BLC09 – The challenge ahead.
Comments (3) BLC09 – I have arrived at the conference hotel and I am already soaking up the energy and enthusiasm surrounding me. Last year’s conference made me hopeful and certain of my role in education and my place in the wider community of passionate educators who believe that we have the power to change the way students learn in today’s schools. Pedro Noguera’s ending keynote offered us a challenge.
He said, among other things:
“Internal accountability is far more important than external accountability.”
“Schools don’t exist in a vacuum.”
“Academic excellence and equity are not conflicting goals, they are the same goals and worked on simultaneously.”
“We are stuck in practices that prevent us from truly educating kids at all levels.”
“Too many high school teachers confuse teaching with talking.”
“The best teachers teach the way kids learn.”
“Your background should not determine who should go to college.”
He asked:
“Who are the advocates in your school for the kids whose parents are too busy?”
“Who is in your basement?”
I asked his permission to share his keynote with you and he graciously responded – yes. He wished me another great year. I ask myself now, as I prepared to engage in this new, learning experience, have I met his challenge? Am I reaching all learners, making learning equitable and accessible to all? “Am I constantly modifying and changing?”
The link below will take you to a recording of the keynote.
I began last year with the fervent hope that I would use the abundance of ideas to propel learning in my classroom forward. I made some strides and learned some big lessons. Here at November Learning – teachers and stakeholders from all over the globe believe those strides can happen. There should be no student left in the basement.
Thank you Alan for this opportunity for all of our students.
Let the learning begin.
Themocracy