Brian C. Smith

Good schools are not about taking another’s model and applying it without serious consideration to your own local environment, or about lamenting that you are not someone else. That’s irresponsible, and doesn’t honor a fine example.

So as you’re enjoying the school culture of SLA, a place that I would like to be visiting and learning from/with/in this weekend (and I kind of will be), I hope you’ll move past the “Wow,” and towards the critical eyes of “Huh.  Why does this work?  How might I make something work in my own context(s)?”

Because, we all know, imitation, and not worship, is the highest form of flattery.  Imitation without serious thought as to how to make and sustain change in one’s own situation is not useful.  And doesn’t actually honor the fine model that SLA might be for you.

I've had the good fortune (and incredible support of @wssmith) to attend EduCon and visit with the staff and students who made this school what it is. Bud's words should be strongly considered. I have thought about what I will do tomorrow (Friday) at SLA. I'll be looking for signs of playful learning, which is what I will be leading a conversation about during a session on Sunday.

My hunch is that many of the learning experiences which students at SLA (among other schools) contain the elements or aspects of play. That is, the experiences are inherently fun and students involved often "lose" themselves in exploration, design, creation, conversation or debate.

I'll be beginning my inquiry regarding more playful learning while I observe and participate in the halls and classrooms of SLA tomorrow. I also will continue that inquiry in the conversation on Sunday. I hope you'll join us in some way, shape or form.

The conference is about the community of people and the ideas we share. It's not a place for big speeches, it's a place for well-thought conversation. It is a place for ideas, not stuff, and there isn't much swag at all and there isn't an exhibit floor. What there is, in abundance, is really smart people who care deeply about the future of education and how we all can make it better.

More than a few educators from my area are attending EduCon 2.2 and I'm really excited about that. I'd like to see more of the types of conversations that take place at EduCon happen 'round here.

Imagine if we gave kids the conflicting data and causes and positions of scientists who are debating this issue and had them work to figure it out.  Help them critically analyze the author of the article for validity.  Help them find bias in research.  Let them engage scientific disciplines of thought as they work to understand the complex nature of nature.  Move the conversation to social studies to let them examine the political ramifications of the arguments and proposed solutions.

All this information is out there.  There's an amazing opportunity to teach kids to be critical, if we're willing to let things get messy and difficult and not be scared to take on hot topics, again, so to speak.

Give Ben's post a read and...

1. Be sure to read the article he links with the post and...

2. Don't get political, be self-critical.

It may not be the most important technology aide for the classroom, but it could be one of the coolest. 3D-enabled projectors are promising to take presentation into the next dimension.

Before you go all goo-goo-gah-gah over these things, here me out.

I saw a demo of a 3D display a few years ago in one of our districts. I had a bad seat (although I was only <10 ft from the display) an angle that made it difficult to see the 3D effects. I had no idea what I should have been seeing or even a memory of what video was shown. THAT was a memorable experience. Needless to say, I was left thinking, as I am now, so what? Save a few legitimate uses for modeling or engineering what's the big deal? Enlighten me.

The picture above sums it up for me and should be fair warning for what might happen if we outfit classrooms with red and blue glasses... more disengaged, lethargic, and passive students.

Now, I don't know about you, but I don't think that's what we should be looking at.

"The world will never be "peaceful" because if there was no conflict, we would learn nothing. " [Emphasis mine.]

How many times do we avoid or runaway from conflict that which will teach us a really good lesson which we need to learn?

Thanks to Will Richardson for sharing this letter to his daughter.