99 GOTS 18 April 2011.2 by Steve McCrea Draft of Guide On The Side

4 ♥ No more boring classes ♥ Let’s lecture less ♥ GuideOnTheSide.
com
then ask questions.

Circle one: agree / not sure / disagree
(4) The best way to learn is to listen

carefully to the teacher.
Write at least two sentences to reply to the

next three statements. You can use
another page.
(5) Describe the way or ways that you like

to learn something new. Example: “I like
a teacher to tell me how to learn. I cannot
1. Survey about work by myself.”
“The Reader’s (6) Lectures are sometimes boring, but
Attitude about they are better than reading the textbook.
Teachers” (7) When lectures are boring, teachers

should use bright colors, music, videos and
Let’s ask some questions about your
assumptions about teachers and learning. pictures.
To Start: Please take this short survey
Survey: Please give your opinion about
(1) “The teacher knows what I should be these statements and answer the
learning.” questions. If you don’t want to write your
Circle one: agree / not sure / disagree answers, you can work with a partner
(who can write what you say) or you can
dictate your response to a teacher. You
(2) The teacher should teach us can also send the response by email to
VisualAndActive@gmail.com.
information about what’s going to be on
the test. (This survey was given to middle school
Circle one: agree / not sure / disagree students. For results of the survey, visit
VisualandActive.com.)
(3) Students should listen, take notes and

GuideOnTheSide.com ♥ No more boring classes ♥ Find this book on scribd.com ♥ Let’s lecture less ♥ 5
can do for himself.
2. The Quotes 9 There are 2 billion children in the

developing world. Instead of asking
Can you match at least one of these
quotes to the following people? their teachers to "reinvent the wheel"
every day, why not share lesson
1 The teacher of the future is a plans that work with their 59 million
GUIDE on the SIDE, not a sage on teachers?
the stage.
10 Keep Teacher Talking Time to a
2 Education is NOT the filling of a minimum.
pail, but rather the LIGHTING of a
FIRE. 11 What a gift some power could
give us: to see ourselves as others
3 Most students might forget what see us.
you taught them, but they will always
remember how you treated them. 12 The goal is to gradually transfer
responsibility for learning to the
4 A big obstacle to bringing student.
Computer Assisted Instruction into
the classroom is the teacher, 13 Schools teach children to
because teachers love to perform. obey. But we need creative answers
to the challenges of our times. Many
5 Jack is a boy from Brooklyn who of the people who've had the
dropped out of school to avoid greatest influence on our times were
terminal boredom. failures in school.
6 I never let school get in the way of 14 The greatest sign of success for
my education. a teacher is to be able to say, "The
children are now working as if I did
7 Drive out fear. not exist.”
8 Never do for a child what a child 15 Letʼs create people who are
6 ♥ No more boring classes ♥ Let’s lecture less ♥ GuideOnTheSide.com
capable of doing new things, not about bringing out what's already
simply of repeating what other inside people.
generations have done.
20 If individuals have different kinds
16 Innovative schools offer small of minds, with varied strengths,
classes, individualized instruction, interests and strategies, then could
and flexible curricula which can biology, math and history be taught
accommodate the child. The same AND ASSESSED in a variety of
teacher stays with the same group of ways?
children for as many as eight grades.
The teacher has to grow and learn 21 Trust. Truth. No Put-
with the children. downs. Active Listening. Personal
Best.
17 Many teachers believe that they
need to control how they teach and 22 Learning should be fun.
how they test. Other teachers Students should enjoy performing
negotiate with their students what their understanding.
they will learn, when they will learn it
and how we will check that they have We often forget the most
learned it. overlooked resource in the
school: the students. We ought to
18 Until we find the childʼs passion, close the textbooks, turn off the
itʼs just school. When the child finds teacher talk and ask students to talk
his passion, we teach to that and share their concerns and let
passion. We can find internships for them practice speaking. Instead of
high school students: Kids say, “I forcing in another week of grammar,
love this internship!” why not allow them to speak and
reveal their grammar gaps as well as
19 Unfortunately, to most people, their passions?
teaching is the giving of
knowledge. What are you going to The Student is the Class
tell the students? What is your
expertise? But teaching is really The teacherʼs job is to ask the
students to think about things that

the students have not thought
about.
Howard Gardner Dennis Littky Maria

Montessori W. Edwards Deming
Gordon Dryden Mark Twain
John deGroot Cary Elcome
William Glasser Jean Piaget
Abraham Fischler W B Yeats (poet)
Robert Burns
Who said these words? Match the

person with the quote
"Students should listen, take notes and
3. Second then ask questions."

Survey
"The best way to learn is to listen carefully
Now take the survey again. What are
your reactions this time? to the teacher."
This is the AFTER survey. Circle one: agree / not sure / disagree
Please give your opinion about these
statements and answer the questions. If
you don’t want to write your answers, you Write at least two sentences to reply to the
can work with a partner (who can write next three statements. You can use the
what you say) or you can dictate your other side, too.
response to a teacher. You can also send (a) Describe the way or ways that you
the response by email to like to learn something new.
VisualAndActive@gmail.com.
IF YOU WANT TO WRITE A COMMENT
or TALK ABOUT these statements, ask (b) Lectures are sometimes boring
your partner to write (if you don’t but they are better than reading the
want to write) or talk with the textbook.
teacher. YOU CAN USE THE OTHER
SIDE OF THIS PAGE.
(c) When lectures are boring,
What did you learn from the teachers should use bright colors and
quotations? pictures.
“The teacher knows what I should be Send the results of your two surveys to
learning.” TheGuideontheSide@gmail.com
"The teacher should teach us information

about what’s going to be on the test."
classes were lectures. Then I heard a

remarkable interview with Dennis Littky,
founder of the Met Center in Rhode Island.
Go to this website: MetCenter.org or
search "NPR Littky April 2005." You will
have the direct experience that I did and
you'll want to put into practice the seven
key points mentioned by Littky:
students learn through projects that

come from their interests;
teachers get to know the students

(eating dinner at least once every two
months in their homes);
teachers teach every subject (yes, math

The idea for this website and book The
teachers teach literature, science
Guide On the Side came when I realized
teachers teach art, French teachers teach
that students were clamoring to get into
math and science);
my classes (I was teaching an intensive
three-week English language program in
quotes are placed on walls to encourage
Fort Lauderdale). Three teachers (who
random learning;
were escorting their students from Italy)
asked to sit in my lessons. They took
tests are "stand-up" exhibitions;
notes. Something was going on here.
students go on internships and report
Something I had done changed in me so
back to the school what they learned;
that my classes were somehow
magnetic. This article shares with you
every student compiles a 75-page
what happened to me.
biography (or video or a poster) about
their family members (we all need to
I was a lecturer for much of my teaching
know where we came from, what our
career. From 1996 to 2005, I worked as a
families did and how they got here); and
teacher of English to adults and half of my
Yuzenas' work
grading is with a narrative every eight For more information:
weeks (a kid said, "I'm more than a letter VisualandActive.com,
in the alphabet," and that inspired Littky to VisualAndActive@gmail.com
require teachers to write and talk to kids +1 954 646 8246. Steve is happy to give
about what they did, how they could free workshops in exchange for a hotel
improve their work and what will be the room or a couch to sleep on and the
next challenge in the next eight weeks). opportunity sell his books, CDs and
DVDs. He likes to sit in classes and take
Join me. Paste inspiring words on walls notes. Watching other teachers teach
and ask students to put the ideas in their makes Steve a better teacher. Invite him
own words. Let's gradually transfer the to your school and he'll fit you into his
responsibility for their learning to the schedule.
students. NO MORE BORING
LESSONS. Let’s lecture less. Examples of Steveʼs curriculum work
A Life Skills School: QBESchool.com
Steve McCrea is an educational
consultant. He no longer likes lecturing. Test Preparation: I was asked to "reverse
He believes in creating projects for engineer" a course to prepare students for
students who then discover what Steve a test that is required for students to pass
was going to lecture about. before entering their second year of
Comprehension is checked with university study in Florida.
numerous questions and exhibitions http://www.scribd.com/doc/46565341/PER
(Performance of Understanding, to use T-WORD-Syllabus-and-Sample-Questions-
Howard Gardner's term). This website is BcRoOlWlAeRgDe-2011
inspired by Lois Hetland, Tony Lloyd,
Cary Elcome, Dan Pink, Thomas
Friedman, Dennis Littky and others.
Steve devised the Visual and Active
Teacher Training course (allowing
participants to carry the certificaton and
initials VATT to indicate that they have
passed this rigorous analysis of Dennis
section so that they can watch mentors at

work, eventually gaining skills through
4. The Ten experience (and also gaining scholastic
Points credit for time in the internships).
5. Exhibitions instead of written tests

The basic techniques:
(or in addition): Students give exhibitions
(making posters, delivering powerpoints,
1. Each child has an individual
making movies on computers)
education plan (IEP)
6. Projects instead of lectures: Students

2. A focus on passions: Each kid
are asked to work in small groups on
studies the parts of the curriculum he
projects to discover information
wants to. If a kid loves horses, he
students the history of horses, the
7. Narratives instead of grades: The
chemistry and biology of horses. Numbers
teacher writes a letter to the student every
and math relate to genetics of horses,
8 weeks describing What was planned,
speed, decimals for speed, fractions and
What was done, What needs to be done in
ratios for how to feed the horse (dividing
the next 8 weeks (all connected to the
horse feed into meals and calculating the
student's IEP)
cost of maintaining the horse).
8. Portfolios instead of a transcript:

3. Connect the curriculum with skill
There is a portfolio of work accomplished
building.
(essays, photos, reports, etc.) To
The works of Will Sutherland
demonstrate mastery of English and other
(QBESchool.com) and Dennis Littky
languages, the student has a digital
(BigPicture.org and MetCenter.org) are
portfolio showing performances in spoken
paramount in such a school, both for
tests.
building relationships and for developing a
host of mentors for the students.
9. "Take Apart Laboratory" or workshop,
where broken items (fans, computers, air
4. Learning by watching, learning with
conditioners, refrigerators, car engines,
hands-on experience: The curriculum
etc) are taken apart and analyzed (and, if
should include for teenagers a skill-building
possible, reassembled) by students. for 4 years, grades 9-12, teaching all

subjects. That's how you build
10. Learning through stories. Ethics relationships of trust and how the teacher
and inner strength are acquired by telling REALLY gets to know the student.
stories like Stanley Milgram's experiments,
giving time for contemplation, and showing No more boring classes.
complex and morally ambiguous situations Letʼs lecture less
to the students.
The teacher is the guide on the side, not
Summary the sage on the stage.
Time is a variable*: students progress
when they master a subject, not according Guide On the Side Schools (unless you
to a fixed calendar related to their age already have a name for your schools)
group. *The phrase is promoted by Dr.
Fischler
Teacher training is vital. Most teachers
Students are taught to suspend teach the way that they were taught ("It
judgment (gathering information before worked for me, so I'm asking my students
leaping to a conclusion) to memorize what I put on the board").
Most teachers must learn to teach in a way
Lateral thinking exercises that they were NOT taught. Most teachers
(EdwarddeBono.com is a leading source of need restructuring of their "teaching self."
out-of-the-box thinking).
Those are the main points.
Teaching is 25% academic, 60% listening
and observation, 15% guidance and
positive reinforcement.
Meeting with parents and integration of the Steve McCrea
curriculum are important VisualAndActive.com
Long-term relationships with the

teacher are important. Dennis Littky's Links recommended by my colleague F.
teachers stay with the same 15 students Savain
ncrel.org "Constructionist Teaching"
ndl-ed.org "Constructivist Learning

Theory"
know about this word...” and then let the

pairwork flow from there... That’s hard
for me and hard for many teachers
5. More because we want to be in control of the

flow of the class. It's hard for some
Quotations students who expect to be told what they
(including need to know.

