1. Science tools.

2. Dirty kids.

3. Excitement.

4. Mystery.

5. Discovery.

6.Higher-Level Thinking.

In fact, one student said, “This is probably the best science class ever,” (Angus Stewart). What is all this referring to? One teacher teaching science the way it should be taught: in the field. Here’s an excerpt from Anderson, South Carolina’s Independent Mail:

Teacher Nancy Hughes said all of her third-grade students would be digging up the past as part of their science lessons. “We’ve just finished a unit on rocks and fossils, and we’re getting ready to start a unit on soil, so this exercise sort of bridges both of those units,” she said. “And we’ve talked about being paleontologists and archaeologists so this gives them a chance to see what it’s like to do a real dig.”

DIG IT?

- Heather

Constructivist learning, experiential learning, whatever you want to call good teaching where the student is intimately involved as meaning-maker is desirable for the development of true understanding. UC Davis has some wonderful resources for teachers, home schoolers, or anyone involved in children’s learning.

Check out these three training modules from UC Davis.

“My idea of innovation calls for a quieter revolution, one with fewer bells and whistles. It begins by envisioning a quiet but humming classroom, where busy heads bend over pads of paper and hands scribble rapidly with pens or pencils.

If I were running the education world, I’d ensure that every building contain, at a minimum, one teacher trained through the National Writing Project in the teaching of writing and the use of writing to learn. Planting that single seed could revolutionize the way we look at students and student work.”

I couldn’t agree more. If you want to see the rest of the article, check out Teacher Magazine.

Yes. Innovation. A focus on problem solving, writing, math, and science. Expectations of excellence. I think we all want that to be the definition of our child’s school. However, so often that is not the case in public schools in America.

I was recently on a trip to my hometown where I read in our local paper that the town’s high school currently sent home letters to all parents notifying them that, currently, 50% of the students at that high school were failing. FAILING. Knowing the culture of mediocrity and acceptance of poor behavior and less (much less) than excellent academics at my own alma mater, I wasn’t surprised to learn that the school was not flourishing, but to find that number of students FAILING is, needless to say, disconcerting.

As Einstein said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Clearly, a school at which 50% of students cannot succeed needs some serious re-thinking. According to Obama’s new education secretary, Arne Duncan, improving our schools isn’t just about education – it’s a matter of social justice.

What defines a leading school to you?