All Discussion Threads]

#change11 Double, double, toil and trouble ...

Commentary by wayUpNorth (Jim Stauffer) on link by Sue Hellman, #change11 Double, double, toil and trouble ..., September 25, 2011.

My thoughts on innovation and one-size-fits-all: One reason creative or innovative educational solutions work so well in the first place, is that they are usually uniquely suited to the particular situation where they originated. When everyone jumps on the bandwagon and it becomes the norm, they lose sight of the original circumstances that made it successful. When a fad is imported into a different situation it often doesn't work as hyped. Sure, learn from others' creativity; but we need to think about what creative or innovative changes we can make in response to our own unique circumstances, instead of always looking for a packaged solution.

I've really enjoyed reading your blog postings, but have not been able to leave a comment directly on your Posterous blog. I've tried signing in with my Twitter account several times. The "Twitter:sign in" button appears to function, but it always returns me to your blog:
"Hello there. Don't believe we've met before!
Log in with any of the following to comment:"
Finally figured out how to comment in GRSShopper. I came via the "Browse Blog Posts" page http://change.mooc.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?action=viewer and paged back until I found your blog there, then used the "Comment" button at the top of the page. (Hits Today: 475 Total: 475)

[Link] [Tags: none] [Previous][Next]

---

Comments

Re: #change11 Double

Sue Hellman, September 26, 2011
Thanks for being so persistent, Jim. Posterous is quirky. I haven't used it for a long time and they've made a lot of changes which seem to have included some automatic settings. I've changed the settings so anyone should be able to comment, so we'll see if that makes it better. I don't know how that will affect coming in from Twitter. If it's no better, let me know, and I'll write the boys in California to see if they can give me some advice.

I appreciate the time you took to respond to my thoughts. I think we see eye-to-eye on the dangers of looking for packaged solutions. Perhaps the desire to fix everything that way is some sort of educator evolutionary hold-over (kind of like an appendix) from the days when teachers and schools actually purchased boxes of cards and workbooks and manuals and stuff to use to overcome kids' learning problems or accelerate their progress. They were called kits and promised wonders..

Re: #change11 Double

Sue Hellman, September 26, 2011
PS -- I met my husband when I was teaching at Robert Service School, and I did a short stint in the old YVTTC before it morphed into Yukon College. I'm suehatwilkes in Twitter.

Re: #change11 Double

Jim Stauffer, September 26, 2011
That did the trick. I've posted a brief comment as a test - xb7r (Twitter).

I'm in the NWT with Aurora College, teaching upgrading in an isolated community.

Your Comment