Preface & Introduction to the New Pillars of Modern Teaching

Welcome to the Preface and Introduction to The New Pillars Modern Teaching. In the preface, Will Richardson sets the stage for the book with a brief history of essays and books that were predecessors to this series of books from Solution Tree called the Solutions for Modern Learning series. In this section, he describes how we have reached this point in education and what our next steps might be.

In the introduction, Gayle Allen provides a description of how the book as arranged to best address where teachers, who are surrounded by technology, will address this in their teaching. She explains that she wrote the book to help us understand the “why” of it all, and to address the question of how and why to allow access to the wealth of knowledge surrounding us inside of the classroom.

Using the comment tool at the bottom of this post discuss. Please label your posts as Q1 for answers to question 1, etc.

1. Introduce yourself and tell us where/what you teach?
2. Why do you feel it is important to read this book?
3. Describe the shift to the new pillars of pedagogy. Does this shift seem to apply to your classroom and way of thinking about curriculum, instruction, and assessment?
4. In what ways, if any, do you feel we have already started addressing this shift on your campus or in RCISD?

Feel free to reply to the comments of other learners.

FYI. Names are posted, and the website is visible. Please focus on positive discussion and sharing. Happy reading!

Chapter 1: Why We Need to Change Pedagogy

In Chapter 1 of The New Pillars Modern Teaching, Gayle Allen lays the groundwork for why we must change pedagogy in our schools. Data shows that the majority of U.S. workers are not engaged in their work. Is this something that can be addressed with our students while we still have them in K-12 schools? She also explains the change in access to information over the last century. Now that we are living in a time of informational abundance, teaching and learning methods must change.

Using the comment tool at the bottom of this post, please discuss the following. Label your answers by question number, for example, Q1, etc.

1. Daniel Pink, author of the book Drive (2009), recognizes three environmental factors researchers point to as keys to employee engagement: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. If this is true, how can we better engage students now and hopefully assist them in becoming engaged workers and members of society later?
2. How does living in a time of information abundance impact how we learn and teach? How can we work in this environment to improve student ownership of learning?
3. Are you a knowledge worker or a learning worker? Please explain…

Feel free to reply to others comments.

FYI. Names are posted, and the website is visible, so lets focus on positive discussion and sharing. Happy reading!