Roger Schank’s Post

Sounds like a basic civics course. How would you approach that? How would you approach teaching the U.S. Constitution?

That's a great idea in general and the course on how to be mayor would be fascinating. Perhaps there's a timely focus of "How to be mayor during a pandemic". Seriously. What questions should mayors be asking? How to think about the job when you hold both the lives of your citizens and the economy in your hands. How to deliver essential and emergency services. How to get ready for the secondary effects. etc. Of course, this applies to governors and presidents, too, but the buck ultimately stops with the most local government executive. Hope you do something like it, and would love to hear how it goes. Best regards.

What if we didn't call them "courses?" That word carries a lot of baggage. And what if we built whatever we call it with kids? Just thinking...

Please come to the States and try to cut the red tape. Our hands are tied by state curriculum guidelines. They took away our creativity years ago. 😕

Roger Schank has all of the online teaching skills at any level of professional development, prior University level teaching background and experience. plus hands on expertise to launch, integrate, and advise new online educational programs for teachers and other professionals anywhere. His talents would then allow teacher's kids to not only learn things that interest them, but in addition learn how to think creatively and reason deductively. These newly acquired 21st Century skills that Roger can provide will benefit the kids later in their career developments. Remember the old adage... "An Education is what you have left when all of the facts you were taught and should have remembered are forgotten". Doubt what I say... then what is a gerund or dangling participle that we were taught back in school in the early 1950's? Who knows nor cares today? Roger Schank is the real deal in this educational transition to online education course management.

I have a different take: High School government class students should build the course “How to be Mayor of our city.” Seriously. Think of the relevance of the issue of mayorship to the citizens who live in the city. Think of the investigations those students would have to make to take seriously the challenge of teaching mayoral candidates what citizens need. Sure, the kids wouldn’t be able to teach them about intricacies of budgeting details or internal office rules, but do any of us think those are the things we want our future mayors to be sure to know? My students proved to me they can help politicians be better at their work, even while they learned what my gov’t class set out to have them learn: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-pbl-creates-engaged-citizens-suzie-boss

There is two forms of upside. First, EdTech will be promoted from a supplemental position to more of a primary position. Secondarily, the chaotic daily happenings will force schools to introduce individualized learning in earnest. The downside is that schools are cannot operate without a schedule and don't have the faculty and information systems to deliver individualized learning paths.

All very interesting but I haven't seen one comment or suggestion on "basic skills" for elementary school (roughly k through 6 here in the US depending on locality) or how to address special needs students (whether the "need" is physical, emotional, or lack of access to technology). I totally agree with getting beyond glorified dittos and with the use of appropriate technology. Nobody learns basic skills by osmosis. You can explore the Constitution and its effects if you can't read it.

Stefanie Sotnik idea for local politics.

It has been a learning process for the past two months for me as a teacher. I never saw this coming. I had to switch gears real fast because I was the teacher and my sweet third graders needed me. They hung in there with me as we took the challenge together.