Saturday, June 29, 2013

Loving kids, having fun, using digital resources

 Mark Edwards, Superintendent of Mooresville Managed School District in North Carolina presented at the AASL President's Program this morning.  We heard about his district's astonishing results in education using well-thought through shifts to digital learning (every student has a laptop) and project-based learning.  He told us that librarians are part of the shared leadership in the district, where when they have to lay off staff, they NEVER lay off librarians!  Edwards embraces an "All in!" approach where every child and every adult matters and every child and every adult is responsible for adults.  Students track their own learning and from young age have an awareness and a responsibility for their "trajectory of learning."  Edwards prizes professional development and created a summer institute for teachers and 12 early release days each year to have teachers think deeply and reflectively about practice. Edwards recommends all staff read specific books in unison to discuss common strong ideas to lead to an ongoing and evolving teaching culture:
·         All Systems Go by Michael Fullton
·         Building Leadership Capacity in Schools
·         Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
·         Brain Rules:  John Medina
·         Drive:  Daniel Pink

·         A New Culture of Learning:  Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown

1 comment:

Ellen Brandt said...

Thanks for sharing! Sounds like an amazing presentation.
What a cool way to sum up an important Lifelong learning skill: "Awareness and responsibility for Trajectory of Learning"
It may refer to a specific pedagogy - but my interpretation is: determine your starting point ( " there is a kindergarten version and a PhD version of the big ideas" Tomlinson, McTigue), set appropriate goals, seek modes of learning and information resources that suit your personal learning style and interests...jump in and enjoy