This is an excellent talk. At around the 16:30 mark John Hunter says something truly profound
That's the kind of engagement you want to have happen. And I can't design that, I can't plan that, and I can't even test that. But it's self-evident assessment. We know that's an authentic assessment of learning. We have a lot of data, but I think sometimes we go beyond data with the real truth of what's going on.This is profound! The more I live and the more I teach and work with teachers, the more I truly believe we need to engage all the members of our society in solving the problems. This reminds me of Ender's Game wherein the human race has to turn to children to solve the problem of war. We as adults so often forget how capable we were as children. We forget that we could generate creative imaginative play for hours. We could plan and scheme and build. I was once taught that assessments and assignments should be almost indistinguishable from one another. By teaching this way students are unaware they are being tested. Sometimes I feel strongly that learning and life should be indistinguishable. Learners should be paired with someone who understands and will guide them. This would be in addition to parents. Learners would be given opportunities even at young ages to start engaging in real work that they like. For some this might be gardening for others 3-D digital design, but as they interact with the work they would identify what they need to learn and their facilitator would be able to help them identify resources and individuals to help them learn what they need. In this way I could see students working 4 to 6 hours a day with scaffolding support of 2 to 3 hours of learning or instruction. This kind of education could last a lifetime with everyone having mentors who help them but at the same time being mentors to others. A true lifelong learning system. As opposed to today's method of incarcerating young people until they prove they are ready to be let loose on the world.
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