go through Terry Heck
Before I present these ideas, let me admit that many, if not most, of them are not feasible in most classrooms and schools.
I taught for many years and tried to shoehorn ideas like this into my teaching, which was rewarding but also exhausting and ultimately led to me becoming a pariah in my own school/district. I don’t mean to “not be a team player,” but that’s exactly what the idea is—well, for some people. I’ll leave it at that. (see disruptive teaching.)
However, since I won’t be explaining how to accomplish these transformations (that would be a book), I did refer to some posts I’ve created over the years that elaborate on some of these ideas. The purpose of this article, then, is to sketch vaguely what characteristics an innovative classroom might have.
You may strongly disagree with every point, and that’s okay. These are all perspectives, and when you as an educator are trying to help students in your classroom grow, their needs may take precedence over these—basic reading skills, student organization skills, classroom management, etc. I see. I just want to contribute to the conversation about how we ultimately replace classrooms where “management” is the primary focus.
See Elements of a literacy-rich classroom environment
Great idea? Shift the conversation from innovation for the sake of appearing innovative to sustainable innovation that is people- and community-focused and works at scale.
The transformation and characteristics of innovative classrooms
From content to ideas (see also Are you teaching content or are you teaching ideas?)
From stress to sustainability (see also agricultural learning model.)
From letter grade to micrograde (see also How gamification reveals the nuances of the learning process.)
From knowledge to people
From forced cooperation to interdependence
From certainty to uncertainty (see also How to impart knowledge through humility.)
From direct instruction to inquiry (see also Alternatives to Classroom Instructions.)
From testing to evaluation climate (see also 50 Formative Assessment Strategies.)
From copying to creating
From big to small
From walking to learning space
From linear to spiral (see also Learning is not linear. Why a course?
From manager to leader
From teacher-led to student-driven
From school to community (see also Characteristics of a good school.)
From labels to ideas
From mastery to citizenship (see also Examples of digital citizenship.)
From directions to navigation
From formality to fluidity
From status quo to disruption (see also How disruption can lead to lasting change in education. )
From stability to mobility (see also 12 principles of mobile learning.)
From certification to application
From classroom to online
From academic literacy to critical literacy (see also The relationship between reading and critical literacy.)
From prompts to student-initiated transfers (see also Showing What They Know: Categories of Cognitive Transfer.)
