msresourcenetwork http://msresourcenetwork.edublogs.org/2007/10/09/the-21st-century-values-the-network-above-the-node/ Whether you are a student, a teacher, a classroom, a school, a businesswoman or enterprise the 21st century is placing more value on your network–and the ability to create and collaborate in that network–than in the isolated “node.” What does that mean for each of us and our traditional structures? What does that mean for our teaching? A great deal of discussion centers around the need for classrooms to shift to more collaborative learning (with teachers modeling their learning alongside students), more connected learning (outside the traditional classroom and school boundaries), and creative thinking alongside critical thinking (the new MBA is the MFA).

Here at the Middle School Resource Network, we’re going to begin a dialog–a conversation–that will be honest, respectful, and hopefully challenging as we reach to define our vision for a 21st century learning environment here in the Lovett Middle School. In this world we assume our kids and classrooms are tooled with technology (laptops, smartboards, etc) and we have open Internet access.

To begin considering this network value, please take a look at this post I wrote on my “idea” blog last week. I wrote the post to synthesize some of the pieces I’ve read about the networked culture we’re in and quite frankly to remind myself (after an exhausting and frustrating conversation with another school’s head) that things really are changing…whether we like it or not.

Take a look please, and then post your comments. We’ve got a lot of thinking to do ahead of us…hope you’ll make time to join the conversation.

Laura

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