Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Robust Programming: Teaching Well

Darling-Hammond and Cook-Harvey's recent report, Educating the Whole Child, leads us to answer the call of promoting robust programming to teach children well. As I read and think about this, I am working to define "robust programming." What does a robust teaching/learning program include, and how are programs like this funded and supported?

Too often we stay mired in what we have always known instead of developing our practice and efforts to meet the promise of modern times, tools, and technology--what can we do better as we develop teaching/learning efforts so we can rightly call our programs robust?

As I think about this, my initial reaction is to name these attributes of robust programming:

  • meaningful, engaging, and empowering field studies
  • indoor/outdoor education
  • multiple tools and resources including both online and offline venues
  • worthy informal and formal assessment to ensure that our programs are meeting our goals
  • optimal, collaborative goal setting processes, debate, and discussion
  • worthy professional learning that forwards our efforts as individuals and teams
  • spiraling our teaching/learning efforts to continually better what we do with and for each child
  • modern learning environments that put children in charge of their learning in comfortable and inspiring environments
  • collaboration with multiple learning/teaching organizations and individuals within and outside of the school
I will think more on this question in the days ahead, and I welcome your ideas as I grow this thought thread.