Rethinking Learning
conversations about the future of teaching and learning
Barbara Bray
be creative, innovate, take risks, unlearn to learn

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Joy in Learning

By Barbara Bray      September 9, 2008 -- 08:40 AM
How many times have you heard from students "School is boring?" That doesn't have to be the case. I read Joy in School in the latest Educational Leadership and it all made sense especially now with the emphasis on testing. We need to bring back Joy and an excitement about what people learn. Not just memorization. My take on the points in this article:

Make Learning Pleasurable
When you were young, why did you learn? Not what you learned in school, but outside of school. Most of the time it was because you were excited about something. You wanted to learn how to ride a horse - not because it was ...   more...
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Are schools ready?

By Barbara Bray      September 1, 2008 -- 08:03 AM
Scott McLeod in his post Dangerously Irrelevant responded to Jeff Utecht’s post on preparing our students for the 21st century to be global citizens. Postman & Weingartner’s quote McLeod shared from Teaching as a Subversive Activity is as applicable now as it was in 1969:

What students do in the classroom is what they learn (as Dewey would say) . . . Now, what is it that students do in the classroom? Well, mostly, they sit and listen to the teacher. . . . Mostly, they are required to remember. . . . It is practically unheard of for students to play any role in determining what problems are worth studying or what ...   more...
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Saving our Kids

By Barbara Bray      February 21, 2008 -- 07:53 AM
Have you had enough? I listen and cry. What is happening in our urban schools? The dropout rate is higher than ever and these aren’t stupid kids. They are smart - street smart but we dump them because they cannot pass the tests. I bet I couldn’t have passed the math test when I was in high school. But that’s not the problem. Poor kids are going to be out - trying to get work - without a degree. What can they do? How can we help them?

Will Olkin wrote They Schools in the New York Times today. He quoted a teacher concerned about the status quo and not doing anything that will make a difference:

“We ...   more...
Comments: 2   Last Comment By jsteph  February 21, 2008 -- 09:21 AM

The Unlearning Curve

By Barbara Bray      December 8, 2007 -- 09:33 AM
Just read Will Richardson’s blog post "Unlearning Curve" and the 10 things to unlearn. I truncated his list so please go to his blog to read his full list. Some things from his list that you might want to think about: We need to unlearn

  • that we are the sole content experts in the classroom...

  • the premise that we know more than our kids...

  • that every student needs to learn the same content and at the same pace..

  • our fear of putting ourselves and our students “out there” ...

  • that we continually have to block and filter access to the sites and experiences they need our help to navigate.

  • the ...   more...
Comments: 1   Last Comment By Kathleen Scott Meske  January 3, 2008 -- 11:31 AM