<html> <head> <style></style></head> <body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2" face="Tahoma">Hi Folks,</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2" face="Tahoma"><br></font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2" face="Tahoma">The discussion we have been having about education and teacher training the last few days has really started me thinking about what exactly should education for the 21st century be? After tossing the question around my mind for a while and talking with my husband, also a retired teacher, I realize that it isn't likely we will have the right answer just based on our experiences.</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2" face="Tahoma"><br></font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2" face="Tahoma">I think it is important for us as, supporters of open source educational technology via OLPC and Sugar Labs, or anything else, to have some idea of what the correct answer is. We cannot expect to help students learn, or teachers teach, for the future they will live in if we don't have a general idea of the answers. In fact, at this point, I'm not sure we even know what the questions should be!</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2" face="Tahoma"><br></font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2" face="Tahoma">So, I did what we learned to do in grad school. I started by looking for what others have already said about the topic. I went to Amazon and looked for recent books that would bring to light the opinions of others who are respected authorities in the field. I realize this doesn't mean they have all the answers, but it is a good place to start.</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2" face="Tahoma"><br></font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3" style="font-size: 12pt; " face="Tahoma"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; "><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">Among the many listed, I found 2 books, both anthologies, that look like they may have some good ideas: "</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; ">Curriculum 21: </span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; text-decoration: underline; ">Essential Education for a Changing World</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; ">," Edited by Heidi Hayes Jacobs, and "</span><span style="text-decoration: underline; ">21st Century Skills: Rethinking How Students Learn</span>," Edited by James Bellanca and Ron Brandt. I intend to get these books and read them with pencil and highlighter in hand.</p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; min-height: 15px; "><br></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; ">I am hoping some of you others on the Support Gang list and IAEP list will accept my challenge and do the same. I'm also hoping some of you will add other resources to this tiny list of 2 items.</p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; min-height: 15px; "><br></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; ">Then, sometime in the not to distant future, perhaps at the SF Community Summit in October, or SCaLE 11X in LA in January, we can meet for a series of thoughtful discourses that will help guide us in doing all we can to improve education for today's children and their teachers using our very special resources. </p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; min-height: 15px; "><br></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; ">Caryl (aka Grannie B)</p></font></p> </div></body> </html>