How will young people remember these times?
May 20th, 2011 by John Creighton in Dispatches
Tags: Culture, Education, Public Leaders, Technology
LONGMONT, Colo. 05/20/2011 — Graduation speakers across America will be in a reflective mood over the next few weeks. It’s an annual ritual. Student speakers, in particular, reflect on the journey they’ve traveled and what the future might hold. I heard my first round of graduation speeches last night. The narratives included the usual mix of “we can change the world.” I enjoy the inherent sense of optimism expressed by young people. But, I heard something else last night that [...]
Read more...Should charter schools be democratic institutions?
September 14th, 2010 by John Creighton in B.O.E.
Tags: Democracy, Education, St. Vrain
LONGMONT, Colo. — What should parents do if they don’t like how things are going at their child’s charter school? Should they “vote with their feet” and enroll their child at another school? Or, should parents organize and elect a new board of directors who will put the school on a path parents support? What about parents who feel their children are excluded from the school? What recourse do they have to influence and change the school’s policies and practices? [...]
Read more...What Are the Possibilities
June 17th, 2010 by John Creighton in Dispatches
Tags: Culture-Structure, Education, School
Clay Shirky’s talk on “Cognitive Surplus” challenged my views on people watching loads of television. Brad Rourke brought my attention to this talk. Shirky’s idea is that television is an outlet for more brain capacity than society can effectively put to use. I recommend watching his entire 15 minute talk. I’m guilty, in my youth, of being a TV watcher. I can recount far too many episodes of Gilligan’s Island, I Dream of Jeanie, The Brady Bunch, Beverly Hillbillies, Big [...]
Read more...Delusional Power
May 19th, 2010 by John Creighton in Dispatches
Tags: Culture, Education, Public Leaders, Technology
The Texas Board of Education received national attention back in March of this year when it adopted a new social studies curriculum. The decisions of this board used to matter a lot. They matter much less today. They won’t matter much at all tomorrow (i.e. in the near future). Diana Gomez, left, and Garrett Mize, along with other University of Texas students, rally before a State Board of Education meeting in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, March 10, 2010. (Photo: AP) [...]
Read more...Where do you learn?
April 28th, 2010 by John Creighton in Dispatches
Tags: Education, Emma, Family, Joe, School, St. Vrain
I had the opportunity to meet eight wunderkinds at the Apple Education Leadership Summit in Dallas last week. Several of the students owned businesses of their own. Some were generating six figure revenues. Another transformed The Ohio State Medical School. The students were in Dallas to talk to educators (and school board members like me) about where, when and how they learn. Their panel discussion drove home findings from the 2010 Horizon Report produced by the New Media Consortium. The [...]
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