“You’d better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone, For the times they are a changin'” by Joyce Valenza

Although this blog post is directed to school librarians – there is a lot that can be applied to the classroom. And definitely a lot for our “flat world” /school reform committee to consider. Pay close attention to the sections on “Options for student projects, learning”; “What we know about how learners learn”; and “Typical assessment”.

We are preparing kids for a different world of work. Most workplaces today would not be recognizable by time-travelers from the late 19th-early 20th centuries. And yet – with the exception of the computer on the teacher’s desk and the computer labs down the hall – the classrooms of today are similar enough to the classrooms of yore to allow a time-travelling teacher to appear in a classroom one moment, and start teaching the next.

Case in point…. You probably will not be able to read this post in school. For some inane reason, the school filter blocks anything from Edublogs. It is a site run for educators and only educators, allowing them total control of the content. It has no ads for porn, online diplomas, nor does it promise to enlarge any body parts. And yet – the filter blocks it. Anyway – rant over. It is worth reading this post at home if you can’t get there from school.

tags: school libraries, flat world, school reform