November 12 - November 19, 2017
Some good clusters of articles this week: three nice pieces on the context of creativity, two pieces exploring critical components of pre-school/elementary curriculum, a good pairing on selective news being just as destructive as fake news, and others.
Of particular interest to me is the Mother Jones pedagogy piece about personalized learning. Education, or at least the most important parts of education, will always be person to person. The article explains that what makes Summit Public Schools successful is not the breakthrough technology that they offer for free to anyone, but the pairing of that technology with excellent, well-trained teachers. Sound human judgment will always be necessary for great, social learning for kids. The narrative must not be that technology is the/an answer, but that technology is a powerful tool for supporting people. This article moves us in that direction.
Enjoy this, and others!
Peter
FEATURED ARTICLES
Why We Shouldn't Give Grades And What To Do Instead Inside Higher Ed
"In Mid-August, I discovered Starr Sackstein's book Hacking Assessment: 10 Ways to Go Gradeless in a traditional Grades School, which gave me some cover in case students or administrators challenged this."
Brilliant Marble Tracks That Demonstrate Physics Principles [video] YouTube
"I built these pieces as a way of introducing or reinforcing students' ideas on motion and acceleration, inertia and kinetic energy, so let's take a look at some of them... This piece I refer to as a Galileo Track... This piece was important because it was actually a piece that Galileo designed to help explain the idea of inertia."
Have We Passed Peak Digital? Heading To A Healthier Balance? New York Times
"Independent bookstores have been steadily expanding for several years. Vinyl records have witnessed a decade-long boom in popularity (more than 200,000 newly pressed records are sold each week in the United States), while sales of instant-film cameras, paper notebooks, board games and Broadway tickets are all growing again... We do not face a simple choice of digital or analog. That is the false logic of the binary code that computers are programmed with, which ignores the complexity of life in the real world. Instead, we are faced with a decision of how to strike the right balance between the two."
ASSESSMENT
"Better Tests Don't Lead To Better Teaching, Study Finds" Hechinger Report
CHARACTER
Further Evidence Of The Effect Of Growth Mindsets Brookings
COGNITIVE SCIENCE
On The Larger Benefits Of Small Decisions New York Times
A Meditation On Listening (Via 2x and 3x Podcast Speeds) BuzzFeed
In Defense Of Distraction Poetry Foundation
CREATIVITY
Oliver Sacks' Passion-Driven Model Of Creativity Brain Pickings
"The common pattern in the natural cycle of creative evolution -- we learn our own minds by finding out what we love; these models integrate into a sensibility; out of that sensibility arises the initial impulse for imitation, which, aided by the gradual acquisition of technical mastery, eventually ripens into original creation."
Art In The Workplace Increases Creativity Pacific Standard
"Two [studies] replicated previous research, finding that people who are open to aesthetic experiences 'felt more inspired in their daily lives, and in turn performed better on creativity tasks.'"
Playwright Reflects On Consumption Vs Creativity Magenta
DIVERSITY/INCLUSION
How Sexism Begins In Childhood, And How We Can Address It Slate
Having Teachers Of The Same Race As Students Makes A Difference Brookings
On Gendered Hierarchies In Languages New York Times
EARLY CHILDHOOD
Childhood Social/Emotional Skill Is Most Predictive Of Success Inc.
8 Findings On Whether Kindergarten Should Teach Reading Washington Post
A Case For Math Instead Of Reading In Preschool... Quartz
"Math predicts reading; reading does not predict math. We don't know why."
HIGHER ED
Hybrid, Low-Cost Colleges Are Growing EdSurge
HUMANITIES
"Today's Biggest Threat... Isn't Fake News -- It's Selective Facts" Quartz
"Paltering": A New Word For Selective Truth Telling BBC
LEADERSHIP
How Does Your Organizational Structure Influence Its Function? LinkedIn
Four Elements Of Leadership, As Distinct From Management NewCo Shift
On The Value/Need For Active Shooter Training In Schools NPR
On The Importance Of Technical Expertise For Leadership Harv. Bus. Rev.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
"50 Books For Rethinking School" Global Online Academy
On Creating A Culture Of Feedback For Teachers Harvard GSE
PEDAGOGY
8 Themes In Recent Thinking About "21st Century Pedagogy" TeachThought
"Here are a few ideas as a kind of quick overview, with general summaries for each. I've added 'tags' for each domain so that we can begin to see how existing and emerging initiatives (e.g., personalized learning), trends (e.g., the flipped classroom), and buzz words (e.g., digital footprint) might fit into each."
Finally, A Solid iPad App For Tracking Seminar Discussions Equity Maps
Further Questioning Tech's Centrality In Personalizing Learning Mother Jones
"Cuban told me one of Summit's key strengths is its skilled, well-trained teachers--teachers get eight weeks of paid time to improve their craft during the school year, in addition to one paid month during the summer--who use technology to achieve specific goals and their professional judgment to make decisions on how and why certain learning will take place."
STEM
Computational Essays: Notebooks For Prose And Code Together Wolfram
"It's a powerful form of exposition that combines computational thinking on the part of the human author with computational knowledge and computational processing from the computer."
"10 Numbers-Obsessed Sci-Fi & Fantasy Novels For Math Geeks Barnes & Noble
TECH
Humanoid Robots Can Leap And Do Back Flips. Yikes. [Video] Wired
More Data Correlating Student Depression With Hours Spent Online KQED
WORKPLACE
To Get Things Done, Have An Accountability Partner New York Times
"Find someone you love and trust... Then, commit to getting something tangible done in the next week. At the end of the week, reconnect and have that person ask you if you did your thing. If you did, you get a high-five. But if you didn't...?"