I have a mission: I want to capture
several by “what goes on inside the heads of
students) teachers who are guides on the side."

--------------------------------------------
------
Here are some more observations by
students:
Thousands of educators are on a mission
I think a student like me should use
(to make learning fun and permanent).
really modern methods.
I’m on a mission, too. I want to give
To learn English (or another language),
students / learners the benefit of an open
studying the perfect grammar at school
classroom. People who want to take
is only the beginning. The real way to
charge of their learning should have the
learn English perfectly is practicing. So
choice to do so.
it's a really good way using Facebook
(for example, my best friend's
We want to gradually transfer
American, so i always talk in English
responsibility for their learning to
with her and it really helps me) and
students.
then talking about things we like.
Abraham Fischler, president emeritus of
You should give the student all the
Nova Southeastern university, has
things you know and then let her
identified a key obstacle to this goal:
choose the things he/she wants to do.
Teachers like to perform. I know that
Most teachers think that being under
when it comes to preparing a lesson, my
pressure makes us give our best.
first impulse is to LECTURE about a
THAT'S NOT TRUE. When I'm anxious
topic. The more difficult route is to write
or nervous, I really cannot do anything.
a word on the white board and ask, “Work
It's like I am blocked. So I think that
with a partner and write five things you
the right way to improve is feeling I like the fact that students are nice and we get
comfortable and doing things that on I love choosing every day what I want to do
interest us. and I'm fond of discovering something I didn't
-- Arianna Costantin, Milano, 13 know, such as "Save the Last Dance For Me" (a
August 2010 song that was sung in our class).
How can we improve the method? We could
Comment by Dr. Abraham S. Fischler: read more books, like the ones about the
method we are experimenting with. And this
============================ would be interesting. Or we could keep some
books on our own as I would like to do
What makes a class interesting? tomorrow, to practice with the reading with
chapters that are more difficult than newspaper
A student's opinion
articles.
I think this class is interesting and I believe it is

Giulia Mastrantoni, 6 August 2010 CLICK
because we can lead the lesson by suggesting
TO SEE HER SONG
topics, discussing and discovering new things
on the net and changing the program if we don't If you would like to correspond with Giulia,
like it or find it boring. I can't really suggest a send your message to
way to make this class better since we have a TheGuideOnTheSide@gmail.com She can be
lot of freedom and can change what we are reached directly at
doing according to what we would prefer much
Note about “Save the Last Dance”: A teacher
more.
brought his guitar and the lyrics for the song.
What makes a class boring? The wrong He started the class with this question: "Did
topics, a boring teacher, bad classmates are you know that the composer of this song was
things that can make a class terrible. Choosing unable to walk? Now let's listen more closely to
a topic that is not fascinating or not putting the lyrics." That's what interested Giulia...
passion in teaching destroys the attention of
Note: More books were brought to the class the
the class. Not helping in creating cooperation
next week, giving the student a chance to read
within the students is the worst thing a teacher
quotes and longer chapters about educational
can do.
theories.
Describe what you like about the class:

Changing your thoughts changes your

brain. Give in to useless behaviors and =========================
you are more likely to keep doing them.

Jamie McKenzie's article The WIRED
Engage in more useful behaviors and
Classroom provides a list of
you will be more likely to continue
descriptors of the role of a teacher
them. Your moment-by-moment
who is a Guide on the Side while
actions program your brain's actual
students are conducting their
function.
investigations. "... the teacher
Magnificent Mind at Any Age by Dr. Daniel
is circulating, redirecting,
Amen (page 166)
disciplining, questioning,
assessing, guiding, directing,
Most kids use a mobile phone. Most kids
fascinating, validating,
spend time online. Most schools prevent
facilitating, moving, monitoring,
both. Our kids are online; it's time their
challenging, motivating,
education was.
watching, moderating,
By the end of the decade most U.S. diagnosing, trouble-shooting,
schools will blend online and on-site observing, encouraging,
learning to customize learning and extend suggesting, watching, modeling
the day and year. Most high school and clarifying."
students will do most of their work online.

The teacher is on the move, checking
All students (and teachers) will have
over shoulders, asking questions and
Internet access devices and broadband.
teaching mini-lessons for individuals
Cloud-based school-as-a-service will
and groups who need a particular
provide 24/7 access. The good news is
skill. Support is customized and
that digital learning won't cost more, and it
individualized. The Guide on the
will boost achievement and graduation
Side sets clear expectations,
rates.
provides explicit directions, and
-- Tom vander Ark (click here for his post) keeps the learning well
structured and productive.
EdReformer.com
From Now On The Educational
Technology Journal The WIRED the group mentor -- the expert-facilitator-

Classroom Jamie McKenzie coach."
Suggested by George Schiano
Here are some additional quotes that

"I am not a letter in the alphabet. I'm more
inspire teachers
than that."
== 9th grade student in Providence, R.I.,
I am not a teacher. I am an awakener. --
quoted by Dennis Littky in The Big Picture:
Robert Frost
Educatio is Everybody's Business.
I teach by how I live not by what I say.

The world will not evolve past its current
state of crisis by using the same thinking
Be the change you want to see. -- Gandhi
that created the situation. Albert Einstein.
There's good in everyone. If you don't see

You must be the change you wish to see in
it, the problem is with your vision.
the world. -- Mahatma Gandhi
Faith really CAN move mountains.
Nobody grew taller by being measured. --

If you see the best in a student, they'll
philip gammage
come to see it as well.
In the traditional method the child must say

Respect all people. All means all.
something that he has merely learned.
Suggested by Leslie Lott
There is all the difference in the world
between having something to say and
having to say something. -- John Dewey.
"By now we know that most students learn
best when actively participating in a
collaborative, exhilarating, 'something-in-it- What the best and wisest parent wants for
for-me' environment. However, the magic his own child, that must be what the
cannot happen without the navigation of community wants for all its children.. --
John Dewey the answers.

-- Dennis Littky
(another way of saying "It takes a village to
raise a child." --- african proverb) You learn from your experience of doing
something and from your analysis of that
What a gift some power would give us, to experience. Myles Horton (July 5, 1905 -
see ourselves as others see us. January 19, 1990) was an American
Robert Burns educator, socialist and cofounder of the
(O would some power the gift to give Highlander Folk School
us to see ourselves as others see us)
My grandmother wanted me to have an Only passions, great passions, can elevate

education, so she kept me out of school. -
- Margaret Mead the soul to great things. Denis Diderot
(1713-1784)
Education will not change until we change
the power structure.
-- Seymour Sarason
As long as the same people are making We do things backwards. We think in
all the decisions, eveyrthing will stay pretty terms of getting a skill first, and then
much the same.
-- Seymour Sarason The Culture of the finding useful and interesting things to do
School and the Problem of Change with it. The sensible way, the best way, is
(argument: we will change our education to start with something worth doing, and
system when we extend decision making
down to the next level, to the community then, moved by a strong desire to do it, get
and the parents) whatever skills are needed.
-- John Holt How Children Learn
Students concentrate harder and appear to

learn more duing activities that they find
both challenging and important -- Mihaly They are passionate about their learning
Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The because they are learning something that
Psychology of Optimal Experience they are passionate about. -- an advisor at
the Met School, Providence, RI, quoted in
We begin by asking ourselves, "What's Dennis Littky's book, The Big Picture
best for kids?" and build everything around
You have to start where people are, "small learning communities"

becuse their growth is going to be from
there, not from some abstraction or where
you are or someone else is. -- Myles
Horton Advisory (a small mentoring group of up to
15 students) in one word is
There is no one body of content that is communication. It makes the school
right for every kid. -- dennis Littky smaller. Studnets know someone is there
for them, they are not getting lost among
all the other students.... In advisory we
One size never fit all. one size fits one. -- dont' talk at kids, we talk with kids.
Tom Peters, author of In Search of -- Don Weisberger, special education
Excellence and other books on business teacher at Thayer School, New Hampshire
management
I'm more interested in school now because To be playful and serious at the same time
school is more interested in me. -- student defines the ideal mental condition. -- John
at the Met School, Providence, RI Dewey (1859-1952)
Given the widening array of possibilities,

there's no reason that every child must
master the sciences, algebra, geometry,
biology or any of the rest of the standard
high school curriculum that has barely
changed in half a centruy. -- robert Reich,
Secretary of Labor in the Clinton
Administration
In small schools, the learning needs of

My purpose is to ask you to think about
students, not the organizational needs of
things that you havenʼt thought about.
the school, drive school operations. --
John deGroot, mentor to students at
Kathleen Cotton author of studies on
Mavericks High School, Fort Lauderdale - Dennis Littky
We want to see the child in pursuit of

knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the
Students learn by watching an adult child. -- George Bernhard Shaw (1856-
struggle with a problem. -- Alison Gopnik 1950)
in The Teacher as Coach
I want students to:

No matter how far you have gone on a be lifelong learners
wrong road, turn back. -- Turkish proverb be passionate
be ready to take risks
be able to solve problems and think
When we talk about reform, we should not critically
be talking about tweaking the scheduling be able to look at things differently
and modifying the curriculum, but about be able to work independently and with
completely overhauling the entire structure others
of schools as we have known them for way be creative
too long. -- Dennis Littky care and want to give back to their
community
persevere
The world is integrated. Every day have integrity and self respect
schools unravel the world and put it into have moral courage
boxes called subjects and separate things be able to use the world around them well
that are not separate in the real world. -- speak well, write well, read well, and work
Dennis Littky. well with numbers
truly enjoy their life and their work.
We learn best when we care about what to me, these are the real goals of
we are doing, when we have choices. We education.
learn best when the work has meaning to -- Dennis Littky
use, when it matters. We learn best when
we are using our hands and minds, when
the work we are dong is real and relevant. - If we care about kids more than we care
about schools, then we must change Side." Jamie McKenzie Wired

schools. We need to stay focused on the Classroom
student. -- Dennis Littky
... the teacher is circulating,
Society is asking our graduates for skills redirecting, disciplining,
and fast-paced communication, and questioning, assessing, guiding,
schools are still giving them facts and one- directing, fascinating, validating,
way lectures. -- Dennis Littky facilitating, moving, monitoring,
challenging, motivating,
watching, moderating,
If these words spark interest in you, let me diagnosing, trouble-shooting,
know. If you find other quotes, please let observing, encouraging,
me know. suggesting, watching, modeling
and clarifying.
Steve
The teacher is on the move,
checking over shoulders, asking
questions and teaching mini-
lessons for individuals and
Sometimes you have to be the sage on
groups who need a particular
the stage. Other times, a guide on the
skill. Support is customized and
side.
individualized. The Guide on the
"A good teacher knows when to act
Side sets clear expectations,
as Sage on the Stage and when to
provides explicit directions, and
act as a Guide on the Side. Because
keeps the learning well
student-centred learning can be time-
structured and productive.
consuming and messy, efficiency will
sometimes argue for the Sage. When
These quotes were found on
students are busy making up their enhancelearning.ca
own minds, the role of the teacher
shifts. When questioning, problem-
solving and investigation become the
priority classroom activities, the
teacher becomes a Guide on the
What is the ideal situation for teaching Tomlinson November 1998 | Volume 56 |
and learning? Inspiration and Number 3 | How the Brain Learns |
admiration. If you give a person a Pages 20-25 The Brains Behind the
reason to admire you, he will learn very Brain
fast. Sometimes it is necessary to
If you agree with these quotations,
lecture to inspire.
perhaps you are looking for projects, tips
Mario Llorente
and procedures to put these themes into
action in your school and classrooms.
Contact us at VisualandActive.com to get
What procedures could evolve
individualized training -- not one-size-fits-
from these quotes?
all workshops, but tailored to the
See QBESchool.com
teacher.
stunning, inspiring. I love the climbing

words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6MhAw
Q64c0
... Gordon Dryden suggested that I watch
this video. I want to go out and inspire
kids to reinvent the world. I'm
downloading this video and showing it to
my 500 facebook friends.
Learn about Gordon Dryden's work with

