Chris Lehmann graciously invited me down to Philadelphia this morning to take part in a Curriculum Summit for his new Science Leadership Academy School opening up in September. Right now David Warlick is giving a short keynote, and it’s not wonder why David has become one of the busiest Read/Write Web educators out there. (That’s David and Chris in the picture, btw.) His message is truly powerful, that for the first time in history we know “almost nothing” about what our students will be doing in their futures. And that the main answer to that is to teach them not the same old content, but teach them to teach themselves. It’s good stuff.
Chris has brought together about 40 people from around the region to sit down for the day to talk about what the SLA will look like. To give you a sense, the mission and vision statement starts with:
“These three essential questions form the basis of instruction at the Science Leadership Academy…The SLA is built on the notion that inquiry is the very first step in the process of learning.”
It’s a pretty inspiring message, and I’ll be taking a long look at the 50 page curriculum booklet that he prepared.
David’s talking about his four tenets of literacy, to expose tructh, express ideas compellingly, employ information, and ethically use information. Most importantly, we need to give up our role as gatekeepers of information, since we no longer can be, and instead teach kids to be their own gatekeepers of the information that’s relevant. And much more…
It will be a treat to watch Chris as he goes down this path, attempting to put into place a vision that David and others in this community are articulating.
No pressure…
Hey… if there wasn’t any pressure, it wouldn’t be any fun.
(At least that’s what I keep telling myself…)