Rusty Walker
@RWalkTheWalk
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Educator forever seeking to promote human flourishing for students & society. PBL. Generalist. Feminist. Ungrader. Wikipedia fiend. Pizza eater. BLM. He/him.
San Diego, CA
Joined August 2015
In PBL we bring chunks of marble for students to sculpt into their vision. And even then, sometimes it’s more like bringing directions to a quarry & some digging tools 🤷♂️ The more rigid and microplanned you are, the more fragile & narrowly inclusive you are. Take the reins off!!
This is what co-designing projects with learners looks like: 1. Share out a general project idea in a nutshell and then... 2. let learners go at it! Adding questions, suggestions and connections The project will morph and build from there #learnercentered @sisuacademy
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Once upon a self, criticism made me defensive. Now, it makes me reflective. For there’s likely some truth to be found, even in the words I don’t want to hear. Never got better from being defensive. Almost always gotten better from being reflective. Reflective self. Better
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When Carol Greider was a child, dyslexia made it difficult for her to read and spell. Put into remedial classes, she thought she “was stupid.” She was rejected by 11 graduate schools for low GRE scores, but accepted at @Cal. In 2009 she won the Nobel Prize. #DyslexiaAwarenessDay
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The late James Moffett suggested this slogan for elite, selective schools: "Send us winners and we'll make winners out of them!"
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I think the better approach to managing AI in a teaching & learning context for me is to promote the value of writing as one of our most effective tools for critical thinking & remove the pressure to produce perfect writing. More low stakes writing.
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Student learning journeys are as individualized as fingerprints. Letter grades do not capture this journey; they rank and sort students by measuring the immeasurable—learning. @GoSunDevils @GBGEdu #growbeyondgrades
growbeyondgrades.org
Rachael Kettner-Thompson explains how she uses a Google Forms add-on to help students communicate a treasure trove of learning, providing timely information for parents and helpful feedback for...
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Love doing this with colleagues. We call it a dilemma consultancy. Someone brings a problem they’re having in their practice, poses a focus question, gets clarifying questions and probing questions and suggestions from each other member of the group, forms an action plan.
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How successful was my education if all I have to show for it is a high school GPA? Was I ready to stand out from the crowd, or to receive a certificate honoring my conformity to the system? @PeterHostrawser @GBGEdu #growbeyondgrades
growbeyondgrades.org
Students using spikeview view their learning as a journey. They see where they have been, can explore what’s next, and make informed decisions on where not to spend time. It’s not a snapshot of one...
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The first excerpt from our forthcoming book, The Education Wars, is out from behind @thenation paywall. @Edu_Historian and I argue that a big part of the reason public schools are so vulnerable is that we now treat education as just another consumer good
thenation.com
When the "Race to the Top" becomes winner take all, students are the big losers. And as the stakes grow higher and higher, public education falls further behind.
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"The schools of the future that our society needs won’t come from transforming our existing schools. They’ll have to come through launching new versions of schooling from new value networks." @ArnettTom @ChristensenInst
educationnext.org
Here’s what leaders should do instead
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Now out from behind the paywall: Laura Preston visits a conversational AI conference. https://t.co/KQwFaWcJZT
nplusonemag.com
Everyone at this conference kept invoking loneliness and claiming the antidote was conversation. That didn’t track with my own experience. My most desperate moments of loneliness have been in...
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If educators are already turning to AI tools to complete mindless tasks, why then wouldn’t students do the same? The problem isn’t ChatGPT, it’s boring assessments that are easier to grade and which mean nothing to those completing them. https://t.co/gUZUgw13Jx
timeshighereducation.com
‘It’s not a machine for cheating; it’s a machine for producing crap,’ says one professor infuriated by rise of bland scripts
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When ed tech asks "How can we deliver content to students more efficiently?", we're discouraged from asking how to move beyond a content-delivery conception of learning. Or whether efficiency matters most. My 2023 Ed Week essay on "sneaky conservatism":
alfiekohn.org
EDUCATION WEEK September 27, 2023 The Sneaky Conservatism of Ed Tech By Alfie Kohn Have you ever noticed that people in positions of power who earnestly exhort us to “think outside the box” are...
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Ted Sizer urged us to shadow a high school student for a full day or 2 to understand what it's really like to attend a traditional H.S. - & thus how urgent it is to rethink this model of schooling. One teacher did so & emerged shaken. An eye-opening read:
authenticeducation.org
Hear from a veteran HS teacher who just became a Coach in her building. Because her experience is so vivid and sobering I have kept her identity anonymous.
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Not only is @nhannahjones correct, the data shows that the average public school teacher is more educated AND more experienced than the average private school teacher. In fact there’s only one category that private school teachers excel in: Being white
Can you show me the data that shows that private school teachers are better qualified? See, here’s the thing, you all think your voucher will pay for the Daltons of the world. It won’t. And Dalton won’t take your kids anyway. Your kids will be at some low/budget private school
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Students have big questions about the purpose of education, but school has provided few answers beyond indefinite future rewards. These rewards are not a great incentive anyway, but they're even less of a great incentive when the future looks increasingly bleak + uncertain.
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Honoured that @Getting_Smart was so willing to share my work, and the 12 shifts courageous STUDENT-CENTERED classrooms are making to give learners more ownership, agency and voice! Book coming in August!! @LindaAmici @Ed_by_design @CoraEdTech @desertclimber
Schools often talk about creating self-directed learners, but classrooms still look the same. Ready to make a shift in your classroom? Discover how to truly empower students in a new #GettingSmartBlog by @KWagssd3: https://t.co/UuY7eHm7tt
#StudentAgency #InnovativeLearning
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