Education Rethink: Homework and the Real World

Via Education Rethink: Homework and the Real World: Homework is often justified with the “real world” argument. When I point out that kids should have the freedom to learn independently, play around with friends and socialize in their free time, I hear the...
Forklifts and Formulas

Forklifts and Formulas

How to Face the Digital Future Without Fear is the title of this talk, presented by the RSA and cross-posted over at Teaching Excellence. Why would you need to learn facts? Because everybody has – within millimeters of their skin, at most of the time they are...
Below My Feet

Below My Feet

Studio music sets the tone to many days. The studio’s learning rhythm is seldom lecture-based, and much more often practice-based.  This week in Ceramics I is the first week on the wheel, and I’m not allowing the students to make… anything.  Not a...
Buzzing and Buzzwords

Buzzing and Buzzwords

This is a buzzing year at my school.  You can hear a buzz of teachers trying to quickly integrate technology into their classes, under the new charge of “21st Century Education.”  The students are buzzing, because their teachers are trying new approaches. ...

Can You Teach Creativity, Part 2

I assigned my Ceramics students to watch Staley’s video, and then to answer the following question (among other prompts) in their sketchbook:  “Do you think creativity can be taught?  Why or why not?”Here’s a selection of what I got in...