Jean Vos theLearningWeb.net and
their book "The new Learning revolution."
"...a one-size-fits-all approach to

classroom instruction teaching is
ineffective for most students and
harmful to some."
Teach Me, Teach My Brain – A Call

For Differentiated Classrooms - Carol Ann
6. Comments by
Mario Llorente
What is the ideal situation for

teaching and learning?
Inspiration and admiration. If
you give a person a reason to
admire you, he will learn very
fast. Sometimes it is
necessary to lecture in order to
inspire.
Mario Llorente
From an interview in January 2011
and thought about the quotes.

1. A survey is taken of students’
7. How to attitudes about “who controls the

agenda in the classroom?” (the
Transform survey captures the students’
your mindset before exposure to the

quotations – free response and
Classroom “range of reaction” questions are
asked -- see the draft survey on the
Suggested Procedure for “Priming” next page). To protect students and
Your Students with These Quotations to encourage honest answers,
“Priming” in a classroom can build students select three words to
confidence in students “code” the survey (for later
Teachers can display inspirational and comparision with “after” responses)
thought-provoking quotations to encourage 2. Provocative quotations (search for
students to take more responsibility for “QBE quotes” on scribd.com) are
their learning. The process is called posted around the room. Students
“priming” because the teacher “feeds” are encouraged to find three quotes
information to the students the way liquid and put their initials or names on
is introduced into the pipe leading into a the quotes that “resonate” with
pump. When the pump starts, the liquid in them. Students are encouraged to
the pipe enters the pump and helps draw write to talk to the teacher or a
more liquid into the pump. If you start the partner about why they like certain
pump with dry pipes, the pump sucks air quotations.
and labors to create suction. “Priming” the 3. Students are asked to work in small
pump makes it easier for the water to go groups to talk about their favorite
up the pipe. quotations. What is another way to
Summary state the opinion of the quote
Students can be given a survey before the maker? Using their own words,
“priming,” followed by a second survey. students restate the basic idea of
We expect students to become more the quotation and give examples of
interested in taking a greater role in their how to apply the quotation.
learning after they have read, discussed 4. Students take a “post survey”
(similar to the “before” survey) with that one group gets bored and is asked to
free-response questions. Students memorize words that they won't use later.
can submit the opinions
anonymously. To assist the Gateways begin with terminology,
before/after comparison, the building the vocabulary that students will
students are asked to write the use when they progress through the
same three words at the top of the program.
survey sheet.
A single course in zoology for an English
Option: Help us major
Scan or take photos of the “before” and A single course in physics for a history
“after” answers. Send the results of the major
two surveys to A single course in Spanish or Asian
VisualandActive@gmail.com if you history for a future physicist
would like to participate in the data What will these students remember? A
gathering. We expect to see changes in few definitions.
behavior by students who take more
responsibility for their learning after This is why we need Physics for Poets
exposure to these “school reform” tasks and Rocks for Jocks and Poetry for
and quotations. Rocket Scientists. These courses can
give the great concepts that drive these
disciplines, that educated people need
Key Point: Gateways or Single Stops? to carry in their heads.
Introductions to Science -- Surveys of Abraham S. Fischler, from a talk to
Literature students at Nova University, September
Universities generally make a mistake by 1985
assuming that one introductory course
can handle all types of students. These
courses are gateways for some students,
the only stop for others. The advantage to
the university is that one course can cover
two groups of students. The
disadvantage to some of the students is
Tips and examples of

projects WHAT
Before we look at specific projects, let's The content is important, too. What will
describe two parts of projects: Where and appear in the spaces (the “Where”)? The
What. teacher transforms the classroom into a
Where can we see the project? newspaper office. Students are the
What is in the project? reporters and editors, finding words,
videos and photos and cutting them,
WHERE piecing them together in new ways.
The teacher has power to decide where
the students' projects will go: The teacher can encourage students to
Posters on a wall post many types of content:
notice board (bulletin board) stories
in a box interviews
on a CD or DVD essays
on a door drawings
above the urinals quotations
next to the toilet roll videos
near the water fountain songs
wherever people stand in line poems
in a discussion lyrics
on a shelf job assignments in the class?
on the whiteboard
on a TV screen The students can learn to edit videos,
on a computer monitor create websites, YouTube channels,
in a binder Facebook groups and page, and blogs, and
in a Facebook group gain new skills while using projects to
on a blog explore the curriculum.
on a website
on Youtube Special note about the “I want to
the “I want to remember this” (IWTRT) remember this” (IWTRT) journal and
journal, diary or log the “This is important” issues book:
the “This is important” issues book Perhaps they are the same binder. When
the teacher/facilitator finds an article that their understanding? Where can they
is important to her, she puts it in the express themselves? What locations will
binder marked “IWTRT” – the “Tunafish you release to the control of students?
are overfished” articles are in my IWTRT Please: let students take over walls,
binder. Why not encourage students to websites and more.
find issues that matter to them and THEN
build the curriculum (math, science, EXAMPLE
literature, writing, languages, history) Teachers of English as a foreign language
around those issues? are always seeking “the perfect textbook.”
“If only I could get xxx book, then
Note: To keep the interest of the the class would flow more.” Some
students, quotations and other posted teachers point to a book by Raymond
materials can be moved around the room Murphy (Grammar in Use) and its
once a week (or placed in storage for two companion (Vocabulary in Use) and say,
weeks and then returned to be displayed in “That's a wonderful book.” That's the
another location). The teacher can assign WHAT, the content of the class. I
or request students to do the moving of remember when I was a new teacher of
the materials – and this task of moving English – I bet everything I had on that
turns into a learning moments, since the book (I was certain that my classes would
students can look at each item and decide, be stunning and fantastic because I was
“Marsha's poster would look good over using Murphy!) and I was puzzled why
there – most people couldn't see it when it some students did not see as much value
was on the back of the door.” in the book as I did. (Why were those
students bored? What more could I
do to please them?) After all, Murphy's
The purpose of this book now becomes grammar book has everything that you'll
clear: Most teachers focus on WHAT need to learn English. However, if the only
happens in the classroom (the content of content in the class is in that book, then
the class). This book (especially the the students are ignored. My mentor Cary
quotes, the excerpts from Neil Postman's Elcome reminds me, “We often forget the
book and the quotes from Littky) asks you most overlooked resource in the
to focus on procedures and the WHERE of school: the students. We ought to close
the class. Where can students perform the textbooks, turn off the teacher talk and
ask students to talk and share their play a song to start the class:
concerns and let them practice speaking.
Instead of forcing in another week of a) for the rhythm of the language
grammar, why not allow them to speak
and reveal their grammar gaps as well as b) for the meaning or message - focussing
their passions?” on English
In other words, finding a great textbook c) just to wake them up

will help make the class more interesting
because YOU the teacher are more excited d) it might be familiar (the tune, maybe
and passionate about WHAT is poured not the lyrics or the meaning)
into the room. Why not expand the
WHERE of the class? Let's release e) it might be unfamiliar, so it's new terrain
control and offer other places for the for them
students to perform their understanding.

You found great content (books, websites, The experience seems to be memorable
videos)...now gradually transfer to the for students. We can link in the lyrics, play
students the responsibility for their own the song (if it's popular among the class)
learning through projects. several times until they can sing along
without written prompts, e.g. Green Day's
songs, some Beatles songs, Billy Joel,
One of my students worked for a week to (earlier) Bruce Springsteen, Queen, Abba.
create a kaleidoscopic poster. (Thank

It may / may not link to the substance of
you, Ane and Irene). Contact the artist:
the lesson. Either way, it's good. A new
ane_larman_22@hotmail.com
perspective. Many students recognise the
See the poster on the website.
tunes, but cannot sing the words. It's OK
for the teacher to sing, too (growl in my
case). Cary Elcome
How do you make a class more
<bradstow2@yahoo.co.uk>
interesting and effective?
FROM CARY ELCOME: For most groups, I
like to:
Tip: Read Teaching as a Subversive of psychotherapy as part of their in-service

Activity by Neil Postman and Charles training
Weingartner
We want to make several bizarre proposals Classify teachers according to their ability
that are designed to change the and make the lists public.
perceptions of teachers now functioning in
Require all teachers to take a test prepared
the schools.
by students on what the students know.
Declare a five-year moratorium on the use
Make every class an elective and withhold
of all textbooks
a teacher's monthly check if his students
Have “English” teachers “teach” Math, do not show any interest in going to next
Math teachers English, Social Studies month's classes.
teachers science, Science teachers Art, and
Require every teacher to take a one-year
so on.
leave of absence every fourth year to work
Transfer all elementary teachers to high in some other “field” other than education.
school and vice versa. Require every
Require each teacher to provide some sort
teacher who thinks he knows his “subject”
of evidence that he or she has had a loving
well to write a book on it.
relationship with at least one other human
Dissolve all “subjects”, “courses”, and being.
“course requirements”.
Require that all the graffiti accumulated in
Limit each teacher to three declarative the school toilets be reproduced on large
sentences per class, and 15 interrogatives. paper and be hung in the school halls.
Prohibit teachers from asking any There should be a general prohibition

questions they already know the answers against the use of the following words and
to. phrases: Teach, syllabus, covering ground,
I.Q., makeup, test, disadvantaged, gifted,
Declare a moratorium on all tests and accelerated, enhancement, course, grade,
grades. score, human nature, dumb, college
material, and administrative necessity.
Require all teachers to undergo some form http://www.adprima.com/quotes.htm
concentrating on what others are saying to

