Ninety-five propositions for creating more relevant, more caring schools There is a growing desire to reexamine education and learning. Educators use the phrase "school 2.0" to think about what schools will look like in the future. Moving beyond a basic examination of using technology for classroom instruction, Building School 2.0: How to Create the Schools We Need is a larger discussion of how education, learning, and our physical school spaces can—and should—change because of the changing nature of our lives brought on by these technologies.
Well known for their work in creating Science Leadership Academy (SLA), a technology-rich, collaborative, learner-centric school in Philadelphia, founding principal Chris Lehmann and former SLA teacher Zac Chase are uniquely qualified to write about changing how we educate. The best strategies, they contend, enable networked learning that allows research, creativity, communication, and collaboration to help prepare students to be functional citizens within a modern society. Their model includes discussions of the following key concepts:
- Technology must be ubiquitous, necessary, and invisible
- Classrooms must be learner-centric and use backwards design principles
- Good technology can be better than new technology
- Teachers must serve as mentors and bring real-world experiences to students
Each section of Building School 2.0 presents a thesis designed to help educators and administrators to examine specific practices in their schools, and to then take their conclusions from theory to practice. Collectively, the theses represent a new vision of school, built off of the best of what has come before us, but with an eye toward a future we cannot fully imagine.
Table of Contents:
About the Authors viii About Science Leadership Academy xi
Acknowledgments xii
Foreword xiv
1 School Should Mirror the World asWe Believe It Could Be 1
2 We Must End Educational Colonialism 3
3 Citizenship Is More Important Than the Workforce 6
4 Build Modern Schools 9
5 Be One School 11
6 Vision Must Live in Practice 13
7 We Must Blend Theory and Practice 16
8 Everything Matters 19
9 “What’s Good?” Is Better Than “What’s New?” 22
10 Reflection Means Better, Not More 24
11 Consider the Worst Consequence of Your Best Idea 27
12 Disrupt Disruption 30
13 Humility Matters 33
14 Build Consensus 36
15 Teach Kids Before Subjects 40
16 WhatWe Should Ask of Teachers 42
17 Schools Are Where We Come Together 45
18 WhatWe Want for Students, We Must Want for Teachers 48
19 Embrace Your Best Teacher-Self 52
20 We Must Be Our Whole Selves 54
21 Technology Should Transform School, Not Supplant It 57
22 Build Your Own Faculty Lounge 60
23 Don’t Admire the Problem 65
24 Not “Yeah, but—”; Instead, “Yes, and . . .” 68
25 Ignore the Seat Back 71
26 Find Meaning Every Day 74
27 Take What You Do Seriously, but Don’t Take Yourself Seriously 76
28 Don’t Fall for Authoritarian Language 79
29 Don’t Be Authoritarian—Have Authority 81
30 Be Silly 84
31 Be in the Room 88
32 Don’t Get Ego-Invested 91
33 Plant Perennials 94
34 Cocreate Community 98
35 Say More, Talk Less 101
36 Be Deliberately Anti-Racist 103
37 Practice Inclusive Language 106
38 Honor Multiple Needs 109
39 Listen to Understand 113
40 Learning Must Be Nonnegotiable 116
41 Ask Why the Kids Are in the Room 118
42 Why DoWe Need to Know This? 120
43 Deconstruct Passion 122
44 Inquiring Minds Really DoWant to Know 125
45 Ask What They Are Curious About 128
46 Understand What Project-Based Learning Really Means 131
47 We Need to Change theWay We Teach Math 133
48 Instill a Love of Learning 136
49 Stop Deficit-Model Thinking 139
50 Start Surplus-Model Thinking 142
51 Assign Meaningful Projects 145
52 School Must Be Real Life 148
53 Engage the Entrepreneurial Spirit 152
54 Classes Should Be Lenses, Not Silos 154
55 Create Complexity, Not Complications 157
56 Find Something Interesting and Ask Questions 159
57 Story Matters 162
58 Success Is the Best Weapon 165
59 Preschool Is a Great Model 168
60 Every Kid Needs a Mentor 171
61 Inquiry Is Care 174
62 Schools Are Full of People 175
63 Care For and About 178
64 Assume Positive Intent 182
65 Have an Excess of Good Will 185
66 No Child Should Be On Silent 187
67 Audience Must Be Curated 190
68 Make Better Use of the Built-In Audience 194
69 Parent Conferences Should Be Student Conferences 197
70 Communication Is Key 200
71 There Are No Sick or Snow Days 204
72 Get Rid of the Pencil Lab 208
73 Technology Must Be Ubiquitous 210
74 Technology Must Be Necessary 212
75 Technology Must Be Invisible 215
76 Class Blogs Should Be Open Spaces 218
77 Make Personalization Authentic 221
78 Ask Better Questions 224
79 Cocurate Your School 226
80 Organize 228
81 Teach Thoughtfulness 230
82 TeachWisdom 233
83 Teach Passion 235
84 Teach Kindness 239
85 Make Advisory Work 242
86 Teachers Should Be Readers and Learners 245
87 Change at School Zone Pace 247
88 Create Space for Collaboration 250
89 Work Together to Make Us All Better 252
90 Get Together 256
91 We Must Practice a New Kind of Research 259
92 Experts Are Necessary 262
93 Success Must Be Defined by All 265
94 We Don’t Need Martyrs 268
95 Teachers Are Lucky 272
Notes 275
Works Cited 281
Index 283