OTHER
From "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out" To "Log Off, Mute All, Carry On" Austin Kleon
How Have Schools Changed In 150 Years? Some Graphs, Insights EdWeek
Of particular interest to me is the Mother Jones pedagogy piece about personalized learning. Education, or at least the most important parts of education, will always be person to person. The article explains that what makes Summit Public Schools successful is not the breakthrough technology that they offer for free to anyone, but the pairing of that technology with excellent, well-trained teachers. Sound human judgment will always be necessary for great, social learning for kids. The narrative must not be that technology is the/an answer, but that technology is a powerful tool for supporting people. This article moves us in that direction.
Enjoy this, and others!
Peter
FEATURED ARTICLES
Why We Shouldn't Give Grades And What To Do Instead Inside Higher Ed
"In Mid-August, I discovered Starr Sackstein's book Hacking Assessment: 10 Ways to Go Gradeless in a traditional Grades School, which gave me some cover in case students or administrators challenged this."
Brilliant Marble Tracks That Demonstrate Physics Principles [video] YouTube
"I built these pieces as a way of introducing or reinforcing students' ideas on motion and acceleration, inertia and kinetic energy, so let's take a look at some of them... This piece I refer to as a Galileo Track... This piece was important because it was actually a piece that Galileo designed to help explain the idea of inertia."
Have We Passed Peak Digital? Heading To A Healthier Balance? New York Times
"Independent bookstores have been steadily expanding for several years. Vinyl records have witnessed a decade-long boom in popularity (more than 200,000 newly pressed records are sold each week in the United States), while sales of instant-film cameras, paper notebooks, board games and Broadway tickets are all growing again... We do not face a simple choice of digital or analog. That is the false logic of the binary code that computers are programmed with, which ignores the complexity of life in the real world. Instead, we are faced with a decision of how to strike the right balance between the two."
ASSESSMENT
"Better Tests Don't Lead To Better Teaching, Study Finds" Hechinger Report
CHARACTER
Further Evidence Of The Effect Of Growth Mindsets Brookings
COGNITIVE SCIENCE
On The Larger Benefits Of Small Decisions New York Times
A Meditation On Listening (Via 2x and 3x Podcast Speeds) BuzzFeed
In Defense Of Distraction Poetry Foundation
CREATIVITY
Oliver Sacks' Passion-Driven Model Of Creativity Brain Pickings
"The common pattern in the natural cycle of creative evolution -- we learn our own minds by finding out what we love; these models integrate into a sensibility; out of that sensibility arises the initial impulse for imitation, which, aided by the gradual acquisition of technical mastery, eventually ripens into original creation."
Art In The Workplace Increases Creativity Pacific Standard
"Two [studies] replicated previous research, finding that people who are open to aesthetic experiences 'felt more inspired in their daily lives, and in turn performed better on creativity tasks.'"
Playwright Reflects On Consumption Vs Creativity Magenta
DIVERSITY/INCLUSION
How Sexism Begins In Childhood, And How We Can Address It Slate
Having Teachers Of The Same Race As Students Makes A Difference Brookings
On Gendered Hierarchies In Languages New York Times
EARLY CHILDHOOD
Childhood Social/Emotional Skill Is Most Predictive Of Success Inc.
8 Findings On Whether Kindergarten Should Teach Reading Washington Post
A Case For Math Instead Of Reading In Preschool... Quartz
"Math predicts reading; reading does not predict math. We don't know why."
HIGHER ED
Hybrid, Low-Cost Colleges Are Growing EdSurge
HUMANITIES
"Today's Biggest Threat... Isn't Fake News -- It's Selective Facts" Quartz
"Paltering": A New Word For Selective Truth Telling BBC
LEADERSHIP
How Does Your Organizational Structure Influence Its Function? LinkedIn
Four Elements Of Leadership, As Distinct From Management NewCo Shift
On The Value/Need For Active Shooter Training In Schools NPR
On The Importance Of Technical Expertise For Leadership Harv. Bus. Rev.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
"50 Books For Rethinking School" Global Online Academy
On Creating A Culture Of Feedback For Teachers Harvard GSE
PEDAGOGY
8 Themes In Recent Thinking About "21st Century Pedagogy" TeachThought
"Here are a few ideas as a kind of quick overview, with general summaries for each. I've added 'tags' for each domain so that we can begin to see how existing and emerging initiatives (e.g., personalized learning), trends (e.g., the flipped classroom), and buzz words (e.g., digital footprint) might fit into each."
Finally, A Solid iPad App For Tracking Seminar Discussions Equity Maps
Further Questioning Tech's Centrality In Personalizing Learning Mother Jones
"Cuban told me one of Summit's key strengths is its skilled, well-trained teachers--teachers get eight weeks of paid time to improve their craft during the school year, in addition to one paid month during the summer--who use technology to achieve specific goals and their professional judgment to make decisions on how and why certain learning will take place."
STEM
Computational Essays: Notebooks For Prose And Code Together Wolfram
"It's a powerful form of exposition that combines computational thinking on the part of the human author with computational knowledge and computational processing from the computer."
"10 Numbers-Obsessed Sci-Fi & Fantasy Novels For Math Geeks Barnes & Noble
TECH
Humanoid Robots Can Leap And Do Back Flips. Yikes. [Video] Wired
More Data Correlating Student Depression With Hours Spent Online KQED
WORKPLACE
To Get Things Done, Have An Accountability Partner New York Times
"Find someone you love and trust... Then, commit to getting something tangible done in the next week. At the end of the week, reconnect and have that person ask you if you did your thing. If you did, you get a high-five. But if you didn't...?"
OTHER
From "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out" To "Log Off, Mute All, Carry On" Austin Kleon
How Have Schools Changed In 150 Years? Some Graphs, Insights EdWeek