Chuck Schwahn, co-author of the book Inevitable: Mass Customized Learning, Learning in the Age of
Empowerment, visited the school yesterday.
Chuck met with teachers involved in two pilot programs in the district
that are implementing aspects of Mass Customized Learning (MCL). The first group was at Harrison Park Elementary
School and the second group was at Sunrise Elementary School. At both schools, Chuck was given an overview
of the pilot programs and interacted with students as they went through their
work. Chuck also spent some time
answering questions from teachers concerning his book and vision for
education. There were two things that
Chuck said that I believe are important bits of advice for our school
district. First, he told us that a great
vision asks the organization to do something that is beyond their capability to
accomplish right now. This forces
the organization to “stretch” beyond the confines of what they are doing
currently. Secondly, Chuck mentioned
that the school system must stop “tinkering” within the existing constraints of
an industrial age model of schooling and move beyond that framework. He (and I) believes that MCL does change the
paradigm of education and will provide a better educational experience for our
students.
Forgive me if I am a little too “future focused” in this
blog and that I (at times) do not discuss the current reality. I passionately believe that Penn-Trafford
has the students, parents and staff to move beyond “normal” and into something
spectacular for our students. This is
the reason that I spend so much time talking about “what could be”. It is my way of helping to create a vision
that may be hard to accomplish within the current constraints of the system but will move the entire district to greatness.
How much money is all this costing the district to have authors coming, dinner meetings with authors, purchasing books for teachers to read, and several trips to Downingtown? With all the talk of technology, wouldn't it be less costly, and just as effective to have a video conference OR use some other technology method for this direction of mass customized learning? Would it not be better to provide this information to all your schools, rather than just a select few?
ReplyDeleteYou stated in a blog that geography shouldn't impact great things happening in all schools and classrooms. How can this happen when all the schools are not provided the same resources and knowledge for MCL? Your interview in the PT Star states that teachers will be meeting in June to set building/district goals for MCL. Will the board and administration be supportive for MCL within the individual buildings ~ mass customized learning programs that support the needs for the students in that building/grade level? If we have the money to do all this, why are K thru 5 classroom sizes reaching 25+ students for next school year? Why is PT changing their committment to keep less than 20 students in grades K-3? Does the MCL approach dictate replacing teachers with machines to teach our students?
I am excited to see the results of your pilot! This is very exciting! Students do not come in a "one size fits all" model. Good job, Dr. Butler!
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