November 13, 2004

• Day #7

  Working backwards.  Got back to the hostel…Friday nights they
  have free dinner, i enter the ballroom to see 50-60 people already
  eating.  Had some Shepherds pie, chatted w/ an English bird who
  just quit her job to take a year traveling the world.  After the
  delicious and free communal dinner, I did my communal civic duty and
  helped Dina, the Russian who works the kitchen, clean all the pots and
  pans.

  So…today was day 1 of 2 at the Coalition of Essential Schools fall
  forum.  I’m tired and exhausted, and am struggling to process the
  day.  there were some highlights.

  Got to see Dennis Littkey speak.  He founded The Big Picture
  Company and MET schools.  These schools are 50 years
  futuristic.  Students actually do real work.  They have
  internships 2 days a week.  They have one-on-one advising to
  develop personalized learning plans.  They don’t study for tests
  (yet they score higher than those schools that do).  Imagine all
  of this, and now you have students that function as adults.  One
  students said, “I actually love going to school…no seriously, I
  do.”  Try getting a student to say that at a traditional school.

  Got to hear an organization speak about the need to ammend parts of No
  Child Left Behind…will be doing my homework on that, in 2007 the bill
  goes up for a vote again.  Some say that the bill, which has
  certain clauses that almost force schools to fail, is a way to begin
  the movement to charter schools, crippling the public school
  movement.  More to learn, but interesting.

  Met lots of educators today, from all sorts of schools w/ different
  hopes and facing different problems.  Spoke to one high school
  senior from Oakland whose school just broke up into 6 smaller learning
  communities.  “Small schools just work better, everyone looks out
  for each other.”

  It’s kind of exciting to be around the celebrities of education. 
  All sorts of authors, policy experts, and in a way, all of these
  teachers who are here to make significant changes in the way their
  schools operate.  Sadly, public policy will effect the success of
  this particular reform movement…but, they are working to make the
  important changes to re-frame the debate on education.

  Quite sleepy now…more forum tomorrow, including a chance to network
  with the American Association of Colleges and Universities, who are
  doing a forum on higher ed. reform, and are closely related to the
  organization I’ll be interning for this winter, the American Assocation
  of State Colleges and Universities. 

  -dan

  • 1:36 am
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