TIE+Keynote


 * Richard Pryor - Keynote Address**

From Austrailia, theme is "New Frontiers" - comes from the theme of the conference. COWS - Collaborative Online Work Environments

New Frontiers are our own perception - how do we think of possibilities? In education we worry that making things easy or more effective might somehow be "cheating".

He is talking about Why do we have skills and what are we teaching. Things like "just in case" we might need to know it - like being able to take a three hour exam with pencil and paper, use library resources, know calculus. Insead he promotes "just in time" learning. My problem is pacing guides - how can we harness the energy int eh classroom when the requirements are in place for each minute of the day.

when a school gets praise they typically have nice uniforms and all students look the same, don't question authority, is that what we are really after? How can we engage students to want to come to school.

He is calling for systemic change. 1/3 each - skills and knowledge, integration, re-creation. Where they overlap we have core values.Great ideas and I am all bought in, but the reality of daily life in school prohibits these changes. An individual needs to take this on to the best of their ability. Students are disengaging t a rapid rate and we need to jump in and take charge - meet them at their level, on their page. Waiting for admin/district leadership to do so will be too late. CSAP will still be there, testing of all sorts, in the meanitme we need to take personal action to get these kids bought in.

We are a people business, Humans are the only animals that laugh and weep. We need individuals to cause disruptions