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Sunday, April 8, 2012

Project 10,000 « Cooperative Catalyst

Project 10,000 « Cooperative Catalyst:


Project 10,000

Last night I read the incredible manifesto “Stop Stealing Dreams: What Is School For?” by Seth Godin. Pat Farenga discussed (http://coopcatalyst.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/why-homeschooling-should-be-part-of-rethinking-education) the article from a homeschooling perspective back in March, but I’ve been thinking all day about how we could put into practice the ideas that Godin discusses in the manifesto.
Over the last year I’ve been exploring ideas of student choice in my own English classroom. Students are able to pick what they want to study (from a list of about 40 topics), and then choose how they respond to each unit. They can independently read each module, or they can work in partners, or in small groups. If they want, they could work with me shoulder-to-shoulder for the entire unit.
Classes look very different from the rest of the school: I rarely stand up at the front of the class and lecture, and it’s rare that two people are working on the same thing. Back in November I  wrote another post here on the