Chapter 12: So what do you do now? the point of forgetting what they
1. Write on paper these questions: themselves were going to say.
What am I going to ask my students to do
today? What is it good for? how do I 5. Tell your students that all of them
know? will get an “A” for the course. At first,
2. In class, avoid telling your students the students will not believe you.
any answers. Do not prepare a lesson Eventually, the students can begin to
plan. Instead give your students a concentrate on learning, not their grades.
problem which might interest them Allow There is no need for them to ask, "When is
them to work the problem through without the midterm?" "Do we have to do a
your advice. Your talk should consist of paper?" "How much weight is given to the
questions directed to particular students, classwork?" Then help the students
based on remarks made by those students. discover what kind of knowledge they think
If a student ask you a question, tell him is worth knowing and help them decide
that you don't know the answer, ever if what procedures can be used to find out
you do. Don't be frightened by the long what they want to know. You will have to
stretches of silence. Silence may mean remind your students that there is no need
that the students are thinking. for them to make suggestions that they
3. Try listening to your students for a think will please you. There is no need for
day or two. We do not mean reacting to them to accept your suggestions.
what they say. Any questions you ask Most students will pursue vigorously
would not be designed to instruct or judge. whatever course their sense of relevance
They would be attempts to clarify what dictates. There are always a few who will
someone has said. view the situation as an opportunity to
4. Ask your students to discuss an "goof off." So what? It is a small price to
issue about which they have strong pay for providing the others with perhaps
feelings. But their discussion has an the only decent intellectual experience they
unusual rule applied to it: A student may will ever have in school. The number of
say anything he wishes but only after students who goof off is relatively small
he has restated what the prrevious compared with those who, in conventional
speaker has said to that speaker's school environments, tune out. There is
satisfaction. Students find themselves no way to predict what syllabus your
students will evolve. It depends on them.

If you prefer, you could try this
experiment (“everyone gets an A”) on a
limited basis for two weeks or for one
special assignment.
We propose a shift in emphasis in the roles
of teacher and student, a change in the
nature of the classroom environment.
The facilitator allows the students to
pursue that which is relevant to the
learner.
(Permission to reprint this information -- THE
WORDS IN PURPLE -- was requested from the
publisher of Postman's book, Teaching as a
Subversive Activity.)
Nicholls (1983) and Millington (1993)
8. Learning With argue that if the right motivation is

established, students will select tasks of
Projects suitable difficulty level and work on them
in a productive manner.
Motivation is the
most critically That is, if attention is directed to
motivation, many other apparent learning
important variable in problems will be resolved. Peak motivation
the learning equation is achieved when the learner selects tasks
By Dennis Yuzenas judged to present just the right degree of
difficulty (Csikszentmihalyi, 1979; Malone,
What follows is the educational rationale 1981). Whether it is a reader choos-ing a
for what passes as teaching in room 2-212 book to read, a mountain climber selecting
at Bak Middle School of the Arts in West a cliff to scale, or a child playing a video
Palm Beach, Florida. The class is U.S. game, motivation is enhanced when the
History and the students are all gifted and learner makes the choice. Thus, in the
advanced students. The school is a “inclusion” classroom, learning is facilitated
performing arts magnet. Students audition by allowing students to choose, within well
to “get in.” The teacher is an old bald guy. defined limits, tasks to attempt and the
This is all “real.” Everything that goes on in degree of difficulty. As de Charms’s (1984)
the classroom has a solid pedagogic and Hoffman’s (1992) research shows,
rationale. there is a need for the learner to be the
It is clear that gifted and “advanced” originator of learning tasks and yet to
students differ greatly in their ability, operate within a structure. The need also
knowledge base, reflectiveness, and style exists for constant aid sustained feedback,
of learning. This is a wonderful opportunity
to teachers, parents, and students.
to employ successful teaching strategies.
Expectations in the classroom must be well
Combining the top academic students with
defined and achievable.
teachers dedicated to Middle School
Philosophy and a placing all the
stakeholders in the richest academic Nicholls (1983) posits three forms of
setting possible is a concept whose time motivation: task involvement, ego
has arrived. involvement, and extrinsic involvement.
When a learner is task-involved, he or she Problem-centered (or project-based)

is focusing on die task rather than self (not learning is facilitated by cooperative
“What will they think of what l am learning. In cooperative learning, students
doing?”); learning (understanding) is an work together in small groups, usually to
end in itself rather than trying to look solve a problem. Cooperative learning has
smart or not to lock stupid. Ego many benefits. Noddings (1985) among
involvement is characterized by concern for many others, lists the following effects of
self rather than with leaning, small group problem solving:
understanding, or finding out. In this
condition, one learns only to avoid looking 1. Students are stimulated by the thoughts
stupid. An extrinsically involved person of others.
learns to achieve some reward or to avoid
a penalty or to please the teacher. For this
2. Students assist each other in problem
individual, learning is a means to an end
interpretation.
rather than an end in itself.
3. Students clarify their thoughts by

Within any class of students, not every
student feels confident of his or her ability. explaining to others.
Bright girls, for example, tend to have low
estimates of their ability to tackle new 4. Students learn useful procedures from
concepts in mathematics (Dweck, 1986). others.
Because competition to enter the class
may be keen and ability has been brought
5. Students experience increased
to the forefront by the creation of such a
motivation by cooperative efforts.
class, some students will feel insecure. If a
highly competitive and rigid environment
exists within the class, students will not 6. Students grow from challenges to their
become task involved. By reducing stated positions.
competition and stimulating student
interest in the tasks to be learned, tensions 7. Students show intellectual growth from
can be reduced and students can be freed peer interaction.
from anxieties that block learning.
In addition to Noddings’ list, there is also

How are the Classes Taught? Problem-
the skill acquisition involved in finding the
Centered (or Project-based) Learning appropriate medium in which to display
and Motivation
student findings. In the digital world we
find ourselves in it is imperative that
students be taught how to use the myriad A sense that the learning tasks relate to
tools available to them. Every student the real world, and are not simply “school”
leaving school today should have a activities
working familiarity with web page design
and construction, video pre and post A real search for meanings, solutions, or
production skills, and an understanding of understanding
communication networking and the
internet. These are real-world skills that A discovery of the plan or system when
will serve our students well. skilled behavior is the goal
Schools in general, advanced and gifted Some of the major forms of realistic inquiry
classes in particular, tend to be experiences in school include the following:
competitive. Competitive situations
promote ego involvement and an extrinsic
• Discussion (Good and Brophy, 1984)
orientation to learning. They make it
difficult for students to value learning for
its own sake. On the other hand, • Role playing (Gallagher, 1975)
cooperative learning environments foster
understanding as a goal; learning becomes • Discovery and guided discovery (Anthony,
an aid in itself rather than a means to 1973; Bruner, 1960)
some other end. Teachers should strive to
reduce competition and ego involvement
• Inquiry (Taba, 1962; Suchman, 1961)
among gifted students and to help
students experience the satisfaction of
solving problems and making ideas their • Small groups (Good and Brophy, 1984;
own. Feldhusen, 1986)
Realistic Inquiry Experiences • Seminars (Kolloff and Feldhusen, 1986)

In summary of all that has been said so
far, it seems the ideal learning experiences
• Games and simulations (Greenblat, 1982;
for gifted and advanced learners involve
Maker, 1982b)
the following conditions:
A sense of internal control or self-selection • Induction and deductive logic (Halpern,

on the part of students Intrinsic interest in 1984; Nickerson, Perkins, and Smith, 1985)
the tasks to be learned
• Critical thinking (Ennis, 1962; Harnadek, students to relate current learning to prior
1976, 1980) experiences and perceptions stored in
memory. Generative learning contrasts
• Mentors (Haeger and Feldhusen, 1987; with reception learning (Ausubel, 1978), an
Edlind and Haensly, 1985) approach to instruction in which the
emphasis is as transmission of well-
• Field flips (Feldhusen, 1986) organized information to the student. In
the latter approach, the student acts more
• Experimental research (Dallas as a passive receiver of knowledge and
Independent School District, 1977) less as an active pursuer of understanding.
• Library plus online research (Polette, The sixteen strategies (there are four and
then another dozen or so that follow...)
1982 and Gardner, 2003)
proposed here can all be used by teachers
to achieve the following goals for gifted
• Tutoring experiences (Ellison, 1976)
students:
• Problem solving (Glaser, 1984; Tuma and 1. Teaching of broad concepts and
Reif, 1984) principles in the discipline
• Future studies (Flack and Feldhusen, 2. Developing a broad range of process or

1983; Whaley, 1983) thinking skills
All of these teaching methods can involve 3. Helping students became self-directed
gifted and advanced students in generative learners
learning (Wittrock, 1977), a process in
which students themselves are actively 4. Stimulating intrinsic interest in the
involved in higher level cognitive activities. content
They can create their own understanding
of concepts and principles and their own Teachers who are concerned about the
cognitive guides for skilled behavior. teaching of basic skills will see that the
relatively automatic behavior that must
Wittrock points out that generative become a part of every student’s repertoire
learning experiences make it possible for (Samels and Eisenberg, 1981) can best be
developed through initial learning motivate and involve the student in an

experiences in which gifted and advanced active, self-directing role in the learning
students develop a cognitive schemata or process. The following general guidelines
plan for the skill through their own self - embody the general approaches for such
directed exploration or investigation. learning for gifted students:
Automatization of a skill evolves best
though repeated experience in using the 1. Make extensive use of generative
skill in real contexts or new and more instructional strategies such as discovery,
complex leaning situations. discussion, small group problem solving,
and other nondidactic methods.
General Guidelines for Developing
Strategies in a Project-Based 2. Use instructional strategies appropriate
Classroom to the content. Obviously, certain subjects
and topics are best taught by one
The various methods and strategies instructional strategy, whereas other topics
discussed are based on a conception of are best taught with other strategies.
learning that sees the gifted and/or While small group problem solving might
advanced student as an active, generative, work well in science, practice might work
problem-solving learner, creating his or her better in math. Good teachers constantly
own understanding and conceptual make their strategy choice based on
framework within the disciplines. judgments about the content and student
learning styles (Gardner, 2006).
We now examine a set of very general
guidelines that teachers of the inclusion 3. Encourage students to develop their
program can use in a wide variety of own methods of reasoning including self-
generated algorithms; encourage alternate
teaching situations. These are general
ways of thinking and performing tasks.
strategies for implementing curriculum
plans. Curriculum specifies goals and
4. Allow students the freedom to organize
objectives, subject matter content,
their thinking.
concepts and principles, thinking skills or
processes, basic skills, attitudes, and 5. Provide a learning environment with a
values to be learned by gifted students. In variety of options that enable students with
this chapter we have focused on different learning styles to choose activities
instructional strategies that seek to and materials that fit their own learning
styles. classroom has. It is accepted that the skill

