Check out this wonderful little film -- Caine's Arcade. Of course it is summer vacation in his dad's auto shop, not school where "real" learning takes place. But it could be if educators had the imagination Caine has. I always have believed kids can do amazing things when their imaginations are unleashed. Early in my career I actually tried to set up my classroom in a way to unleash their imaginations but a combination of factors -- including my lack of skills in how to do this the right way -- led me to abandon the idea. But imagine a classroom full of cardboard and tools to cut them ---oops, we'd all be arrested on weapons charges. And besides, there's a high stakes test to take so who has time for this?
Thanks to Alexandra Miletta for the link.
I had the opportunity last week to discuss my failed attempt with one of my heroes, Debbie Meier. Here is the short interview I did with her where she shares her views on how kids learn. (The discussion on open classroom we had was unfortunately not taped.) And look for the wonderful interview I did one on one with Diane Ravitch a few days later which I will post later. Imagine -- Meier and Ravitch. What a treat.
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