Making Learning Whole - Gaming Education

I'm reading a very interesting book called Making Learning Whole by David Perkins, Senior Professor of Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. It centers on the idea that effective learning is done by approaching complexity as if we're playing the 'whole game'.

Too often, we ask our students to focus on the elements of a problem without helping them understand how those elements fit together. Also too often, we teach about things like revolutions, chemistry, and so on without trying to understand how to do those things. Perkins calls these two realities elementitis and aboutitis.

As an English teacher for many years, I struggled constantly with the grammar question. I certainly knew how important it was to arm my students with the tools they would need to ensure their writing could become technically correct, but I also knew that unless they had a sense of purpose as to what they were putting on paper, they'd be learning the elements of writing without really understanding the whole process. I really tried hard to create a studio environment in my classes where each of my students were treated like real live authors. I wanted them to be engaged with their writing so deeply that their lives depended on it. Isolated lessons on grammar were important, but only as part of a much more holistic process. Knowing what a gerund phrase is will not likely improve student writing.

(For all of you who enjoyed my little grammar joke just now, thank you).

Of course, we learned about good writing by reading it and talking about it, and we spent the requisite time improving discrete skills like finding the gerund phrase within the sentence. (Thanks again - ;) ). But, the lights only really came on when I asked them to write. Often, I wouldn't assign topics, I wouldn't provide due dates (other than: 'it's due when you've finished it'), and the grades assigned would correspond to growth in areas in need of attention. The importance of understanding that each of my students came to my class with their own particular history, their own particular way of seeing things, and their own particular strengths cannot be overemphasized.

There is no 'one size fits all' approach to teaching that makes sense and more important, the idea that there might be is damaging and, at its core, unethical.

We need to take the time to let our students own the process of their education. School should be a place where we all have 'skin in the game'; where we get to try things out, not because we are going to become professional physicists or NBA All Stars, but because by doing them we become better and we make a difference for those around us.

David Perkins puts it rather well:

"Much of the rhetoric around education emphasizes excellence, and indeed excellence is a fine grail to seek. However, imagine a world where almost any adult had a kind of energetic if simple sense of civic engagement or ecological responsibility or avoidance of prejudice. Starting from the baseline of today's indifference and neglect, these 'games' do not have to be played in very sophisticated ways to do substantial good! The world would be a better place if in areas like these most people achieved active mediocrity rather than passive erudition." (Perkins, Pg. 23)

Non-Commissioned Work

Casady School sent 35 or so teachers and administrators to the World Creativity Forum here in Oklahoma City over the past two days. The opportunity to be involved in conversation about innovation, creativity, ethics, and technology is deeply appreciated and I'm looking forward to bringing the group together over the next few weeks at school to reflect and expand our ideas about what we can and should do as a school moving forward.

One idea struck me as I was planning for an upcoming Core Curriculum Committee meeting: Dan Pink's thoughts on the importance of 'non-commissioned work'.

Check it out.

Dust Storms and Education

A few years ago, I spent some time with my grandparents when I was home visiting for the summer. Among other places, they had lived in Morse, Texas, Dalhart, Texas and later, Beaver, Ok. Growing up, one of the things we often talked about was the Dust Bowl. As a child, I remember hearing about how thick the dust was, how it piled high on the side of their house, how their cabinets and floors were completely covered with dirt, how little there was to eat and how difficult it was to raise a crop. 

I knew the basic history of the 30's, but I hadn't heard anything specific about the static electricity problems... As I understand it now, dust particles in the air created a powerful electric charge so that metal objects like cars became dangerous to touch. One day, during a particularly awful dust storm, my great grandfather tried to make his way back to his house from the barn a few hundred yards away, but he couldn’t see a thing in front of his face - the house was completely obscured. Lucky for him, he looked to his side and found his way because the barbed wire fence that led to the house was sparkling blue with electricity.  

The image of that fence, illuminated – a beacon - highlights important ways I think about family, education, and this school in particular. It helps me remember what’s important, how to keep things in perspective, and it also reminds me of the kinds of things that are important to our students as they begin their own journeys through life and into independence. 

For my grandparents, it served as a reminder about how bad they had it then and how important it is to remember what matters most. For me, it’s a way to ‘see’ what they saw, to strengthen our connection and to benefit from their experience. For you, I hope it is an image you keep handy, not only because it’s really interesting, but also because it’s an example of how resourceful people can be in the face of challenging circumstances.  My great grandfather acted bravely that day and he had faith that the foundations he had laid in the form of a barbed wire fence would lead him back home to safety and to family.

We’re here to help kids understand where the boundaries are by asking questions that make them think; we want them to know how to use those boundaries in ways that enable them to navigate the confusing and disorienting times that inevitably occur along the way. At times, the challenges our students experience are best met by looking at the world out of the corner of their eyes. Looking straight ahead and focusing only on the ends instead of taking time to find the foundations and focusing on the means to get where you want to go can lead to disorientation, disconnectedness, and disillusionment.

In order to avoid losing our way and establishing a clear direction forward, we must deepen our understanding of and commitment to sustainability. Our commitment to environmental, programmatic, global, and financially sustainable practices will ensure that our school will shore up the foundational frameworks already so strongly in place here at Casady. Committing to these practices will ensure our ability meet the needs of our students now and far into the future. Specifically speaking, we must adopt and commit to practices that are good for our planet and model responsible life choices for our students; we must develop our program and curriculum in such a way as to be reflective of the values of the school beyond the particular needs and desires of individuals; we must understand global realities that shape developments in politics, education, and economics and educate our students to understand these realities as well; and, we must keep our school on solid, predictable financial footing to ensure the long-term health of the school and our ability to plan thoughtfully for our future.

Leaders point the way, but we all decide, each and every day what Casady is and will become; interweaving stories and experiences among faculty and parents, students and alumni, past and future faculty, shape this place and create a highly complex biological organism with a mission to replicate, protect, evolve, change and thrive.