levels for any particular task will vary
6. De-emphasize competition and widely within every classroom.
encourage cooperative learning.
10. Encourage students to set their own
7. Establish a learning environment goals and to make decisions about what to
conducive to task involvement Nicholls and study. Provide mechanisms suds as
Burton suggest that, “The teacher’s task is planning forms and lists of options to
to create and sustain task involvement and enable students to develop their own
to prevent children’s preoccupation with learning plans (Feldhusen, 1986).
task-extrinsic incentives or with how their
ability compares with that of others.” This 10.1 Failure is accepted (provided learning
is no easy task, but striving toward it will has taken place.) Bold experimentation on
produce a richer intellectual climate for the part of students will only be realized
gifted and advanced students. Grading when the academic climate allows for both
policies and evaluation methods should be trial and error. Taking academic risks is
examined to consider the effect they have encouraged and rewarded. You can add
on motivation. your own cheesy Edison quote here!
7.1 Alternative means of assessment 11. Resources for these types of classes
should be incorporated into every are not limited to a single teacher in a
classroom. The process may begin with a single subject area. The use of
modified type of portfolio and should be interdisciplinary team teaching and co-
expanded into the multimedia arena. teaching with an assigned resource teacher
makes effective and sustained team
8. Use little or no drill and practice. Since curriculum design and implementation
gifted children are often advanced in skills, essential.
it is necessary to first assess what the
students know, then teach the skills Conclusion
needed. Practice is useless unless the skill
is newly acquired, and gifted children need Imposition strategies alone, such as lecture
far less practice to acquire skills than and other modes of “showing students
average students. how,” can have an adverse effect on how
students learn. On the other hand, it is
9. Make differentiated assignments to meet argued that negotiation strategies are
the various needs that each student in the powerful in establishing a learning
environment that allows students to they feel about their role in the activity.
create, integrate, and synthesize ideas and Task involvement is a desirable goal. By
the way these ideas are presented and de-emphasizing extrinsic rewards and
shared. By learning in an environment that competition, we can stimulate students to
encourages cooperation and free exchange be interested in the subject for its own
of ideas, students become capable of sake and enjoy the love of learning.
setting goals and achieving them with
guidance, not imposition, by the teacher. Dennis Yuzenas teaches at Bak Middle
School of the Arts in Palm Beach County,
Florida. He can be reached at
Although students vary greatly in their yuzenasD@gmail.com – his website is
orientation to learning, it is, in a practical WhatDoYaKnow.com.
sense, impossible for the teacher to design
a separate learning experience for each
student. Attempting to do this risks having
the teacher as the puppeteer and putting To see a summary of his method, search
the learner in a puppet’s role. An these works: Dennis Yuzenas Visual
and Active edu-taining teaching
alternative strategy is to challenge
technique on Youtube Link:
students to set goals and make decisions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnR_n
about how to attack a problem and present CakIKk
their solutions in the most appropriate
fashion. In this way, learning becomes an To see how Yuzenas gets his students
adventure in which the students are to gradually take over responsibility
for their learning, go to Youtube.
anxious to participate. The basic thesis is
Search words: Dennis Yuzenas uses
that in matching instructional strategies to Mindsets and Paradigms Link:
learners, the matching is best done by the youtube.com/watch?v=EAaXhuiLAAU
student with guidance from the teacher.
To see a rubric, see Part 4 (the first item in
the Free Materials section)
Motivation plays a key role in the learning
process. By attending to the motivational
effects of what develops as a classroom
culture, it is possible to enhance learning a
great deal. It has been said that we learn
what we want to learn. Whether gifted and
advanced students (or students at the
Assessments
other end of the educational spectrum)
want to learn topic X depends on their
beliefs about the learning process and how A Narrative (derived from
the Met Center's format) • He was ill for an extended period
but rallied to make up homework for

Student: Jorge Gonzalez
his car course.
Parent: Maria Gonzalez

Learning Plan Work: Goals Met
LTI/lnterest Search: While beginning to
Mentor: Jane Dawkins
look for an LTI at private detective
agencies, Rhonda then matched this
Advisor: Richard Flanagan
interest in being a “detective” with
archeology and pursued an internship at
Grade: 10th Quarter 2
the Public Archeology Lab. Currently, she is
working in the lab washing specimens and
Date of Narrative:
working with the education director.
Absences: 4
College Prep: Rhonda has been writing
drafts of her college resume and visited
Late: 2
the college fair. She also took the PSAT in
Highlights: October.
First Quarter Project: Rhonda chose to

write a paper about high school dropouts,
• Jorge sought and won an internship but is behind. While she completed the
at the YMCA reflection part, she has not completed the
inter-views or the research component. We
• He is also pursuing his interest in decided to move the deadline for this
car mechanics with a class at Vernon paper until after her college research paper
Vo-tec: Air Conditioning Systems. is due in January.
• He helped to organize a food drive. Big Picture 301: Rhonda has met most of
the goals in this area this quarter — she
has been consistent in her journal, she Exhibition/Portfolio evaluation:
uses her Supercalendar effectively; as a Rhonda’s exhibition was well orga-nized

with documentation of all the work that
leader, she spoke to 9th graders about
she had finished and time-lines for the
exhibi-tions and she has worked with new
work that she had yet to finish.
students to help them learn about the
school. Graduation Readiness: Rhonda seems
to be on target to grad-uate on time. She
Main Gaps has a bit of contract work to complete for
early December, but given that she has a
college class in addition to other Learning
Big Picture 301: While she writes in her
Plan work, she has done an admirable
journal consis-tently, she does not always
amount of good quality work.
turn it in. I would also like to see her
participate more in the school community Overview: Rhonda has had to face many
and in advisory discussions. new challenges this semester. She’s found
an internship at a business outside of the
Quantitative Reasoning: Increase hospital setting and has begun facing the
challenge of a class at a local university.
ex-ploration of this goal in the projects.
This year, the expec-tations on her work
and her thinking have been increased. As
Empirical Reasoning: Increase the she has al-ways been a good student, she
exploration of this goal in projects. Pursue has felt the challenge this quarter and has
research for the first quarter project. been confused, lost, and overwhelmed at
times. In general, 1 think these chal-lenges
are good for Rhonda, who has the
Personal Qualities: Perseverance and
opportunity to learn and grow with these
time management. These are satisfac-tory,
new expectations and per-severe through
but given the demands on her time, she challenges. As always, it is a pleasure to
will need to work very hard on these to have Rhonda in class. It is difficult to see
succeed. her feel discouraged from too much work
Overall - Depth in project work or overwhelmed, but I also know this is a

good test of Rhonda’s determina-tion and school. Focus on being more inquisitive.
she will be better prepared for college and

the work world having tested herself now. Exhibition — add visuals; plan and teach a
I am proud of how bravely she is facing lesson on what you are learning at your
her challenges! internship and college class.
Show at the next exhibition how the

college class allowed you to work on Social
What should be on the second quarter Reasoning and Personal Qualities — it will
Learning Plan: be important for you to connect the class
to your personal goals.
Communication with advisor —asking for
help. Advisor: Jane Dawkins 11/2010
Participating in advisory
discussions/leading by voicing your
Form
opinion.
Contract work
A Narrative (derived from the Met

Research/Empirical Reasoning (for first Center's format)
quarter project and for the college paper)
and Quantitative Reasoning. Student: _______________________
Parent: _______________________
Depth in each project. (The college
research paper will allow a great
___________________________________
opportunity for this.) _______
Ask more questions at the LII and at Mentor: _______________________

Advisor: _______________________ College Prep:
Grade: ____ Quarter ___ Date of ___________________________________

Narrative: ________
__________
Absences: ___ Late: ___

First Quarter Project:
Highlights:
______________________________
_______________
• Jorge sought and won an internship
at the YMCA
___________________________________
__________
• He is also pursuing his interest in
car mechanics with a class at Vernon

Integrated subject areas:
Vo-tec: Air Conditioning Systems.
___________________________________
• He helped to organize a food drive.
__________
• He was ill for an extended period

___________________________________
but rallied to make up homework for
__________
his car course.
Learning Plan Work: Goals Met

LTI/lnterest Search: While beginning to
Main Gaps
look for an LTI at private detective
agencies, Rhonda then matched this
interest in being a “detective” with Journal:
archeology and pursued an internship at

the Public Archeology Lab. Currently, she is
working in the lab washing specimens and
working with the education director. ___________________________________
__________ _______
Quantitative Reasoning: ___________________________________

_______
___________________________________
__________ Overview:
Empirical Reasoning: ___________________________________

_______
___________________________________
__________ ___________________________________
_______
Personal Qualities:
___________________________________
__________ What should be in the next quarter's
Learning Plan:
Overall - Depth in project work

___________________________________
Exhibition/Portfolio evaluation: _______
___________________________________
_______
___________________________________
_______
Readiness for Graduation:
___________________________________
Advisor: ________________ Date: classroom that could build on what I'm

____________ hearing today?
Yes, 1983 is ancient history for many of
Pages 152--171 in Littky's book, The Big us...
Picture: Education is Everyone's 1. The Situation in 1983
Business details this form of assessment. The Carnegie Foundation paid millions of
dollars to get a report that made broad
recommendations for school reform.
Chairman Boyer looked at the school
======== systems around the country and
Dennis and Steve would like to give this concluded:
workshop someday…..
Here is the outline: I hope that in the century ahead students
will be judged not by their performance on
a single test but by the quality of their lives.
Reset the Mindset A I hope that students will be encouraged to
presentation (and workshop) for be creative, not conforming, and learn to

teachers cooperate rather than compete.
Ernest Boyer, president of Carnegie
NOTE: you don't need to take notes. Foundation for the Advancement of
Just listen. If you want to take notes, Teaching, 1993.
don't worry. We will give you this Nearly 30 years later
presentation on a CD or DVD, your We have more measurement. Did
choice. anything ever grow by measuring it?
At the end of this presentation, you will be (Dennis Littky)
asked to work with partners to apply some Have things really changed? Is Boyer
of the information that is discussed in this turning over in his grave?
workshop. You might want to keep this What's needed? A new way of looking at
question in the back of your mind: How can the problem.
I use this information in my classroom? 2. What happens when you change the
What could I change in my lesson plans mindset?
and in my classroom to put this Before we look at schools, let's look at
information to use? other times when the mindset was
What materials can I bring into my changed.

GALILEO and COPERNICUS in the middle of a mindset change now...

