Vision & Leadership

Wes Fryer has weighed in on the Wall Street Journal piece on 1:1 education (Saying No to Laptops), in his customarily eloquent and compelling way (School Reform Vision Needed), asking the right questions, questioning our vision of teaching and learning (the stories) rather than…. Well he says it better.

…laptop immersion projects should be all about changing teaching and learning in fundamental ways– NOT simply “doing school” with digital tools. We don’t need digital worksheets.

Partly for the benefit of the central Florida education leaders I’ll be working with today, I want to double-click on Fryer’s four school needs:

1. Administrative leaders who have instructional vision for teaching and learning that includes INTERACTIVITY and STUDENT CREATION OF AUTHENTIC KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTS.
2. Administrators and teachers who insist on not only differentiating learning opportunities for students, but also differentiating the assessment methods they use to measure student learning.
3. An understanding by all educational stakeholders that learning is messy. The standardized tests can’t and won’t come close to revealing the complete picture of whether or not authentic engagement is happening in the classroom on a regular basis– and therefore learning experiences that are NOT FAKED are common, rather than rare.
4. A “just in time” professional development program that supports continuing learning by teachers in the classroom. “One shot” professional development has a place, but the most significant gains in teacher proficiency with digital tools for teaching and learning come from their peers and from instructional support provided at the time and point of need. This means schools paying CERTIFIED teachers (not just technicans) to be available to hold hands and work with teachers as they take instructional risks– trying new digital teaching and learning strategies with students.

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