Edutopia - June/July 2008 - (Page 4)

Cool Schools After the school year ended this past June, a chubby little catalogue from a national “adventure clothing” maker landed in my home mailbox, proudly announcing the company’s end-of-summer back-to-school sale. We in the real world know a marketing line when we see it, and ignored the catalogue’s temporal time shift, instead saving the buying of fresh clothes and books for the new school year until, well, right around now. The real world has caught up and now summer vacation—the time of drowsy afternoons, amorphous plans, and misplaced swim goggles—is fast disappearing. The quickened pulse of a new school year also offers a chance to look at our classrooms with fresh eyes and reded- THE TOOLS TO IMPROVE EDUCATION REVOLUTION AND BECOME AN MEMBER. JOIN THE EDUTOPIA Be a part of what works in public education Join online to receive exclusive benefits: a limitededition copy of Cool Schools: The Best of Edutopia Project Learning, plus the inThe quickened pulse of a new school year also offers depth DVD look at our classrooms with fresh eyes and chance to A New Day for Learning. As rededicate ourselves to their continual the always, you also get an annual subscription toimprovement. emotional ideals that form both the basis of these energizaward-winning Edutopia We’ve included along an insert ing stories and of GLEF. magazine, them in in the magazine you’re holding. We hope they’ll also with invitations to Web improving public education.calls provide a blueprint for chats and conference with educationAdditionally,leaders and celebrities. thought in the next ten issues we’ll explore each of GET SMART AUTOMATED SNIPING SOFTWARE LETS BIDDERS ESTABLISH HOW MUCH THEY’LL BID AND WHEN THEY’LL BID, WHICH IS USUALLY IN THE LAST FEW SECONDS OF AN AUCTION. 04 EDUTOPIA SEPTEMBER 2006 icate ourselves to their continual improvement. Since our founding 14 years ago, the George Lucas Educat-ional Foundation (GLEF) has worked hard to document and disseminate the best stories of innovation in e d u c a t i o n . We’ve met hundreds of people and heard thousands of stories. Each one is unique, yet a number of common threads intertwine among these innovators. This month, we’ve tried to distill the intellectual and these items in-depth, with longer essays that give experts a chance to dig into the complexities of these issues. Our first topic, appropriately, discusses the need to rethink the nature of time both in the classroom and the school year. After the school year ended this past June, a chubby little catalogue from a national “adventure clothing” maker landed in my home mailbox, proudly announcing the company’s end-of-summer back-to-school sale. We in the real world know a marketing line when we see it, and ignored the catalogue’s temporal time shift, instead saving the buying of fresh clothes and books for the new school year until, well, right around now. The real world has caught up and now summer vacation—the time of drowsy afternoons, amorphous plans, and misplaced swim goggles—is fast disappearing. The quickened pulse of a new school year also offers a chance to look at our classrooms with fresh eyes and rededicate ourselves to their continual improvement. Since our founding 14 years ago, the George Lucas Educat-ional Foundation (GLEF) has worked hard to document and disseminate the best stories of innovation in e d u c a t i o n . We’ve met hundreds of people and heard thousands of stories. Each one is unique, yet a number of common threads intertwine among these innovators. This month, we’ve tried to distill the intellectual and emotional ideals that form both the basis of these energizing stories and of GLEF. We’ve included them in an insert in the magazine you’re holding. We hope they’ll also provide a blueprint for improving public education. Additionally, in the next ten issues we’ll explore each of these items in-depth, with longer essays that give experts a chance to dig into the complexities of these issues. Our first topic, appropriately, discusses the need to rethink the nature of time both in the classroom and the school year. e James Daly is the editor of Edutopia magazine. ONLINE EXCLUSIVE BENEFITS HOT LINK www.edutopia.org/1234 BECOME A MEMBER TODAY AT EDUTOPIA.ORG/JOIN OLIVIER LAUDE http://www.edutopia.org/Join http://www.edutopia.org/Join

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Edutopia - June/July 2008

Edutopia - June/July 2008 Contents UpFront Feedback Dispatches Sage Advice Ask Ellen Head of Class Cool Schools Design Young Minds, Fast Times Wii Love Learning No More Pencils, No More Books Tech Without Support All the Right Moves Room to Learn Heart & Soul Pop Quiz: Jeff Corwin

Edutopia - June/July 2008

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