Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

The fire within

“To succeed…it’s the fire within that must be lit.” Purpose, mastery, autonomy (mission not money as motivation.) Watch the video and then think of the implications for school. What do we reward students for doing?

Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

“If a school fulfills its mission there must be constant evolution…”

It is quite possible that the assigning of grades to school children and college students as a kind of reward or punishment is useless or worse… I’ve discovered an absolute treasure trove of fascinating material: Popular Science has put its entire 137 year archive on line. The quotation above is from Examinations, Grades and Credits by Professor J.McKeen Cattell of…

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Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Mission and The Builders Manifesto

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery There’s good provocative thinking from Umair Haque on the Harvard Business Review blog: The Builders’ Manifesto: 20th century leadership is what’s stopping 21st century…

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Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

What’s Changed?

What’s changed? Pretty much everything. A question to get going with: Shopping and information then and now: If you want the best dishwasher or digital camera or know how to remove turmeric stains from linen or why there’s a sudden infestation of ladybugs – where would you go to figure it out? And for most people the answer would be:…

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Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

The new literacy ladder. What rung are you on?

The world is moving at a tremendous rate. Going no one knows where. We must prepare our children, not for the world of the past. Not for our world. But for their world. The world of the future.  – John Dewey PDS graduates students who… possess a rich academic knowledge base and know how to think as creative, flexible, independent,…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

Keep the Connection … Expand the Horizon

Children are natural learners. It’s what they do. And the learning is joyful and the thirst for knowledge, understanding and mastery of skills insatiable. The primary task of school is to keep that connection with joyful learning vibrant and intact. The second task is to expand the horizons of learners – to provide opportunity, to create new contexts and scaffold…

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Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Echoes

We don’t own the words of course, but it was fun to come across these words from the PDS mission statement: Poughkeepsie Day School graduates students who: Possess a rich academic knowledge base and know how to think as creative, flexible, independent, resourceful learners for life Are intellectually curious, active seekers, users and creators of knowledge echoed in the words…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

Mission Tag Cloud and a Mystery Text

A tag cloud is a visual presentation of text. It uses word frequency to provide a blink-worthy read of information. It communicates a great deal in a few seconds and provides an instant take. I entered the text of our mission and description et voila! A poetic distillation of meaning. caring citizens collaborative committed community compass construct contribution creative deep…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

The Moral Compass: Make a Difference and Ask: Can’t we do Better?

These are words from our mission: Poughkeepsie Day School graduates students who: Know who they are and follow their own compass with optimism and courage Lead and inspire others through example, dedication and commitment to equity and justice This is a part of Tom Brokaw’s commencement address at Stanford University last year: “…welcome to a world of perpetual contradictions, welcome…

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