Galileo looked at the moon and said, "I can Howard Gardner helped us reset the way
see that the moon orbits the earth, and we think about intelligence (multiple
there's no way that the sun circles the intelligences)
earth." He provided a new model for Robert Ballard asked us to look at the
categorizing what everyone saw. Black Sea and imagine what might have
His telescope showed that there were little happened to create the story of Noah's Ark
moons that went around Jupiter and those and the Great Flood
moons did not circle the Earth. This data Dan Pink told us to think about the other
blew the minds of 16th century Italians and side of the brain… but these mindsets
they couldn't handle it. Galileo had to have stalled.
recant. People like Dan Pink are saying, "Hey,
There have been other shifts in mindsets design is important, look to the whole
or paradigms. Copernicus showed that the brain" while test mavens want to
orbits of planets were ellipses, not a circle. standardize education in a left-brained,
Mindsets come from the way we look at data-driven, lopsided manner.
the world scientifically Progress does not have to move forward
 Ether. Scientists used to think that smoothly. There will be losses,
light traveled along the ethers. they used retrenchment before we unloose the bonds
to think that light was a wave, but it also that bind us to tradition and then we can
acts as a particle (that's a shift in the surge ahead.
mindset) So let's move on...
 Phlogiston -- this word describes a 3. Unintended Consequences
material's ability to burn... Intellectuals in
the Middle Ages thought that wood and Problem: we depend on foreign oil
paper had more “phlogiston” than metal or Remedy: ethanol from corn
stone. Unintended Consequence: (cartoon of
 Gasoline: our mindset before 1973 was starving kid next to fuel pump with ethanol
(hopefully) different than today. from corn)
We are talking about cars that run on There are numerous other examples of
alternatives to gasoline. unintended consequences.
There have been dozens of major changes Who knew that when Congress made it a
in humanity's collective mindset and we are goal to help more people to own their
homes that the entire structure would start prepare kids for more school." --
to fall down? Tom Magliozzi, one of the Car Talk guys,
Action: Congress made it easier to lend writing in his book, In Our Humble Opinion:
money Car Talk's Click and Clack Rant and Rave
Response: Interest-only loans with a (2000).
balloon payment and increased interest "I have been a psychologist for 21 years,
rate after four or five years. OOPS: and I have never had to do in the
people who couldn't afford to borrow were profession what I needed to do to get an A
given loans... in many of my courses in college. In
Political particular, I've never had to memorize a
cartoon is by Chan Lowe, Sun- book or lecture. If I can't remember
Sentinel.com >>>>> something, I just look it up. However,
4. What are the unintended schools set things up to reward with As the
consequences of measuring students students who are good memorizers, not
and applying standards to schools? just at the college level but at many other
a) teaching to the test levels as well. -- Robert Sternberg,
"Tell us what's on the test, and let us psychologist.
prepare for the test." Our education system should be creating
b) Preparing for a test (instead of teaching mindful learners. (Littky)
as we used to and just letting the test Too often we teach people things like
measure what was taught.) "There's a right way and a wrong way to do
These were NOT what Governor Jeb Bush everything." What we should be teaching
stated in his plan for "A+" when the Florida them is how to think flexibly, to be
Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) mindful of all the different possibilities of
was proposed. every situation and not close themselves
5. SOME QUOTES off from information that could help them.
"It seems to me that schools primarily Ellen Langer, professor of psychology
teach kids how to take test, a skill one I never let schooling get in the way of
hardly uses in real life unless one is a my education. -- Mark Twain (Samuel
contestant on a quiz show). Elementary Clemens)
school prepares kids for junior high; junior No matter how far you have gone on a
high prepares them for high school. So the wrong road, turn back. -- Turkish
goal (if we can call it that) of schools is to proverb
Think about how people learn best. We please eight different teachers with eight
learn best when we care about what we different sets of expectations -- and the
are doing, when we have choices. We teachers base their understanding of the
learn best when the work has meaning to kids on 45 minutes spent in a room with 20
us, when it matters. We learn best when to 30 other kids. Only if they are having
the work is real and relevant. trouble do they get an individualized
We want to prepare our children for the education plan (IEP) or get any feedback
world, so let's no isolate them from the on their learning beyond a single letter on
world. their report card. Their education system
Many people talk about how difficult it is to assumes that they are exactly like every
integrate a curriculum. How can English other kid in the class and every other kid
teachers work with math, science and who was in that class 40 and 50 years ago.
history teachers? That is ridiculous: the The school emphasizes the same "set of
world is integrated! Every day schools knowledge" for everyone and expects them
unravel the world and all its vast all to demonstrate the exact same skills.
knowledge and put it into boxes called The world is changing -- schools are not. -
subjects and separate things that are not - Littky, The Big Picture, page 32
separate in the real world. What is science One-third of the jobs that will be around
and geography without math? What is ten to fifteen years from now haven't
English with its history and word origins been invented yet.
and other languages? We teach kids 6. BEYOND RANTING AND RAVING
about the real world by locking them up in What can teachers do today?
a building that looks, acts and feels nothing We could continue complaining, but let's
like the real world. -- Littky, page 29 end this training with two questions:
The traditional school isolates large groups 1) How can we personalize our lessons?
of young people from adults and the 2) How can we integrate our lessons with
experiences of the real world, then expects other subjects?
them to emerge at age 18 knowing how to 3. How can we bring the world
be adult, how to work and how to live in the into class or take the class out to
real world. Kids are expected to sit still for the real world?
long periods of time, to learn primarily by GROUP ACTIVITY (for the participants
listening to someone talk and never talk to in the seminar)
anyone around them. They learn how to Let's brain storm together -- sit with a
group of four teachers and come up with our list, so we will add them to the lit for our
three things you can do to individualize next training.
training. Don't leave! Sit! Stay! NOW COMES THE
How can you integrate your subject EXCITING PART: You might think that
with other subjects? this seminar is over. We've talked together
Can we use the Internet to create virtual for 30-40 minutes. This has just begun.
internships? We are passing around a sheet of paper
(time to circulate with the audience, put with your contact information. You signed
them into groups, someone takes notes, this paper, putting your email address and
the notes get passed to the front, a big list your name on the sheet. Well, most of you
is made and checked off the list that is did. We want you to sign up for 7, 30, 90
given to the audience.) day checkups. Dennis and Steve will
make it their job to call you, email you or
Project-based Learning possibly visit you in your class to see how
Many education reformers point to you use these techniques. If you want
narratives and portfolios for assessment none of that follow up, scratch out the
and projects to guide the learning in the numbers. If you want all three visits or
classroom (to reduce lecturing). Inquiry emails, 7 30 90, then circle all three
and independent thinking by students numbers. We will contact you or visit you
ought to lead the way in the classroom, so on this basis. Please add your phone
that the teacher is a “guid eon the side” not number. If we can text your mobile
a sage on the stage.” OBJECTIONS: phone, please write the word "TEXT" next
“Itʼs hard to grade a project” and “itʼs to the phone.
messy.” More objections? Other Thank you for your attention. The
comments? unexpected consequence of this
presentation is not yet known, but we have
CONCLUSION This workshop is not over a hunch that you might bring a camera into
yet... When you are finished working in your classroom, a computer and a disk
your small group, we say, “Very good. burner.
Each group got at least ten of the items As the crowd disperses, the following
that are on our list.” BRAVO, thank you quote goes on the projector
for your participation. Some of the groups What is the power of stories?
added some ideas that we didn't have on I tell stories to new teachers who are just
beginning to get a sense of what "one kid McCrea visualandactive.com

at a time" really means. When they start to
gather their own stories that is when they
are beginning to see the inner workings of
each kid and to understand where the kids
come from. This is when they are able to
make learning happen and when they are
helping to carry on the culture of our
school.--- Dennis Littky
At the end, quotes by Steve Jobs, Thomas
Friedman, etc., go on the wall, CDs are
distributed with the materials and the
lecture on the CDs so the participants don't
need to take notes.
Presented by Dennis and Steve
By the way... here are three things you can
introduce to you students immediately – (1)
Posters for the walls at home (and at
school), (2) digital books and (3)
educational mp3 files – the CDs are
included in your packet. Please follow up
with us and tell us how you have used this
information and please share contrary or
supporting articles that you find in the
news.
Photo from 2006 – we've been pushing
digital books on TV (see the photograph of
Steve on a local TV news show, South
Florida Today)
For more information, write to
VisualandActive@gmail.com
Dennis Yuzenas
yuzenasdennis@bellsouth.net Steve
comprehension evaluation
check involving lots of
9. The next interactive activities CECILIA
step…. Let's Stop Lecturing
Let's Lecture Less: introducing

The Interactive Comprehension
The next step is simple: join us. Become Check (ICC)
a Guide on the Side. Keep your other
skills ready, but start with the key quotes.
By Steve McCrea
Post them around your classroom and ask
your students to GRADUALLY take charge
A typical lecture at university involves a
of their learning.
speaker giving information to an audience.
Students take notes and then they ask
Ask your students to write about the
questions at the end of the presentation.
quotations and perhaps we’ll include their
Schools have depended on this method of
comments on the website.
teaching and learning for centuries. Entire
industries exist because many teachers
Send me your comments.
use lectures as the primary method of
communicating with students.
Steve
Here are things we know now:
Let’s Lecture Less 1. Speed: We students learn at different

speeds. (Successful lecturers continue
learning, so we are all students).
An Interactive 2. Methods: We learn differently. We
Comprehension Experience have different learning styles. We take in
(ICE) information in different ways (Howard
Gardner)
3. Performing Our Understanding:

Since there are many ways of taking in
Lectures and coursework infomration, so why don't we use many
different ways to show that we learned
various titles something? Howard Gardner calls this a
"performance of understnading."
an essay
The End of Lectures a multiple-choice test (also known as a
multiple-guess test)
a fill-in-the-blanks test The word "lecture" is revered. Most of us

