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We have many mentors, many teachers, many books and workshops inside us. We are ready to share what we have gleaned from these people.
Here is a partial annotated list of Mentors with links to their products.
See also a longer list at Sources
Theories of Education
Montessori
John Dewey
Rudolf Steiner (Waldorf Schools)
Neil Postman
Teaching as a Subversive Activity
Teaching as a Conserving Activity
Howard Gardner (Intelligence Reframed, p. 161-167)
Performances of Understanding
Dennis Littky BigPicture.org
Exhibitions, not tests
Narratives, not letter grades
One or two advisors, not 16 different teachers over 4 years
A 75-page autobiography and "real" homework, not test prep
Mentors, not DVDs and in-class movies
Internships, not textbooks
The New Three Rs: Rigor, Relevance and Relationships
Dawn Elrad (Active Teaching Methods, workshop)
She has a useful technique involving a stack of Post-It notes and a sheet called a "Parking Lot" for questions and comments.
Psychology
Maslov
Erik Erikson
Nancy Snyderman
Rob Becker
Jeraldine Saunders (The Loveboat Lady)
Business Methods
Dan Pink danpink.com
Free Agent Nation (especially the chapter on schools)
A Whole New Mind
W. Edwards Deming
Marshall Thurber posdev.net
Seminars about Positive Deviation
Thomas Friedman
The World Is Flat
Bill Gates, The National High School Summit (speech that included the New Three Rs), in which Gates linked business and education. If business leaders and employees don't get involved in education, then they won't get the new recruits who are ready for the new economy.
Materials
Video Portfolios (Lois Hedland)
Electronic Books (Michael Hart, gutenberg.org)
Edu-Tainment and digital learning materials (ebooks and websites)
Dennis Yuzenas www.WhatDoYaKnow.com
See also a longer list at Sources
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Summary of the Big Picture Schools method
(a 24-page document on Scribd.com)
You have choices
If you have a big job -- if you are serious about school reform and reshaping your school to meet the needs of the future, contact BigPicture.org and consider becoming a Big Picture School.
Info@bigpicture.org is a good place to start.
If you need a workshop, contact us at VisualAndActive@gmail.com
We are educational consultants, we have worked in education for at least 15 years (some of us for more than 30 years) and we want to supplement our income while sharing what we know about visual and active instruction and administration.
Our group is not affiliated with BigPicture.org, but we respect their methods and donate a portion of our earnings to support the BigPicture research.
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