Social discussion of CS in K-12

[Minsoo Park <parkmin AT u4sd.org>]

Charles, 

Thanks for sharing as always. 

The initiative at Kenwood is based on that mindset, giving agency to students, providing the opportunities to explore and to produce. 

Don't get me wrong. We still got long ways to go. In that same line, these discussions may be a good reminder at times but I have to ask what are we going to do as Ctrl-Shifters to support our local school district? Some of us individually are doing things, but how do we organize our group so that the group is acting as a whole and not just as individual parts?

What are tangible outcomes and actions that we could take as a group or organization? 

There is a deficit mindset that we often do and say, "we can't do that because.... "

Are we, as shifters who's genuinely passionate about our children's future, following that same mindset? 

Isn't it time for actions about now? 

I am asking this question in hope for shifters' discussions to be more constructive, and I really hope this email doesn't come across wrong to anyone. 

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Sincerely,

Minsoo Park

 

Enrichment teacher

Kenwood Elementary School

Email: parkmin@u4sd.org 

Phone: 217.351-3815

No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it.

- Einstein

On Wed, May 4, 2016 at 12:37 PM, Charles Schultz <sacrophyte AT gmail.com> wrote:

Maya, just wanted to say thanks for recommending Todd Rose's "The End of Average". It certainly makes a very strong case how wrong it is to place so much emphasis on aggregate data without taking the individual into context.

After a chat with Katrina, I looked up Reggio Emilia - I really love the core principles:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach

• Children must have some control over the direction of their learning;
• Children must be able to learn through experiences of touching, moving, listening, and observing;
• Children have a relationship with other children and with material items in the world that children must be allowed to explore;
• Children must have endless ways and opportunities to express themselves.

These are the kinds of things I want to work on pushing into public school. I want to find out from our school leaders (at the local and state levels) why our current system emphasizes an adult-centric approach, and furthermore, why we keep propogating an adult-centric approach given all that we now know.

--

Charles Schultz

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