Last updated on July 12th, 2023 at 11:34 pm
The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education
Rating
4/5
Date Started
10-17-2022
Date Completed
10-26-2022
Five Powerful Quotes from the Book
Quote 1
“Schools often do things simply because they’ve always done them. The culture of any given school includes habits and systems that people in it act out every day. Many of these habits are voluntary, rather than mandated: teaching by age groups, for example, or making every period the same length; using bells to signal the beginning and end of periods; having all of the students facing the same direction with the teacher in the front of the room; teaching math only in math class and history in history class, and so on…
“In the ‘flipped classroom,’ rather than having a teacher standing at the front of a group of students and lecture on a topic, the students get this form of instruction online at home. The class time is then used by the teacher for peer instruction: to help students individually if they’re having trouble; to engage students in conversation about the topic; and to challenge students who are already showing mastery. Essentially, the classwork becomes the homework, and the homework becomes the classwork. With the advantage that each allows the student to progress at a personalized pace.”
Pithy Summary
Quote 2
“Expert teachers fulfill four main roles: they engage, enable, expect, and empower.
“Engage: Great teachers understand that it’s not enough to know their disciplines. Their job is not to teach subjects, it is to teach students. They need to engage, inspire, and enthuse students by creating conditions in which those students will want to learn. When they do that, their students will most certainly exceed their own expectations, and everyone else’s too.
“Enable: It’s sometimes assumed that the main role of a teacher is direct instruction. There’s an essential place for direct instruction in teaching; sometimes it’s with a whole class, sometimes with smaller groups, and sometimes one-on-one with individual students. But expert teachers have a repertory of skills and techniques: direct instruction is only one of them. Knowing how and when to use the appropriate technique is what great teaching is all about… An essential part of the process of enabling students and piquing their curiosity is understanding where they come from and what’s going on in their lives during all of the hours when they aren’t in school.
“Expect: Teachers’ expectations have radical implications for the achievements of their students. If teachers convey to students that they expect them to do well, it’s much more likely that they will. If they expect them to do badly, that’s more likely too.
“Empower: The best teachers are not only instructors, they are mentors and guides who can raise the confidence of their students, help them find a sense of direction, and empower them to believe in themselves.”
Pithy Summary
Quote 3
“Every child deserves a champion: an adult who will never give up on them; who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.”
Pithy Summary
Quote 4
“Great teachers are the heart of great schools. In their various roles, they can fulfill three essential purposes for students:
- “Inspiration: they inspire their students with their own passion for their disciplines and to achieve at the highest levels within them.
- “Confidence: they help their students to acquire the skills and knowledge they need to be confident, independent learners who can continue to develop their understanding and expertise.
- “Creativity: they enable their students to experiment, inquire, ask questions, and develop the skills and disposition of original thinking.
“It’s sometimes said that creativity cannot be defined. I think it can. Here’s my definition: creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value.
“There are two other concepts to keep in mind: imagination and innovation. Imagination is the root of creativity. It’s the ability to bring to mind things that aren’t present to our senses. Creativity is putting your imagination to work. It is applied imagination. Innovation is putting new ideas into practice. There are various myths about creativity. One is that only special people are creative. Another is that creativity is only about the arts. A third is that creativity cannot be taught. And a fourth is that it’s all to do with uninhibited self expression. None of these is true. Creativity draws from many powers that we all have by virtue of being human. Creativity is possible in all areas of human life: in science, the arts, mathematics, technology, cuisine, teaching, politics, business, you name it. And, like many human capacities, our creative powers can be cultivated and refined. Doing that involves an increasing mastery of skills, knowledge, and ideas.
“The real driver of creativity is an appetite for discovery and a passion for the work itself. When students are motivated to learn, they naturally acquire the skills they need to get the work done. Their mastery of them grows as their creative ambitions expand. You’ll find evidence of this process in great teaching in every discipline from football to chemistry.”
Pithy Summary
Quote 5
“Peter Gamwell (was the Superintendent of Leadership and Creativity from 2004-2016) for the Ottawa Carleton District School Board (OCDSB)… According to Peter, the breakthrough moment for OCDSB came during a 2004 meeting about leadership with a range of staff within the district. Peter and the others involved had been running the program for about a half hour when a hand went up in the back of the room. The man asked what he was doing at the meeting, and he was told that he was there to share his ideas on leadership. The man seemed surprised by this response, and said he’d been working in the district as a custodian for 20 years and had never had any indication that his ideas on leadership had any value.
“That was when Peter realized he needed to conduct a district-wide initiative to embrace creative contributions from everyone involved, including staff, parents, and of course, students.
“”Everyone has a creative capacity,” he told me. “Everyone has inner brilliance. We need to recognize and value that, and find ways of tapping into it. If you can do that, you will maximize your opportunity to develop a culture of engagement, belonging, and creative capacity.””
Pithy Summary
About the Book
Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education – “Ken Robinson is one of the world’s most influential voices in education, and his 2006 TED Talk on the subject is the most viewed in the organization’s history. Now, the internationally recognized leader on creativity and human potential focuses on one of the most critical issues of our time: how to transform the nation’s troubled educational system. At a time when standardized testing businesses are raking in huge profits, when many schools are struggling, and students and educators everywhere are suffering under the strain, Robinson points the way forward. He argues for an end to our outmoded industrial educational system and proposes a highly personalized, organic approach that draws on today’s unprecedented technological and professional resources to engage all students, develop their love of learning, and enable them to face the real challenges of the twenty-first century. Filled with anecdotes, observations and recommendations from professionals on the front line of transformative education, case histories, and groundbreaking research—and written with Robinson’s trademark wit and engaging style—Creative Schools will inspire teachers, parents, and policy makers alike to rethink the real nature and purpose of education.”
About the Author
Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica – “Sir Ken Robinson worked with governments, education systems, international agencies, global corporations and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations to unlock the creative energy of people and organizations. He led national and international projects on creative and cultural education in the UK, Europe, Asia and the United States. The embodiment of the prestigious TED Conference and its commitment to spreading new ideas, Sir Ken Robinson is the most watched speaker in TED’s history. His 2006 talk, “Do Schools Kill Creativity” has been viewed online over 60 million times and seen by an estimated 380 million people in 160 countries.”
“A New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Lou Aronica is known for the uncommon depth of emotion to his stories and the vivid realism of his characters.”
Additional Resources
Tags
Education | Nonfiction