Open The Door For New Learning

I love Alfie Kohn's book, "The Schools Our Children Deserve".  I have 32 sticky notes, a reading strategy you should introduce to your students, attached to pages for easy reference to what I felt were profound statements.  Kohn, a former teacher, reader of research, and parent, writes to explore and expose the differences between traditional schools and nontraditional schools.  Today on Twitter I came across this post that very clearly demonstrates what Alfie Kohn boldly attempts to explain regarding the extreme differences between traditional schools and nontraditional schools.  As public schools make the transition from PASS Skills to Common Core Standards, it is imperative they open their hearts, minds, and souls to exploring the power and influence technology can and does have for the learners of today.  Not the learners of yesterday.  Not the kind of education I received.  The world economy will require workers to have a wider range of skills and resources.  Whether you're a business owner operating your own fence company or commercial lighting company, technology know-how is a MUST!!  During visits with friends in both lines of work support this comment.  For example, my friend, Paul, owns his own fence company and uses Mobile Me to communicate with all of his customers for quotes, bids, and other basic business operations.  Another friend, Heather, has used Google Earth to obtain measurements for bids for new customer projects on the occasion they're unable to physically measure the construction site.  With the preoccupation of controlling operating costs, the use of technology provides huge potential for businesses.  Here is a clip from TEDx of Chris Kennedy, a school superintendent in Canada, who shares a project students at his school recently engaged in during the Winter Olympics at Vancouver in 2010. This project, I would consider, nontraditional.   I can't help but acknowledge and applaud the authentic learning these students walked away with. Here is the link:  http://youtu.be/ERZ4MEYXXB8.  Watch please.  I would appreciate any comments you feel obliged to share.  It's time to open new doors for our students of today.