I believe that my ultimate boss is the person who can remove a student from my classroom (the parent); my responsibility is less to do with the contents of a textbook and more to do with what's in the student's heart; there is great value in social media and the use of email in teaching randomly. 

I believe that spelling tests celebrate a skill that can be found in spellchecking software, and we should give more time and accolades to students who create something new or who memorize facts and connections related to geography, languages, geology and the sciences, especially if they connect and document their studies to their passions.

I believe in narratives, portfolios and alternative forms of assessment (exhibitions and stand-ups).  I believe that schools need quotations to fill blank walls and many of those quotes could come from the Pink Team:  Hetland, Postman, Steiner, Montessori, Dan Pink (danpink.com), Thomas Friedman, John Corlette (JohnCorlette.com), Dennis Littky (BigPicture.org), Dennis Yuzenas, Gardner, Thomas Hoerr (newcityschool.org) and others found on VisualAndActive.com.

I believe that Rocks for Jocks,  Physics for Poets and Literature for Rocket Scientists are courses that will be more valuable to most students becasue these courses are integrated and show connections that many students find fascinating.  James Burke, the presenter and creator of the TV show Connections, could be in charge of curricula.   A copy of Littky's book could be on the doorstep of every parent of a "tweenager," with extracts fed to Twitter or Facebook walls from the time the parent has a two-year-old. 

I believe more voters and politicians should read Abe Fischler's blog, The Student is the Class; more people would enjoy history if they started with Dennis Yuzenas' site and listened to the lectures of Timothy C. F. Stunt.  More students will learn from youtube.com/freeenglishlessons and MentorsOnVideo.org than from lectures and textbooks.

I invite you to visit my blog and to find venues for these observations.  Yes, you, the reader, know some magazine or newsletter where this column could appear once a month.  Become an agent of change and send me a short message:  (1+ 954) 646.8246 or VisualAndActive@gmail.com

Steve McCrea   SteveMcCrea.com 

We tend to move toward that which we dwell upon, so let's dwell well (Jeraldine Saunders, the Love Boat Lady, LoveboatLady@earthlink.net)

Let's look at the Independent Educator  TheIndependentEducator.blogspot.com
 
VisualandActive.com <<< for teacher training videos