Posts in Category Schools

A conference that will matter after it is over

Justo Méndez Arámburu has had a very clear message about IDEC 2012 over the last two months.  

“The most important day of IDEC 2012 is April 1st.”  

That date is remarkable because it is the day after the conference is over.

In total, the conference will bring together over 750 young people, educators, community leaders, organizers, academics, and advocates from around the world and across Puerto Rico.  But, the most profound accomplishment of conference organizers has happened even before the conference begins.  Unlike so many other conferences, IDEC 2012 has been organized to have maximum impact in the lives of young people and communities in Puerto Rico after the international...

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Posted on Mar 22, 2012 - 06:58 AM by Scott Nine

Teach for Humanity

This is a story about experience.  Strangely enough, experience has the power to both sever and prompt connection.  There are threads of my story—my experience—that are particular to me as a black child, a black woman, and an African immigrant.  On the other hand, there are fibers in my story that are universal, and linked to my and your human self.  I imagine that you will find things in my story that will surprise you, resonate with you, frustrate, and perhaps even anger you.  I hope that all of the above will happen.  When you arrive at the end of my story, I hope that you will be wrestling with your own experiences, struggling to understand how they have shaped you as a particular...

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Posted on Oct 31, 2011 - 03:15 PM by Esther Ohito

Regaining My Stride

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Posted on Oct 20, 2011 - 02:02 PM by Cian Sawyer

Teacher Appreciation Week: Reflections from my childhood

Teachers have deeply impacted my life. Ok, not a revolutionary statement, but nevertheless true.

During the school day, my third grade class and our teacher Dave took a trip to our local park just half a block down from the Governor's mansion in Albany, New York. While throwing a baseball back and forth with Dave, I experienced something I had never previously experienced in my life: a teacher talking to me as a person. We were discussing whether the Cardinals had a real shot at the pennant and it hit me, he actually wanted to know what I thought. He considered my opinions valid and wanted to have a real conversation with me. Did it matter that I was nine and he was twenty-seven?...

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Posted on May 02, 2011 - 08:51 AM by Isaac Graves

Tour of Our Lives

Last week 37 educators from 10 states and 4 countries gathered at the headquarters of Project Reach and Fertile Grounds in Manhattan to begin the Institute for Democratic Education in America's (IDEA's) first ever Innovation School tour.

After receiving our Metrocards (this was an all subway all the time tour), and a quick chance to get to know each other, we were off to do what we came to do: see four innovative, breakthrough schools, each with different histories, instructional models and student populations. (Monday: NYC iSchool, The Green School; Tuesday: Urban Academy, Calhoun School).  We were especially interested in the culture and climate of each school"each one was considered...

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Posted on Apr 11, 2011 - 06:11 PM by Kirsten Olson

Online Education…in a Physical Classroom?

One of my classes for this semester is "Writing for Media." In this class I will get to snack on the practice of and theory surrounding media writing. The professor has put the entire class on the internet. The class is even held in the Mac Lab in the school library. Our writing assignments will be done on blog posts in the school's online education companion, epsilen.com. Also part of the course, I have created a twitter.com account, which is supposed to be used to follow and tweet about media happenings.

As a person who can be painfully addicted to the internet, I have a serious problem with this class.

When I am at school, I try to avoid the internet as much as possible. At home in...

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Posted on Jan 22, 2011 - 08:38 AM by Zuleka Irvin

A Perspective on Chinese Schooling

Having grown tired of partisan news and tabloid journalism, I recently started to watch Link TV. Link is an independent media network that reports and features documentaries about global news affairs. They will be featuring a Chinese documentary soon called Kindergarten. You can watch the full version online, which is what I did. I'll be honest - it is a real tear-jerker, with music in minor harmony and shots of distressed 2- to 4-year-olds who have very little idea of what their parents got them into. Looking beyond what was captured for emotional effect, I saw that this film highlights some of the facets of traditional education: parental detachment due to work demands and the idea of the...

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Posted on Jan 10, 2011 - 11:49 AM by Zuleka Irvin

10 Elements of Good Education

In honor of today's National Day of Blogging for Real Education Reform, I'm reminded that the ideas for how education can be improved are already out there. Here at IDEA, we know that we are not pioneers of what is good in education. What IS deeply needed is to find new ways to frame, present, organize, advocate, and directly support schools and other programs working with youth so as to bring these ideas into reality.

So, on this national blogging day, I want to highlight a list of 10 features of good education from a 2002 report by Linda Darling-Hammond and the School Redesign Network at Stanford University. The report is called 10 Features of Good Small Schools: Redesigning High...

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Posted on Nov 22, 2010 - 01:00 PM by Dana Bennis

“Glee” on Schools

I'm a big fan of "Glee," I admit it. Not that it's a perfect show, but I love the variety of music, the quirky characters, and the humor. Watching last night's episode, something else stood out to me: the compelling way in which "Glee" portrays school life and particularly the message this episode sent about the role of teachers and a school in students' lives.

The plot of yesterday's episode revolved around three students: Kurt, the only openly gay student at the school; Puck, a popular and rebellious student; and a football player and bully who specifically targets Kurt.

I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet. But what I was struck by was how well the episode showed...

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Posted on Nov 10, 2010 - 07:53 AM by Dana Bennis

Are we really Waiting for Superman?

In two days, one of the most well publicized education documentaries in recent memory premiers in several cities around the country - Waiting for Superman. You may have already heard about it on The Oprah Show, in Time magazine, or from any number of other sources. Most of the coverage in these media outlets has been overwhelmingly positive, and there are many big name supporters of the film, including Bill Gates and the controversial Chancellor of D.C. Schools, Michelle Rhee, in addition to the big-name director of the film, Davis Guggenheim of An Inconvenient Truth.

In short, the documentary profiles 5 children and their families who are hoping to get into charter schools as a way in...

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Posted on Sep 22, 2010 - 05:37 AM by Dana Bennis