a stand up exhibition (Met Center in believe that listening to a professor speak
Providence Rhode Island) is the premier method of mass instruction.
a project (high tech high school, We believe so strongly that students need
hightechhigh.org in San Diego, CA) to listen to the professor that we call them
a video the "audience."
a poster
A performance of understanding involves
4. Motivation: Our listening improves the audience asking the presenter
when we are motivated to learn. Our questions.
listening improves when we test-teach-test
-- when we ask questions first, creating
gaps of understanding, then there is a It is not rude to interrupt a presentation
desire to fill those gaps; the teaching can (except when questions can be posted at
be unstructured or structured disocery by the end... but there should be a way for the
the student of the information, then the participants to hit a "stop, rewind, restate"
seond test checks the comprehension. button. It helps the presenter know what
direction the audience or people in the
5. Project based learning is the catch audience want to go. One of the key
phrase. There is an engineering school in innovations that Dr. Edwards Deming
Arizona that has no courses. The program introduced to Japan in the 1950s was the
is designed around projects. You don't red button on the assembly line. The
take statistics, you include statistics and worker with no responsibilities for
physics in your project. A high school that managing or supervising can hit that button
uses this concept is Met Center in and stop the assembly line if there is an
Providence FI. One teacher advises 15 issue of quality with one of the products.
students in all subjects for four years. So, while the presenter is presenting, why
Subjects are integrated. not encourage the participants to
participate with questions and requests for
6. Participation: when there is a additional information and more
conversation, more learning takes place. examples?
Students in law school have to be prepared
at a moment's notice to answer a question In a class of 20, 200 or 2,000, there are
or give a definition and an example. When methods to use to encourage interaction.
the lecturer asks the audience to "fill in the
blank," an ICC is taking place. "
The skilled presenter will ask the audience
to share the following information:
What do you know?
In these lectures related to Guide on the What do you want to learning
Side, the talks are less entertainment or summary what did you learn today
edu-tainment. Most people expect to go to
a lecture and sit back to receive To speed the time and so that the
information. The Interactive audience doesn't have to listen to the
Comprehension Check (ICC) asks individual responses, the questions can be
participants to get involved. answered on paper before the
performance/presentation/comprehension
check. Everybody could have access to members o the audience stand and state
the questions by projecting them or by what they remember from the article and
emailing the audience with the questions... from the audio or video. in other words,
the lecture is not a reading (lect = read).
The ideal performance of understanding is The speaker is there to check the
a REVIEW and a check that the audience understanding of the audience.
actually understands what the presenter
wanted to convey.
"Steve, you sometimes talk about the
In the Interactive lecture, everyone arrives dangers and temptations of edu-tainment,
in the room with the lecture already what do you mean?"
presented. The information was available "Steve, where did you learn these
as a written article and as a video. the techniques?"
audience could download or listen to the
presentation on audio CD. The lecture A skilled lecturer will restate the question,
instead turns into a interactive opportunity. write the question on a board and answer
questions with, "Who has an answer to this
The ideal situation: everyone in the room question?"
knows what was said by the lecturer. The
lecture already took place on Youtube.
You are trusted to walk into the room The purpose of the lecture is NOT to hear
having already listened to or scanned the Steve, the speaker, talk. The purpose is to
article. (The concept of “being prepared” check the understanding of members of
for a lecture is expected in most the audience. The group is responsible for
universities, since college students making sure that comprehension is there.
SHOULD have read the book before the The presenter might not listen carefully to
professor begins the lecture. Many of us a participant's response, so every person
read the book AFTER the lecture.) in the room is ready to ask additional
questions that will further check
Techniques: understanding.
"Carlos, what is the capital of India?"
"Jessica, tell us why the moon has A truly sophisticated system of lecture
phases." would involve all of the could be called a
"comprehension check session."
How can we improve this questioning shy members of the audience would write
technique? Call the person's name after notes and questions and send them to the
the question. front or ask other more-confident students
"What is the capital of India?" (many hands to present the question or additional
are raised.) The presenter calls on a information.
student that is looking down. "Carlos?"
"Who can tell us why the moon has Etiquette: Think about the least intrusive
phases? ..." pause ..."Jessica?" way to let the presenter know that you
don't understand something or that you
When the presenter stands up, he is ready have a better example to help someone
to re-state what he presented in the video. else understand better. Is a short note or
But the presentation is more powerful if twitter or email message enough to show
what the presenter can alter? lecture is available, but in small pieces.
Over the course of a 90-minute ICE
A fully-multimedia session would allow the session, the presenter might talk 50% of
audience to project items on a screen the time, but only in response to questions.
behind the presenter to provide comic Anyone who wants a lecture can listen to
moments and to add to the questioner's the pieces that are presented in answers to
ability to communicate with the audience questions.
and the presenter.
The session of the Interactive
Every state of the answering connects with Comprehensive Experience (ICE)
learners in many ways. welcomes people who have never heard
the lecturer. You can walk in cold and not
The entire session is recorded so that the know what the topic is. Your presence as
presenter can learn how to improve and a “blank slate” will be a service to the
the participants don't need to take notes (or participants who recently read or saw the
they can later check what they wrote youtube video. Your lack of information
against the youtube upload). will be great for the other participants to
teach to. Make the classwork real --
Every spoken question is typed and import at least one person who can be the
projected on the wall to "get inside the target of transferring information by the
world" of the slower listener. audience.
How to use the ICE in Schools

Typically there is a textbook and the
Concepts behind "the Interactive teacher lectures to help students find the
Comprehension Experience" (ICE) important topics.
This concept is inspired in part by I was a slow reader in school and I usually
Teaching for Understanding, Project Zero relax and read carefully even today.
at Harvard. "I gave a lecture" and "I So I like it when someone tells me a
passed out a dynamite worksheet" are summary and gives me three or four key
examples of teacher performance. Most ideas to remember.
teachers are evaluated on their lesson plan
and how the plan is delivered. There is no I remember better when there is a
guarantee that learning took place. "What headline, when I can read or see a picture
a great teacher!” and “I really enjoyed her while the teacher speaks. I still remember
lecture" are typical comments by students Schleswig-Holstein as taught by Dr. Stunt.
– but the real evaluation could come from I had to look up the wikipedia article
asking the students to reproduce what was because I didn't remember what part of
delivered by the presenter. history that region in Europe played (yes it
is in northern Germany) ... but I grasped
Some people want to receive the the existence of the region. I recall Dr.
information live. They don't want to look at Stunt writing Schleswig-Holstein on the
a youtube video. They lack time or facilities blackboard with chalk.
or equipment to convert the video to an
audio format. They don't have time to My point is this: Most principals and
prepare as a participant. No problem... the teachers in most schools tolerate the
lecture format because it worked for The videos are each about 5 minutes long
them or they don't have the funds to each.
create an interactive compression
experience (ICE). It helps if the participants allow the
The teachers don't need to prepare facilitator to make ar recording of the
anything if they are giving a lecture. Just conversation and then the facilitator sends
stand up and talk about what they know. the recording to the participant for review.
It takes more preparation to connect with
participants (the audience) -- especially in
creating a room with technology that To see ourselves as others see us...
supports the listener. what a gift it would be. Robert Burns.
Treat every person the same differently. Sources of Inspiration

Dennis Littky CELTA training -- "Do you understand?"
Only by setting up a board or screen where (Most students see that the other students
information appears can the reading understand, so they donʼt want to show
learner feel comfortable. "What did he their ignorance, so almost everyone in the
say?" sometimes means "Can you write room nods and says, Yes, I understand.)
that down so I can be sure about what you "Any questions?" (Most students are too
said?" shy to admit that they have questions.)
Thanks to Jeff Mohamed for his adept

For systems with internet connections, the training methods. EnglishInternational.org
cost per lecture is greatly reduced: the Let's get rid of those methods of checking
video goes on youtube and students can understanding.
watch it before the ICC.
students who want access to the written Comprehension check session CCS
word can find it on scribd.com or on the
speaker's website. CCC is the Course to Check your
Comprehension.
It is tempting to call the presenter a lecturer
or a teacher, but really we should say
Facilitator or presenter or
comprehension checker, the CC, or the Principles of the Interactive
MC (emcee), master of ceremonies. Comprehension Check (ICC) method of
lecturing.
Ideally, there will be a 7 - 30 - 90 checkup
method, where the presenter or facilitator Derivation:
sends an email to participants one week, CECILIA = Comprehension Evaluation
one month and three months after the Check Involving Lots of Interactive
event to check comprehension and Activities
retention.
"Hi -- Do you remember what we talked
about and can you talk about it now?" If KEY POINTS
not, there is a reminder about the youtube No more boring classes: If students fall
link to the videos from the presentation ... asleep in class, they are not berated. The
teacher is offered additional training and

support.
No more "audio-only" public

announcements
No more surprises (the audience already

has a summary of what will be said or
there is a youtube video previously made
available)
Let's think about other participants in the

audience.
Thank you for your attention. Any

questions?
I deeply appreciate the stimulus that my

colleague Mario Llorente gave me by
encouraging me to start lecturing now.
APPENDIX…
each student's home at least twice a year)
allows teachers to know the capacities of the
class. Former students are welcomed on
I learned a lot by visiting schools and watching campus as peer mentors and are encouraged
teachers. Please invite me or the
VisualandActive.com team to your school so to use the school's facilities.
we can learn more.
HighTechHigh.org
San Diego. A visit to the school's channel at
Schools that youtube.com/HTHvideo gives a sense of the

intense focus on blending technology and
inspire us projects.
CHADphila.org
Philadelphia. The Charter High school of
MetCenter.org Architecture and Design welcomes visitors,
Providence, R.I. Dennis Littky's book The Big blending a curriculum with remarkable
Picture describes some of the procedures used projects: I enjoyed the manga books that the
to put the kid in the center of the school. students produce.
Students are given narratives instead of letter
grades (the teacher writes a two-page letter Urban Academy
summarizing the student's work in the past New York. Student work and photos cover 80
eight weeks and describes gaps that need percent of the walls. Hallways display framed
work in the next two months). Learning photos and posters, signs, artwork and
through internships (LTI) allows students to announcements. Learning by walking around.
discover how parts of the high school
curriculum are linked to the real world. Instead MavericksInEducation.com
of sitting through high-stakes tests, students North Miami Beach, Fla. Many of the students
give standup presentations or “exhibitions.” at charter schools in the Mavericks system use
Students interview relatives and friends of their computers to work through the curriculum
parents to build a 75-page autobiography. One independently. Computer Assisted Insruction
teacher stays with the same fifteen students (CAI) is robust, allowing teachers time to talk
for four years, teaching all subjects. Building with students one-on-one.
relationships with students (eating dinner in
QBESchool.com other as individuals” (andover.edu). A

