Town Square

Post a New Topic

Teaching for the future

Original post made on May 29, 2013

The head of the local elementary and middle school district said he believes local educators should be ready to say yes to "disruptive" approaches to teaching.

Read the full story here Web Link posted Wednesday, May 29, 2013, 10:21 AM

Comments (13)

Posted by James
a resident of Whisman Station
on May 29, 2013 at 2:31 pm


Interesting video on education produced by my new employer:
Web Link

The TED Education Talks there were on PBS are worth listening to:
Web Link

The "Grit" TED talk references the work of Carol Dweck at Stanford:
Web Link


Posted by Nicole
a resident of Rex Manor
on May 29, 2013 at 3:05 pm

Nice buzz words. As much as I'm for project-based and self-directed learning, please just get rid of standardized test and test prep, and trust the teachers to teach. I'd love for Mountain View to take some learning from John Gatto and Alfie Kohn as well.


Posted by Martin Omander
a resident of Rex Manor
on May 29, 2013 at 3:09 pm

It is remarkable how little education has changed in the last 100 years, when everything else has changed completely. Good to see Goldman stirring the idea pot!


Posted by Yes!
a resident of Rex Manor
on May 29, 2013 at 3:31 pm

I love to hear it. Let's try some of these newer ideas to see if we can get closer to preparing our kids for the future. What we're doing now could use a refresh. Thank you.


Posted by Office worker
a resident of Blossom Valley
on May 29, 2013 at 6:00 pm

It sounds like the idea is to treat children like small adults. What works in an office environment must work for a first grader.


Posted by Andrew
a resident of Sylvan Park
on May 29, 2013 at 7:18 pm

Instead of hearing about 'cutting edge', I would like to hear an explanation of the fact that 2 teachers from my daughter classes were kicked out before school year end and she has 2 substitute teachers now. And why do I hear about this fact from my daughter and not from school officials?


Posted by Castro Parent
a resident of Old Mountain View
on May 29, 2013 at 8:10 pm

Disruptive indeed! It would help if Goldman had hired a principal at Castro School who didn't butcher the Spanish language. I mean, it was painful to listen to at yesterday's introduction-- and an insulting and complete waste of my time. How can the new principal lead the popular Dual Immersion Spanish program when she can barely put forth a correct sentence in Spanish??? I fear for the future of the popular Dual Immersion Program. How will she communicate effectively to Spanish-speaking parents??? She could barely put forth a clear answer in English as well. What an embarrassment! If you were there you'd know that the Vice Principal stole the show with her impeccable Spanish fluency and professional background. Can any one say, "awkward"? About the only thing the principal could speak about was EDI and more and more assessments and her background in Soledad. I guess we can look forward to the Soledad style approach to education at Castro. Seriously? Soledad? The entire Soledad district is in Program Improvement! It's a community made up of prison guards and agricultural workers and hardly mirrors Silcion Valley. Even the Hispanic segments from Soledad can't be compared to Mountain View. I don't call that cutting edge, but it certainly promises to be disruptive.


Posted by Wo\'O Ideafarm
a resident of another community
on May 29, 2013 at 10:14 pm

Wo\'O Ideafarm is a registered user.

This article is way too long. I have Attention Deficit Disorder. Please keep my classes to 13 minutes maximum and my reading assignments to two paragraphs or less and my math homework to one subtraction problem per week.

Oh, wait. Never mind. This new "disruptive learning" model looks great for me! I won't have to develop any discipline. I won't need to put any glue on my study seat. I won't have to develop listening comprehension and reading skills. I won't have to learn to pay attention to a speaker or to be able to remain interested in abstract concepts as they are presented in a lecture. I'll be able to hide my utter lack of personal ambition and accomplishment in group projects. Hey, this sounds grate! garate! guret! Oh, whatever....


Posted by Anna S.
a resident of Rex Manor
on May 30, 2013 at 11:41 am

Amazing. For once I agree with Ideafarm.


Posted by Hehe hehe hehe
a resident of Monta Loma
on May 30, 2013 at 3:17 pm

Good one Idea man!! Just think if all the kids learned at home, from computers with one teacher, the best teacher in the world. Then if students have questions they can ask it in Instant message form, where a live person would help those that need it.

Pretty soon schools and libraries will be a thing of the past.

Just think how much money the state could save. It could all go onto the retired pension and their medical funds for the whole family plans.


Posted by Wo\'O Ideafarm
a resident of another community
on May 30, 2013 at 8:37 pm

Wo\'O Ideafarm is a registered user.

The teacher is, first and foremost, a salesperson. I excelled in school, and it was because I was motivated. My motivation came from my relationships with my parents and my teachers. The clerical and presentation functions of teaching can be automated and perhaps should be. But don't throw out the baby with the bathwater! The sales function of the teacher is the essence of teaching, and that essence resides in the personal relationship that exists between the inspired teacher and the receptive student.


Posted by James
a resident of Whisman Station
on May 30, 2013 at 10:40 pm


There some aspects to watching something explained online that make it better for students. One is you can stop if you don't get something the first time and play it over again. Repetition is supposed to be one of the ways you remember things. When I was in high school we used to congregate in the library after school to do our homework together, discussing, asking each other questions, arguing about solutions. Classroom flipping is just scheduling the study session during classroom time and putting the lectures online for viewing at home. If we had had Skype or Google+ back in 1979 we could have congregated online. Technology can and should change education for the better.


Posted by James
a resident of Whisman Station
on May 30, 2013 at 11:11 pm


Web Link

Web Link

Distance learning has been around for over 200 years, the technology just got better.


Don't miss out on the discussion!
Sign up to be notified of new comments on this topic.

Email:


Post a comment

On Wednesday, we'll be launching a new website. To prepare and make sure all our content is available on the new platform, commenting on stories and in TownSquare has been disabled. When the new site is online, past comments will be available to be seen and we'll reinstate the ability to comment. We appreciate your patience while we make this transition..

Stay informed.

Get the day's top headlines from Mountain View Online sent to your inbox in the Express newsletter.