Thomas & Brown point to a shift, a momentous one perhaps, of how we learn. A movement away from "what" to "where" (2011). This shift is, unfortunately, not being fully recognized by those responsible for large scale education reform. Just as Thomas and Brown describe a move away from "what" towards "where", there also seems to be a movement towards a homogenization of knowledge and standardized testing, which falls clearly in the "what" camp. As Yong Zhao emphatically states in his book, World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students, "The efforts to develop common curriculum, nationally and internationally, are simply working to perfect and outdated paradigm." (2012, pg. 45). So perhaps Thomas & Brown's assertion is one part description, one part aspiration.
In my own experience, that seems to be about right. I am constantly engaged in figuring out how to teach in the "where" and "how" spaces, while also contending with large publisher's packaged curriculum programs that still feel firmly rooted in the "what". One way I try to do this, borrowing a term from a Gever Tulley of Brightworks School, is to be "provocative." I had the chance to sit down with Gever during a week-long job shadow at his school a couple of years ago, and he sketched on a piece of printer paper a blueprint of the provocations he uses to inspire students. The list included things like quests, big questions, and challenges that were open-ended examples of "where" and "how". In his book Fifty Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do, (2011) Gever offers several examples, many of which I've implemented in my room.
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, Ky.: [CreateSpace?].
Tulley, G., & Spiegler, J. (2011). Fifty dangerous things (you should let your children do). New York: New American Library.
Zhao, Y. (2012). World class learners: Educating creative and entrepreneurial students. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press :.
In my own experience, that seems to be about right. I am constantly engaged in figuring out how to teach in the "where" and "how" spaces, while also contending with large publisher's packaged curriculum programs that still feel firmly rooted in the "what". One way I try to do this, borrowing a term from a Gever Tulley of Brightworks School, is to be "provocative." I had the chance to sit down with Gever during a week-long job shadow at his school a couple of years ago, and he sketched on a piece of printer paper a blueprint of the provocations he uses to inspire students. The list included things like quests, big questions, and challenges that were open-ended examples of "where" and "how". In his book Fifty Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do, (2011) Gever offers several examples, many of which I've implemented in my room.
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, Ky.: [CreateSpace?].
Tulley, G., & Spiegler, J. (2011). Fifty dangerous things (you should let your children do). New York: New American Library.
Zhao, Y. (2012). World class learners: Educating creative and entrepreneurial students. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press :.