Reinvent public schools with proven, innovative practices

Our homes, communities, and the world itself need the natural assets our children bring with them as learners, and which they often lose over time on the assembly line that pervades most of the public education system today. We see no actions as more important in school than developing, supporting, and reinforcing children's sense of agency, the value of their voices, and their potential to influence their own communities.

In Timeless Learning, an award-winning team of leaders, Chief Technology Officer Ira Socol, Superintendent Pam Moran, and Lab Schools Principal Chad Ratliff demonstrate how you can implement innovative practices that have shown remarkable success. The authors use progressive design principles to inform pathways to disrupt traditions of education today and show you how to make innovations real that will have a timeless and meaningful impact on students, keeping alive the natural curiosity and passion for learning with which children enter school.

* Discover the power of project-based and student-designed learning

* Find out what "maker learning" entails

* Launch connected and interactive digital learning

* Benefit from the authors' "opening up learning" space and time

Using examples from their own successful district as well as others around the country, the authors create a deep map of the processes necessary to move from schools in which content-driven, adult-determined teaching has been the traditional norm to new learning spaces and communities in which context-driven, child-determined learning is the progressive norm.

IRA SOCOL is the Chief Technology and Innovation Officer for Albemarle County Public Schools, and was named one of North America's "Top 30 Technologists, Transformers and Trailblazers" for 2017 by the Center for Digital Education.

PAM MORAN, EdD, is superintendent of Albemarle County Public Schools in Virginia and was the 2016 Virginia Superintendent of the Year and a top four finalist for the AASA National Superintendent of the Year in 2016.

CHAD RATLIFF, MBA, MEd, is the Lab Schools Principal for Albemarle County Public Schools. Chad was named one of the nation's "20 to Watch" educators by the National School Boards Association (NSBA) in 2017.

Klappentext

A PROVEN PROCESS FOR REINVENTING PUBLIC SCHOOLS WITH INNOVATIVE PRACTICES

"Though this book will cover many topics, the primary lesson design we've created is one that we hope will continue to push us and our readers to become much better at seeing children. Once we are able to see clearly what is happening with children in our schools and outside of our schools, we will then be on the path to learn how to take rapid, yet deeply considered actions to change the educational system we have inherited." From the Introduction

Schools of the 20th century with their assembly line approach to education were designed to fail students. The current need is apparent. Schools of the 21st century must be designed so that all succeed. Written by Chief Technology and Innovation Officer Ira Socol, Superintendent Pam Moran, and Lab Schools Principal Chad Ratliff, Timeless Learning outlines a winning process that is designed to develop, support, and reinforce students' ability, and honor their voices and their potential to influence their own communities.

This award-winning author team shows how it is possible to reinvent public schools through implementation of dozens of innovative and proven practices. The processes go a long way to disrupt the outmoded traditions of today's educational system. The authors further reveal the power of project-based and student-designed learning, maker learning, connected and interactive digital learning, and much more.

The processes and practices presented can help teachers and administrators take the big ideas from the best of those who have studied education across the millennia and put big ideas into practice in their own districts.

"A must-read book by three of America's leading public school educators. Socol, Moran, and Ratliff paint a picture of what learning must and can look like in the 21st century, and how to transform outdated schools into places of powerful student-centered engagement and learning. An inspiring, rich narrative from the front lines of K-12 education. Bottom line: if they can do it, so can you!"
Grant Lichtman, Author of #EdJourney: A Roadmap to the Future of eLearning and Moving the Rock: Seven Levers WE Can Press to Transform Education

"To prepare students for a bold new world we need to fundamentally rethink learning. The authors not only provide a compelling case for needed changes to the function of schools, but they all have played an integral part in implementing transformative practices at the classroom, building, and district level. If you are interested in how to put theory into practice then this book is for you."
Eric Sheninger, Google Certified Innovator, Adobe Education Leader and Thomas C. Murray Director of Innovation, Future Ready Schools

"The single most important challenge our country faces is how to transform existing schools to prepare children for their futures. This remarkable team has done exactly that, advancing learning outcomes for kids in every school in a district that reflects the full spectrum of socio-economic circumstances. Read this book and treasure it for the insights and pragmatic advice it provides!"
Ted Dintersmith, Executive Producer of Most Likely to Succeed

Zusammenfassung

Reinvent public schools with proven, innovative practices

Our homes, communities, and the world itself need the natural assets our children bring with them as learners, and which they often lose over time on the assembly line that pervades most of the public education system today. We see no actions as more important in school than developing, supporting, and reinforcing children's sense of agency, the value of their voices, and their potential to influence their own communities.

In Timeless Learning, an award-winning team of leaders, Chief Technology Officer Ira Socol, Superintendent Pam Moran, and Lab Schools Principal Chad Ratliff demonstrate how you can implement innovative practices that have shown remarkable success. The authors use progressive design principles to inform pathways to disrupt traditions of education today and show you how to make innovations real that will have a timeless and meaningful impact on students, keeping alive the natural curiosity and passion for learning with which children enter school.

• Discover the power of project-based and student-designed learning
• Find out what maker learning entails
• Launch connected and interactive digital learning
• Benefit from the authors' opening up learning space and time

Acknowledgments xi

Foreword by Yong Zhao xv

Introduction: How We Came to See Learning and School 1

1 All Means All: Cherishing Children 15

2 A Little History: Why We Are Here 39

3 Change: Liberating Learners and Learning 67

4 The Education World Learners Want 93

5 Envision All Things Future 121

6 Learning Ready for Today's Real World 147

7 Break Down Walls: Opening Spaces for Learning 173

8 Timeless 197

9 Where Design Be…