Look at the website: QBESchool.com. Their colleague, Vic Henningsen, wrote, “Ted as
curriculum puts academics at about 25% of headmaster [at Philips Academy in Andover]
the focus of the school. Spirit, intellectual pushed the Trustees, the faculty and the
development (lateral thinking, which is often alumni, as well as his students, to wrestle with
overlooked in schools), social skills and the difficult questions of purposes and aims, to
emotional intelligences, and physical question what they were about and why, and
development are four other areas of focus. to seek new levels of understanding,
performance, and excellence.”
Aiglon College
Chesieres, Vaud, Switzerland. Founded in 1949 Howard Gardner: His Multiple Intelligences
by John Corlette, the school's vision is Theory has been widely mentioned in teacher
captured in part in a speech by Corlette at training programs that focus on how students
JohnCorlette.com. The central concepts: You learn. Teachers are encouraged to present
can learn more by going to QBESchool.com to information in a variety of ways to help the
see a curriculum that is based in part on the spectrum of learners in the classrom. Often
Corlette philosophy. overlooked is Gardner's prescription about
assessment: If individuals indeed have
different kinds of minds, with varied strengths,
interests and strategies, then it is worth
People who inspire us considering whether pivotal curricular materials
like biology could be taught AND
Ted Sizer (1932-2009): Author of The Red ASSESSED in a variety of ways (Intelligence
Pencil: Convictions From Experiences in Reframed, p. 167, emphasis added).
Education and Horace's Compromise. He
founded the Coalition of Essential Schools and He advocates the use of “performances of
advocated school reform. “Ted made us understanding”: When it comes to probing a
question assumptions we’d never looked at student’s understanding of evolution, the
before and examine the bedrock of our ideas— shrewd pedagogue looks beyond the mastery
which may be what his idea of education is… of dictionary definitions or the recitation of
When he was up there in front of us in All- textbook examples. A student demonstrates
School Meeting, he tried to get us to see our or “performs” his understanding when he can
responsibility to the community and to each examine a range of species found in different
ecological niches and speculate about the Development, ascd.org). His school's
reasons for their particular ensemble of traits. workbooks for teachers about mutliple
A student performs her understanding of the intelligences are often cited as important for
Holocaust when she can compare events in a the spread of Gardner's theories (since the
Nazi concentration camp to such contemporary workbooks give practical tips about how to
genocidal events as those in Bosnia, Kosovo or implement the use of portfolios). The school
Rwanda in the 1990s. has red doors (note the link to Ted Sizer).
“Measures of understanding” may seem Tom vander Ark: He invented the term “edu-
demanding, particularly in contract to current, preneur” and writes a blog (EdReformer.com)
often superficial, efforts to measure what which discusses the challenges facing charter
students know and are able to do. And, schools. He is a partner in Vander Ark/Ratcliff,
indeed, recourse to performing one’s an education public affairs firm, and a partner
understanding is likely to stress students, in a private equity fund focused on innovative
teachers, and parents, who have grown learning tools and formats. He was the first
accustomed to traditional ways of doing (or business executive to serve as a public school
NOT doing) things. Nonetheless, a superintendent and was the first Executive
performance approach to understanding is Director for Education at the Bill & Melinda
justified. Instead of mastering content, one Gates Foundation. Contact him at
thinks about the reason why a particular Tom@VARpartners.net.
content is being taught and how best to huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-
display one’s comprehension of this content in ark/#blogger_bio
a publicly accessible way. When students
realize they will have to apply knowledge and Dennis Littky: His book (The Big Picture:
demonstrate insights in a public form, they Educaiton is Everyone's Business, published in
assume a more active stance to the material, 2004 by ASCD.org) was read by Bill Gates,
seeking to exercise their “performance who used the phrase, “The New Three Rs”
muscles” whenever possible (page 165). (rigor, relevance and relationships) in a speech
to the nation's governors in February 2005 at
Thomas Hoerr: Principal of New City School the National High School Summit. His company
in St. Louis, Mo., Hoerr has written a column Big Picture Learning has spawned dozens of
for Educational Leadershiop (the magazine of schools in a network called Big Picture schools.
the Association for Supervision and Curriculum For additional input, see the interview on
National Public Radio (April 25, 2005) and practical answer, isn't it?
search “Dennis Littky small school” on Thanks to deBono, Lateral thinking is held in
youtube.com. high regard in many corporations. How about
in schools?
Edward deBono: “Mr. Lateral Thinking.” Look
up his name on Wikipedia and see the Abraham S. Fischler: President Emeritus of
remarkable span of his career as an educator. Nova Southeastern University and author of a
He has repackaged lateral thinking to match blog called TheStudentIsTheClass.com. His
the needs of current trends. For people catch-phrase is “Time is a variable”: “Instead
unfamiliar with the term, here is a typical math of asking the student to fit the administrative
problem: A wall 200 feet long by 8 feet tall structure (i.e., the class and arbitrary time
separates your school from your neighbors. periods for learning subjects and achieving
You need to paint the wall. Assume 100 square competencies), we must provide each student
feet for each gallon. How much paint should with the time and means to succeed. Rather
you buy? than punish the student who learns more
slowly than the arbitrarily chosen period, we
Some people place limits on a problem by must treat each student as the class.” He
defining the wall as only the part that we see recommends eliminating the use of the age of
when we stand inside the school. DeBono's life the students to organize the school, instead
work concerns getting the reader to think using “mastery of content” as the criterion for
“outside of the box.” grouping students. Computer Based Instruction
for math and English allows teachers to focus
Lateral Answers: The following answers are on problems, not presentation of the material.
typically marked as incorrect in most Additional learning takes place in small groups,
multiple-guess tests. where students work on projects and discuss
a) “Enough to cover the surface, plus enough their portfolios, applying the information
to do touchups. I would include the other side learned from the computer sessions to other
of the wall, since we want to be good parts of the curriculum. He recommends a K-
neighbors.” 8 x 200 x 2 plus the top of the 12 approach to implementing this system. His
wall, and I need at least two coats, so double testimony before the Miami-Dade Public School
the whole thing. Board helped win approval for Mavericks
b) “I'd take a photo and ask the guy who sells charter schools. Key Quotes: “rather than
paint to make the estimate.” That's a studying history through memorization and
chronology, it can be studied through problems indistinguishable from the ones their parents
based on the immediate environment for and grandparents attended. At first, such déjà
younger children and more abstract concepts vu warmed my soul. But then I thought about
in later grades.” it. How many other places look and feel exactly
as they did 20, 30, or 40 years ago? Banks
Dennis Yuzenas: Innovative teacher based in don't. Hospitals don't. Grocery stores don't.
West Palm Beach, Florida. His workshops have Maybe the sweet nostalgia I sniffed on those
trained dozens of teachers in the use of classroom visits was really the odor of
computer-based projects and team learning. stagnation. Since most other institutions in
He distributes ebooks on CD that his students American society have changed dramatically in
continue to use in high school and university. the past half-century, the stasis of schools is
“Mr. Y, I just aced my U.S. History class strange.”
because I knew all about the Civil War, thanks http://reason.com/archives/2001/10/01/school
to that CD you gave us with Uncle Tom's s-out.
Cabin” (a message from one of his students).
Interviews with Yuzenas form the core of the Thomas Friedman: The New York Times
curriculum for the Visual and Active Teacher columnist advocates a “moon shot” effort to
Training certificate (VisualAndActive.com, revitalize science education. His book The
youtube.com/VisualAndActive). World is Flat has recommendations for
reforming schools.
Dan Pink: Chapter 15 of his book Free Agent
Websites (schools)
Nation (2001) highlights the ossification of
schools: “Whenever I walk into a public school,
BigPicture.org, the Dennis Littky / Eliot
I'm nearly toppled by a wave of nostalgia.
Washor organization
Most schools I've visited in the 21st century
look and feel exactly like the public schools I CHADphila.org, Charter High of Architecture
attended in the 1970s. The classrooms are the and Design, Philadelphia
same size. The desks stand in those same
rows. Bulletin boards preview the next national HighTechHigh.org, San Diego, Calif.**
holiday. The hallways even smell the same.
Sure, some classrooms might have a computer MavericksinEducation.com, chain of charter
or two. But in most respects, the schools schools that include the CAI model described
American children attend today seem by Dr. Abraham S. Fischler in

TheStudentIstheClass.com emaginos.com, Jack Taub’s site
MetCenter.org, Providence, R.I.** RevLearning.com, vander Ark’s investment

group
NewCitySchool.org, St. Louis (publishers of
a widely used workbook for introducing multiple EssentialSchools.org, Coalition of Essential
intelligences in academics) Schools, formed by the late Ted Sizer
Tracy.MHS.schoolfusion.us, Millennium High GatesFoundation.org, funding for education

School, Tracy, California Motto: Aspire, reform
achieve, advance
GuideontheSide.com, Steve McCrea, teacher
UrbanAcademy.org, New York City** Motto: training workshops
A small school with big ideas
PZ.harvard.edu, Project Zero, Harvard
**These schools were profiled in High Schools University, teacher training
on a Human Scale: How Small Schools can
Transform American Education (2003) by QBESchool.com, Will Sutherland, innovative
Thomas Toch, introduction by Tom vander Ark, curricula
Beacon Press, ISBN 978-0807032459

QualifiedByExperience.com, Sutherland's
consulting site
Websites (reformers, publishers) rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com, Mario Pigliucci,

City University of New York
ASCD.org, publishers of The Big Picture:
Education Is Everybody’s Business (2004) by Cofradiaschool.com, Ben Udy's English school
Dennis Littky and Samantha Grabelle, ISBN 978- in Honduras (using John Corlette's educational
0871209719 philosophy, JohnCorlette.com)
EdReform.com, Center for Education Reform StudentsFirst.org, Michelle Rhee (former

superintendent of Washington, DC schools)
EdReformer.com, Tom vander Ark’s blog
theLearningWeb.net, Gordon Dryden, New
edSpresso.com, newsletter, served hot with a Zealand, author of The Learning Web with
twist Jeannette Vos: How to quit school at 14 and
eventually write a top-selling book about

learning.
PencilsDown.blogspot.com
JohnCorlette.com for additional philosophy of education
Postman and Weingartner
Teaching as a Subversive Activity
TheStudentIstheClass.com, Dr. Abraham
Fischler
NOTE ABOUT COPYRIGHT
2mminutes.com, Two Million Minutes, Robert A.
I have not obtained formal permission for
Compton’s project reprinting the paragraphs from Postman and
Weingardner. Their book is essential to
WhatDoYaKNow.com, Dennis Yuzenas, master putting the message in my head that I need to
listen more and “be a sage” less. I hope you
teacher and trainer, developer of workshops enjoy learning from Postman and
integrating digital portfolios Weingardner.
I hope the people who control the copyright to

Youtube channels the “Subversive Teacher” book will see that an
extended quotation might drive people to read
the rest of the book.
Youtube.com/channelname
YouTube.com/BPLearning by BigPicture.org
Keep in touch.
YouTube.com/HTHvideo
YouTube.com/QBESchool or go to Steve
w w w.QBESchools.com TheEbookman@gmail.com
954 646 8246 Fort
YouTube.com/AGuideOntheSide
Lauderdale.
YouTube.com/VisualandActive
Please invite me to your
YouTube.com/2MillionMinutes school. I’ll give a free
workshop and I’ll observe
Send your suggestions for additional websites
some teachers.
and YouTube channels.
can find on the website. Why not download a

free copy from scribd.com?
It is assumed that you cannot find the website GuideOnTheSide.com

or your network has blocked access to this
site… This document has much of what you

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4 ♥ No more boring classes ♥ Let’s lecture less ♥ GuideOnTheSide.

then ask questions.

(4) The best way to learn is to listen

Write at least two sentences to reply to the

(5) Describe the way or ways that you like

1. Survey about work by myself.”

“The Reader’s (6) Lectures are sometimes boring, but

Attitude about they are better than reading the textbook.

Teachers” (7) When lectures are boring, teachers

(3) Students should listen, take notes and

can do for himself.

2. The Quotes 9 There are 2 billion children in the

students to think about things that

Howard Gardner Dennis Littky Maria

Who said these words? Match the

"Students should listen, take notes and

3. Second then ask questions."

"The teacher should teach us information

classes were lectures. Then I heard a

students learn through projects that

teachers get to know the students

teachers teach every subject (yes, math

section so that they can watch mentors at

Points credit for time in the internships).

5. Exhibitions instead of written tests

6. Projects instead of lectures: Students

8. Portfolios instead of a transcript:

possible, reassembled) by students. for 4 years, grades 9-12, teaching all

Long-term relationships with the

ncrel.org "Constructionist Teaching"

ndl-ed.org "Constructivist Learning

know about this word...” and then let the

5. More because we want to be in control of the

(including need to know.

students) teachers who are guides on the side."

I think this class is interesting and I believe it is

Describe what you like about the class:

Changing your thoughts changes your

you are more likely to keep doing them.

By the end of the decade most U.S. diagnosing, trouble-shooting,

schools will blend online and on-site observing, encouraging,

learning to customize learning and extend suggesting, watching, modeling

the day and year. Most high school and clarifying."

students will do most of their work online.

Technology Journal The WIRED the group mentor -- the expert-facilitator-

Here are some additional quotes that

I teach by how I live not by what I say.

There's good in everyone. If you don't see

Faith really CAN move mountains.

Nobody grew taller by being measured. --

In the traditional method the child must say

John Dewey the answers.

My grandmother wanted me to have an Only passions, great passions, can elevate

Students concentrate harder and appear to

You have to start where people are, "small learning communities"

Given the widening array of possibilities,

In small schools, the learning needs of

Mavericks High School, Fort Lauderdale - Dennis Littky

We want to see the child in pursuit of

I want students to:

about schools, then we must change Side." Jamie McKenzie Wired

stunning, inspiring. I love the climbing

Learn about Gordon Dryden's work with

Grade: __ Quarter _ Date of ___________________________________

Absences: _ Late: _