I just finished reading David Warlick’s latest, Redefining Literacy in the 21st Century. It will be added to the shared readings for the SLA staff this spring and summer. It’s a fantastic blend of, well, practical theory. He dares us to change the ways in which we look at schooling and literacy and then gives us very practical ways to apply those new ideas.
What was fun for me was challenging myself as I read it. I like to think of myself as a progressive education and one who is out there a bit when it comes to a vision of technology infusion (or literacy infusion, as David would say.) And I’ve had plenty of people over the years tell me that what I thought was possible — wasn’t. (And we usually proved those folks wrong with what we accomplished at Beacon.) But there were moments in the text where I found myself thinking, "Come on, David… that’s a little out there, don’t you think?" And it was fun to be in the position of the nay-sayer with David and then force myself to reexamine my initial response. And in the end, with just about everything David says, there are excuses for why we’re not there yet (and maybe even some reasons) and there is probably a lot of work to do before we get there, but what he does is force us to challenge (and maybe even change) our frame of reference for how we think about schools and literacy. And that, in and of itself, is a powerful thing to do. (And on a side note, I cannot wait for David and Shirley Grover to meet on January 20th — that really will be a wonderful meeting of the minds.
I’m also about 2/3s through Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point which is another wonderful book that challenges a lot of the assumptions we have about the way in which the world works. Tipping Point generally gets used for application in business and management, although I think it also is just an interesting way to think about popular culture, societies and information flow as well. It’s a "big idea" pop-philosophy text, but it’s another one that can challenge the way we think about the world at large.
And honestly, I’m reading these books right now (and Peter Senge, Jon Saphier and Linda Darling-Hammong are next on the list) because I’m desperately trying to challenge every pre-conceived notion I have as I plan SLA. What is good, I suppose, is that a lot of what I’m reading right now resonates with what I’ve learned in the last ten years, but I want to make sure that I’m seeking out other ways as well. Now, this can become paralyzing, as there’s always another opinion and another book and another way to frame a concept, and I’m fighting against that as well. But this year does seem like the time to make sure that I’m exposing myself to as many ideas as possible to inform what SLA will become.
Robert Pirisig wrote about the idea of Copernican Revolutions — ideas that changed nothing in the physical sense, but changed everything about the way we view the world. I’m seeking out my own Coperican Revolutions right now, because I’m hoping that Science Leadership Academy can be that for its students — and maybe even for the district. I know that’s the goal of the School of the Future as well…. and if our goal is to inpsire change, I think we have to be willing to undergo it ourselves as well.
Anyway, go buy David’s book. It’s good stuff.
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