Teachers, when will we stop keeping our collective heads down, taking whatever new program or idea or “innovation” is put in front of us quietly, without a whimper?
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All entries in the Videos category
New Video: When Will Our Passion Boil Over?
Video: Welcome and Introduction to Teaching in the Middle
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Video: Changing Education Paradigms
Education as we know it today was designed during the enlightenment and is fashioned after a factory model. Sir Ken Robinson posits during this excellent talk that we need to shift away from the factory model toward what he terms divergent thinking. Instead of boring our students and medicating them to keep them passive, we need to encourage their creativity and let them be fully alive and awake – taking charge of their own educations! Any true education reformer needs to watch this video as it summarizes nicely all the ideas that Teaching in the Middle and others have been saying for years!
This animation was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson (@sirkenrobinson), world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA’s Benjamin Franklin award. For more information on Sir Ken’s work visit: http://www.sirkenrobinson.com
Video: Arts and PE in Public Schools ARE Important
Matt Farmer, (@mifarmer) a Huffington Post blogger and a parent of children in the Chicago public schools, addresses a rally of the Chicago Teachers Union, where he “cross-examines” Penny Pritzker, the billionaire member of the Chicago Board of Education. Mrs. Pritzker has voted to close schools that have no opportunities or access to fine arts teachers, and yet she insists on sending her own children to the University of Chicago Lab School which currently employs 7 fine arts teachers. I call this hypocrisy! I commend Mr. Farmer for standing up and taking a stand!
For more information, visit Diane Ravitch’s blog on the topic.